Category Archives: general

Hard work pays off

Nationality: Indian
Age: 50
Occupation: Software Engineer
Residence: Austin, TX
Performance Date: 3/12/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Hindi

Context & Background:

Another proverb used a lot in Indian families. Sets the values of the household and teaches kids good lessons from a young age. Translated from Hindi to English.  Informant – collector’s father. 

Performance: (in person)

Proverb: “Mehnat Karne Walo Ki Kabhi Haar Nahi Hoti”

Transliteration:

Mehnat: Hard work

Karne: to do

Walo: person 

Ki: they

Kabhi: never

Haar: defeat

Nahi: not

Hoti: happen 

Translation: If you work hard, you will never lose 

Explanation: The same as the translation, the proverb compels that if you work hard, nothing, not even fate can stop you from winning. Or that fate will conspire to make you win if you work hard enough.    

Analysis:  

I believe that one of the top Indian values is working hard. This comes from historical times, as India was under British rule for almost 200 years before the revolution that gave India independence. The revolution ended in 1947, which is not too long ago. The core message in the revolution was anti-violence, promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, but also to keep working hard. I believe that the emphasis of this proverb comes from the revolutionary sentiment and that’s why it has a special place in Indians’ hearts. It also connects well with what a lot of Indian parents want, for their child to do well at school and ultimately become successful.

Superstitions Among Nurses in the ICU (The “Q-Word”, Full Moons)

Nationality: American
Age: 24
Occupation: Nurse, Critical Care
Residence: Atlanta, Georgia
Performance Date: April 30th, 2021
Primary Language: English

Informant Context:

Stella is a traveling ICU (intensive care unit) nurse who currently work in Atlanta, Georgia.

Transcript:

INTERVIEWER: You seemed really excited to talk about [laughs] superstitions.

STELLA: Mhm!

INTERVIEWER: Do you have any particular ones you had in mind?

STELLA: Yeah like, nurses are really superstitious. Um… especially like, in the ICU. Um… so like, we call it like, “Saying the Q word”. Um, you can’t say like, “Oh, it’s—it’s been like, really *quiet* on the unit today”. ‘Cause then it’s going to suddenly be not quiet. Like, you jinxed us. Um… so like, people will like—freak out. Or if you… you can’t say like, “Oh… like, you know, Mr. Jones is doing like, so great today. I think he’s gonna like, be able to get transferred out.” Like, you can’t—if like… Or, you know, it’s like, “Oh, I feel like we’re really making progress.” [You know(?)], you can’t jinx things, you know? Um… like—you just have to say like, “Oh, like, these things are going well. Like, this is great, we’re making progress…” but you can’t be like, “Oh, I think by… I think like, we—we’re out of the woods.” ‘Cause then the patient’s gonna like, code. It’s just like, a superstitious thing. Or like, um… another thing is like, full moons. Like, people say that like, when it’s a full moon, like—patients like, go crazy. [It’s a (?)] thing that like, everyone believes.

Informant Commentary:

Stella went on to recall the first time she violated one of these superstitions, causing some nurses around her 2 become angry with her. This serves as a kind of “rite of passage”, in which a new member of the folk group becomes rapidly acquainted with a folk belief, such as a superstition. Stella also noted the community that these superstitions offer to nurses working in the ICU. When members of a group are mutually forbidden from doing or saying a particular action or word, deep meaning can be communicated even when the action or word remains undone or unsaid. In this way, silence itself acts as an offshoot of “tabooistic vocabulary”.

Analysis:

Stella jumped at the chance to talk about superstitions, insisting that nurses are “really superstitious”. This could be partially explained by the high intensity nature of the medical workplace. A very small error can have deadly consequences, so it follows naturally that this folk group has developed small, vernacular ways—even unscientific ones, in a highly scientific workplace—to avoid failure. In addition, the folk belief in full moons causing irrational behavior is a well-documented phenomenon in folklore studies, stretching as far back as the ancient Rome and earlier. A few medical journals have even published research challenging the correlation between full moons and hospitalizations.

For more information about the inquiry into full moons and their affect on hospitals, see the following (the first is emergency-room trauma, the second psychiatric):

Zargar, M., Khaji, A., Kaviani, A., Karbakhsh, M., Yunesian, M., & Abdollahi, M. (2004). The full moon and admission to emergency rooms. Indian journal of medical sciences, 58(5), 191–195.

Gupta, R., Nolan, D. R., Bux, D. A., & Schneeberger, A. R. (2019). Is it the moon? Effects of the lunar cycle on psychiatric admissions, discharges and length of stay. Swiss medical weekly, 149, w20070. https://doi.org/10.4414/smw.2019.20070

Lady Bugs as Good Luck

Nationality: Italian-American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Staten Island, NY
Performance Date: 4/23/21

Overview

The informant is Italian-American and lives in Staten Island. She describes the tradition of collecting ladybugs for good luck. She says that every summer as a little girl, her and her friends would always get excited about finding ladybugs because their parents told them that they were good omens or brought good luck. 

Analysis

I asked the informant whether other bugs or animals also represented good luck and why the ladybug in particular was so special, to which she answered that “it’s a mix of color and numbers. The Italian community is very religious, so most of it roots back to that. There are usually seven dots on a ladybug, which are tied to the seven deadly sins in our eyes. By catching a ladybug, it’s like you’re stopping the sins. The ladybug’s red color also ties into the virgin mary and images of blood.”

Thoughts

The idea that ladybugs, an insect tied to so much negative religious reference in Italian’s eyes, is a sign of good luck is very interesting. It reminds me of other instances where something inherently bad becomes spun into a good thing (for example, many people think that getting pooped on by a bird is good luck). Do people simply want to reframe negative things into positive things? Or are we implying that there is no true good and bad?

“In bocca al lupo” – Italian Idiomatic Phrase

Nationality: Italian-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Berkeley, CA
Performance Date: April 14, 2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian

Description of Informant

AG (18) is an Italian-American dual citizen and high school student from Berkeley, CA. At home, she speaks primarily Italian, and spends her summers in Italy.

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Phrase

Original Text: In bocca al lupo.

Phonetic: N/A

Transliteration: Into the mouth of the wolf.

Free Translation: [See Collector’s Reflection]

Responses: (1) Che crepi. (2) Crepi il lupo! (3) Crepi.

Context of Use

The idiomatic phrase is the Italian equivalent of “break a leg.” However, unlike its English counterpart, in bocca al lupo solicits a response, which may be delivered in several different ways. The phrase is used in place of “good luck” when one is entering a situation they have prepared for (e.g. performance, interview, examination, etc.)— rather than luck, you are wishing someone skill.

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Context of Interview

The informant, AG, sits in the kitchen with her father and the collector, BK, her step-brother. Text spoken in Italian is italicized, but not translated.

Interview

BK: So tell me about the saying.

AG: Umm so basically when someone has an event, or a test they need to take. Instead of saying “good luck,” which is buena fortuna, in Italy you would say “in bocca al lupo.” Which is, literally translated, “in the mouth of the wolf.” And I don’t know if it has something to do with, like, Little Red Riding Hood or wherever they got it from. But then, the person taking the test, or who got good luck’ed, they respond “che crepi.” Which means like, uhh, how would you translate che crepi? Like, “I hope he dies” or “that he dies”…

BK: Who is “he”?

AG: The wolf. Yeah, that the wolf dies. It’s not super translatable.

BK: What is the appropriate context for this phrase?

AG: I think anytime someone in English would say “break a leg.” Like if I have a dance performance, my mom wouldn’t say “good luck” because it’s not luck for me, I don’t need luck to succeed, I need, you know, to do well, myself. And so she would say “in bocca al lupo” instead.

Collector’s Reflection

Into the mouth of the wolf represents plunging into danger. Often, though, this does not mean physical or life-threatening danger. In the expression’s day-to-day use, danger means the risk of failing a social performance (e.g. interview, recital, examination). The response of crepi indicates the receiver’s acceptance of the wish of strong performance, and their own hopes of success. Killing the wolf is overcoming the obstacle/challenge successfully.

The strong distinction between a wish of luck versus a wish of skill is fascinating. Luck, for Italians, is reserved for moments where circumstances are out of one’s hands (e.g. acts of God). Skill is up to the individual and their preparation. In English, you will often hear the skill-based equivalent, “break a leg,” spoken in the same breath as “good luck.” Though English speakers may understand the difference between luck and skill, their idioms conflate the concepts, while Italian speakers are very strict in their separation.

Ángel, Ángel!

Nationality: American
Age: 72
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Temecula, CA
Performance Date: October 26, 2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

MAIN DISCRIPTION:

AL: “When I was in Vietnam in 1967..we were out on patrol one day…and uh I was with a ground unit, so we pretty much always walked. Except this one day we got attached to an armor unit, and they rolled around in tanks-and..obviously as much as I hated to walk I asked for uh a hitchhike-One of the tanks, so I jumped on top and-and as we were patrolling they were moving along and uh..somewhere halfway through the patrol I heard somebody call my name…and I mean it was a loud call “Ángel, Ángel!” and uh, typically, in retrospect now that I think back..you know people didn’t call me ‘Ángel’ in Vietnam. You know they-they called me Doc-Doc Lopez, err some-something like that cuz I was a medic. But now that I’m thinking, in this moment somebody is calling me “Ángel, Ángel, Ángel” now I say-w-wait a minute..it doesn’t make sense. So, anyway I jumped off the tank to run back and see who was calling me..I got back to where that voice was coming from and..there was nobody there..So, meantime, the tank is still moving along. So I run back to catch up, so I can..you know, keep goin’ on the ride. But before I could get there the tank hit a mine, and as it hit the mine..it exploded. It-it was carrying around 6 g-guys, 6 soldiers in there. 3 of them were killed, the other 3 were severely wounded. And I think that uh..had I been on that tank obviously..I would’ve been wounded or killed, one of the two so..I…look back at the time and say..who was calling me? Well if we fast forward back, you know, to when I came back from Vietnam..I’m..sitting there talking to my dad one day and he says “you know, one night, your mother woke up from the middle of a dream..and she kept screaming: Ángel, Ángel, Ángel! They just killed Ángel! Ángel has just been killed! Ángel, Ángel, Ángel! And she would just not stop calling your name”..obviously I can not pinpoint the date, or the time when I heard my name being called in Vietnam..to the time when my mother woke up from the dream yelling “Ángel, Ángel, Ángel” but…inside of me I believe that..that might’ve been what it was. That, uh. It was my mother that was calling me, and I was listening to her calling me-and i think that-that’s what saved me that one day”

INFORMANT’S OPINION:

SF: “So do you believe it was a spiritual..uh warning or a ghostly encounter of some sort?”

AL: “I think..it was a spiritual connection. Something s-supernatural. Supernatural connection. Something that through, uh, space and time you know..It-it uh..there was that connection with my mom and I head her calling me. Even though she was waking up from a dream, you know back in the states, I was hearing her voice..In uh, in Vietnam that one day”

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

The idea of a ghost or spirit spans several different realms of concept. Because of this, I believe that what the informant experienced was a ghostly encounter. Even though she is alive, the spirit of his mother called out to him. Ghosts and spirits are often regarded as entities of energy that are not confined by the concepts of space and time, and are able to appear whenever, and however they chose. Due to these reasons alone, it it quite possible that what the informant experienced is far beyond coincidental.