Category Archives: Humor

Senior pranks- Tradition

Prank: Goldfish in the Amphitheater

Text:

Informant: “Someone way before us did this, and it became kind of a legend because it was so crazy. My school had this Greek-style amphitheater that was basically a lower area, like a pit, and it was probably about five feet deep. Apparently one graduating class decided to do their senior prank there. In the middle of the night they filled the whole amphitheater with water and put a bunch of goldfish in it. The next day everyone showed up and was like, ‘What the heck?’ I have no idea exactly when it happened. It must have been in the late 2000s or early 2010s. Eventually the school had to drain the water and all the goldfish died.”

Interviewer: “How did you hear about the goldfish prank? Does everyone know it?”

Informant: “Everyone knows it. And then I would tell other people about it as the craziest prank I knew about. I don’t even know if it really happened, it was just something people said. Everyone agreed it was the best graduating prank that ever happened.”

Context:

The informant heard about this prank at their high school, where the story circulated widely among students as part of the school’s shared culture. According to the informant, the prank was said to have been carried out by a graduating class sometime in the late 2000s or early 2010s, before the informant attended the school. Although the informant did not witness the event and is unsure whether it actually occurred, the story was commonly told among students and was often described as the most extreme senior prank in the school’s history.

Analysis:

These pranks usually occur right before graduation, a transition period when seniors are about to become graduates. This time can be stressful as students finish classes, exams, and prepare to leave school, so pranks can serve as an outlet to release tension. They become both a way to leave a final mark on the school and an act of rebellion. At the same time, organizing and carrying out a prank can unite the graduating class by giving them a shared goal and experience before they leave. In this sense, senior pranks function somewhat like a rite of passage, allowing students to assert their independence and mark the end of their time at the school through a visible and memorable act.

Senior pranks also reflect the folkloric concepts of multiplicity and variation. While the tradition itself exists at many schools, the specific prank changes depending on the graduating class. Each class attempts to create something memorable, often using recognizable parts of the school’s infrastructure or shared spaces, which leads to different versions of the prank across grades and schools.

In this case, the story about the goldfish prank also takes on the form of a legend because it continues to circulate even though the informant is unsure whether it actually happened. The exact time and details remain unclear, yet the story is still widely known among students and passed down to underclassmen because of its extremity. Over time, stories like this become part of the school’s folklore, as repeated retelling keeps the event alive within the folk group.

A second ___ has hit the ___ – 9/11 Jokes

Age: 21

Text: “A fourteenth button has hit the north jar.”

Informant’s Context: Informant explains, “It has to follow this structure, ‘a second ___ has hit the ___.’ I think George Bush’s chief of staff came up with this one. The internet loves joking about tragedies now that a long time has passed. So for example, when you sent me a video of someone putting a fourteenth button inside of a jar and there was a second jar in the background, I responded, “a fourteenth button has hit the north jar.” The joke kind of writes itself, which is why it’s funny.”

Analysis: 

9/11 jokes like this one often follow a familiar and formulaic structure and push the boundaries of what is considered socially acceptable, which is typical of folklore humor. Because even figures such as George Bush’s chief of staff have made 9/11 jokes, this type of humor can begin to feel more socially acceptable. If someone in a high government position can joke about it, the average person may feel more comfortable doing the same. Humor can also make tragic events feel less immediate or overwhelming. As more time passes, these events become less shocking, making it easier for people to find humor in them.

Damn D

Text

“One of my good friends is named Donovan. He and many of my other boys are all in the same frat, Kappa Sigma. Soon, after two of the brothers saw Donovan or when he did something funny they would say “Damn Dirty.” Us brothers found it catchy and comical so we would say it in the same context. “Damn Dirty” evolved to “Damn D” over time and went from only being said in context related to Donovan to being used as a substitute for ‘what’s up’ or ‘wow.’ Now, many of us say it by habit throughout the day.

Context

While we were still new members awaiting initiation into the Delta Eta chapter at USC, one of our fellow new members coined the nickname “Dirty Don.” When he called Donovan this for the first time, we all thought it was hilarious and took the nickname into our own hands and used it on the daily. Sometime later someone who liked Spongebob started calling Donovan “Dirty Bubble” because he reminded him of the tv character. This name was a little harsh off the tongue so we all shortened the nickname to “Dirty.” Once we all became brothers of the fraternity, it was a consensus among all the brothers that “Dirty” was the most funny nickname for Donovan, who also thought it was funny.”

Analysis

Nicknames carry folkloric value all over the world and prominently in young American culture. It serves as a heavy form of identity, personal to individuals and those close to that person. This name is a form of folk speech because it is a made up name used in informal contexts within this particular folk group, the frt brothers. Although these nicknames would sound crazy and meaningless to most people, the shared knowledge of this nicknames origin and meaning create a shared identity within the Kappa Sigma brothers. In this particular story, the nickname gives Donovan identity within his frat along with a unified folk group that stems from all of the brothers who know and understand the phrase “Damn D.” The evolution of the nickname shows how folklore can change and be manipulated over time. There is no factual reason why the name evolved, but instead it changed simply because of humorous interactions among these folk.

Pumpkin Head Joke

Age: 20s

(1) text

Informant: A man walks into a bar with a giant pumpkin for a head. The bartender says, “Hey, you’re walking around with a giant pumpkin for a head. How come you have a giant pumpkin for a head? The man with a giant pumpkin head sits down at the bar and he says, “Well, it’s a long story. But I’ll tell it to you. You’re not going to believe this. But the story starts with, I found a genie in a bottle.” Bartender goes, “Then what happened?” He goes, “Well, I found this genie, and he came out of the bottle and he says, ” you freed me from this bottle, and I’m offering you three wishes.” The bartender is amazed. He’s going, “Well, okay, what happened next?” He goes, well, then, for my first wish, I wish for the most money in the world. I wished for like 100,000 billion dollars. Bartender’s like, oh my God, what happened? He’s like, well, I looked at my bank account. You’re not going to believe what was there. It was $100,000 billion dollars. I was the richest man in the world. The bartender was just floored by this. He goes, “For my second wish, I wish for like the most gorgeous woman in the world to be my wife. Not only someone who was attractive, but someone who could challenge me and I could fall in love with and stay in love. The bartender was like, okay, well, then what happened? He goes, well, then you’re not going to believe who showed up.” The most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. And she was smart and talented and funny, and she challenged me, and she proposed to me on the spot, and we’ve been married ever since. Bartender goes, ” oh, my God, this is an amazing story. What happened next? What happened to your for your third wish? And he goes, “Well my third wish is where I really blew it.” Bartender goes, well, what happened?” He goes, “Well, I wished for like a giant pumpkin head.” 

(2) context

The informant explains that growing up in New York, this joke was a common occurrence at family gatherings. The first time he was told it was by an uncle at a family dinner. He later accounts hearing it told by Super Dave Osborn and Norm McDonald.

(3) analysis

The joke follows a traditional structure, starting with “A man walks into a bar…” The joke subverts expectations with the added element of a pumpkin on his head. What makes the joke effective and ultimately gets a laugh from the audience is the long, drawn-out explanation that builds anticipation from the audience as they wait to hear the punch line. They expect something wild to have happened for the man to end up in this position. Instead, they are met with the most obvious answer. The punchline then makes the joke an anti-joke of sorts.

Senior Pranks

Age: 21

TEXT:

Informant- “Senior year of high school at my school we always had to do, in the theater department, a senior prank on the lower classmen and the teachers and each year it would be different like VERY different and people would go all out. One year people brought sand giant, like inflatable pools and we had a beach day in the classroom and all the underclassmen had to watch us and we locked them out. One class had our school mascot like in the room filled with cups of water so no one could go get it. It was very odd and like, signs warning about “the tornado” cause that’s our mascot. I can’t remember any other ones but each year we would try to like up the other group do better, one up of them, and it really brought the senior class together!”

CONTEXT: The informant recounts the time in high school in Florida and the various senior pranks that happened during her time there.

ANALYSIS:

Pranks as a rite of passage are very important to many people, especially the transition from adolescence to adulthood and the limbo of being a teenager in high school. I think the added element of being in the theater department in high school and having that extra layer of folk and community adds to the competitiveness of the pranks to will not be each other and bond in a way through these pranks