Category Archives: Humor

Six in one hand, half a dozen in the other

Interview and Context

DO – It just means its pretty much, two different ways of doing the same thing, and neither is better than the other.
Interviewer – And it gets used all the time here (in the wood shop).
DO – Yes.
Interviewer – When was the first time you heard it?
DO – I have no idea, like when I was a kid.
Interviewer – Have you always worked in shops?
DO – No, I heard it before. I don’t think it s necessarily a shop only saying, but it is heavily used in shops. Between… (shouts to shop manager, DM) would you agree that between you, me, and (other shop manager) that we say six in one hand, half dozen in the other— like how often do you think we would say that phrase, or a version of?
DM – Ehh, at least weekly?
DO – It, it’s generally used in the planning stage of a thing because we’re like, “How are we doing this, what do you think?” and it’s like, “How do you suggest we like—”
DM – There’s usually two or three ways to accomplish the same thing. At least.
DO – And sometimes there’s an advantage to one way and sometimes there’s not. It’s comparable.

Analysis

This metaphor is used frequently in this informant’s environment. They mentioned that it is most common in planning stages of set construction, which explains why the regular student workers had not heard the saying (because they are not involved in the planning or designing stages), while set designers and technical directors had heard it.
Because six is equal to a half dozen, the metaphor is saying that there are multiple ways to achieve one goal, and neither way is necessarily better than the other, so it does not much matter which option they choose. However, it also signifies a tiny roadblock caused only by indecision between two equal choices.
The informant doubted it was a saying unique to construction shops, even recalling they had heard it before entering that specific culture, suggesting it was more of a crafting cultural saying than a specific construction one.

Money is first. Creativity is second. Safety is third

Text and Context

DO – Money is first, second is art, creativity, whatever, third is safety
Interviewer – Is this something that just you says?
DO – No, no. Safety third is like, grips will say it like all the time. Like carpenters and everything.
MI – Money comes first—you know getting paid, comes first. Being creative comes second. And being safe comes third.
DO – Right. Like the producers come in and will be like yeahyeahyeah! Safe first! Safety first! But then when it comes time, and it’s like no, no. You’re costing me money, get up on that fucking thing and get that done. Right? Uh, the director comes in, and is like, this is my vision! This is what we want to do! But its like, I can’t do that, I’d have to like— “I don’t care! Get it done!” y’know, kinda thing. And AFTER that comes safety. Like, what else, like what is fourth, I don’t know. So it’s be safe, unless it’s costing us money, or impacting our vision. Essentially
DO – So it’s something that people like us say, when we’re feeling like: alright, we’re putting our bodies on the line and not being treated well. We’re like, “Hey safety third!” Because they looove saying safety first. They talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
Interviewer – So it’s kind of an ironic saying.
DO and MI (at the same time) – Yes!
DO – It is very sarcastic. But it’s also very, very true. The number of times when we’re like, y’know, you’re talking about working like, sixteen hour days. You cannot work sixteen hour days and use a power tool safely. It’s impossible. Like if you’re sleep deprived, you cannot operate heavy machinery, power tools safely. Like you, you’re gonna do stupid stuff. We were talking about it, not so much as a danger type thing, but when you work sixteen hour days you get so—you make stupid decisions, and you do stupid stuff, and you come in the next day and spend the first two, three hours fixing the mistakes that you did at the end of the day before because you were just trying to get stuff done. Y’know? Uhhh, but given that fact—a lot of studies say, like if you’re driving on the road and you feel a little sleepy. What do they say? Pull over and take a nap. You know, like whatever. Because that’s the safe thing to do. But all the time productions go, like, sixteen hour days when it’s costing them money, like why don’t you just rent the sound studio another week or push for— nope, that costs money, we gotta get it done. We have to get it done. Or why don’t we cut this scene? No, no, director wants that scene, or whatever. Get it done.

Analysis

The informer(s) clearly had strong feelings about this saying, as they spoke extensively on the subject. I collected this saying while the informant(s) were sitting in the break room of their wood shop. We were talking about general wood shop sayings, so it didn’t come up in the context in which the saying would generally be used, such as during construction.
It is interesting that this is a response to another common saying, “safety first,” and would not stand so well without the popularity of “safety first.” It shows a folk group within set construction, while director and producers are the out-group, because the hierarchy creates a binary separation where the people in power (producers and directors) risk the safety of those they employ. The set construction workers are aware of the danger they are sometimes being put in, and understand the bitter irony of their superiors pretending to care, or caring until it interferes with their money and creative vision.

Obamaprism

Story: Well it all started rather harmless. A friend, A, introduced us to an instructional video on the different possible obamium shapes. From there we got deeper into the lore, engrossing ourselves into online communities such as Reddit to find like minded believers. I even went so far as to create my own media, using vfx to bring obamaprism to life in Los Angeles. A created a shrine in his living room one day consisting of a table with a candle in each of the corners and a triangle create by laying out approximately 8 paper obamaprisms out and a large image of Obamamium printed in a piece of paper hung over the shrine. We would play the sacralicious music and pray to our shrine. It’s all mostly still available on YouTube but I’ve since moved to worshipping the geico gecko.

Context: I was told this story over text, as the informant has COVID and was unable to meet in person, and also did not want to call or FaceTime. A little bit about this particular informant – while I knew these were great examples of folklore, which is why I included them, I do not believe they took the topic seriously. As a result, they told the stories in a very theatrical way, which might not be a terrible thing in the context of folklore, however it may make it hard to understand.

Thoughts: When asked about why this stuck in his head, the informant says that it was the best times he had goofing around with the friend group. His friend, A, ended up leaving after the semester that this happened, and he hasn’t seen him since.

Analysis: My interpretation of the story is that these friends got comically into the Obamamium meme, which was a meme that started on Reddit and ended up showing up on many other platforms. It was basically just a picture of Obama’s face on a pyramid and people called it Obamamium. I am also into memes, and hearing the story made me much more fascinated by meme folklore and how things escalate in folk groups.

Do you know who I am?

Story: There was a story I heard about a student at a school- I forgot which one- who took a beginning class their freshman year in one of those big lecture halls with around, like, 500 students. During the final, they had an hour to finish, but when the hour was up, this student still wasn’t done. Everyone else left and turned in their tests, and they were still working. They finally walked up to the front, but the professor told them that their test couldn’t be accepted since they hadn’t finished in time. The student then yells at him: “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?” the professor, “What?”, the student, “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!”, “NO!” said the professor. “Good!” the student said and he then slipped their test into the middle of the stack and ran out of the classroom.

Context: The informant told me this story over the phone, recalling it from writing their own folklore collection.

Thoughts: The informant wasn’t even sure if they had recalled the story correctly, however they thought it was hilarious and wished they had gotten the chance to do something like it during school.

Analysis: I think this folklore is really interesting as a legend, and I feel as if I have also heard this, or some version of this story before. It is interesting hearing folklore about classes and school, since this was the only example of school-based folklore I was able to collect.

Rat King

Story: There was once a rat king, who lived in the walls. After bothering animators for years we used our collective might of modeling and drawing to capture him into inanimate form. Now his avatar, the sacred rat king plush, is handed down through generations and safeguarded by the animators.

Context: I was told this story over text, as the informant has COVID and was unable to meet in person, and also did not want to call or FaceTime. This informant is an animation major, and part of a very small cohort. They have a stuffed rat that they circle between everyone in the cohort week by week.

Thoughts: When asked about how the informant feels about the story, they say that while they loved the story origination, they are a bit sad that it has died down a bit. Due to other circumstances, they feel as if they aren’t as close as they used to be to the people in the cohort, and haven’t gotten the rat in a while.

Analysis: I war torn between calling this a legend or a tale because of the animal component, and ultimately decided that it was in fact a legend. I thought this story was particularly interesting because while it might not be true, the cohort had built up lore around the stuffed rat and actually maintained the practice of passing the rat between them throughout their years at USC, through quarantine, and even now.