Category Archives: Humor

Sailor Ritual- Crossing the Equator

Nationality: American
Age: 68
Occupation: Professor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 30, 2019
Primary Language: English

Piece:

CM: I have two stories about my grandfather. He told me a story from when he was a very young man, when he was a deep water sailor, sailing a steel hauled clipper around Cape Horn. When he left the Mediterranean to sail south, the ship had to cross the equator. The tradition went that whenever a sailor crosses the equator for the first time, he goes through a traditional ritual where he is put through a series of comical trials— for example, being doused with water— and other hazing-like activities. The Captain dressed up as Neptune and the ceremony was used to initiated the sailor into the club as a true deep water sailor.”

Context:

The speaker’s grandfather was a sailor during the early 20th century. The ship was likely American, although the informant’s grandfather was from Austria. The ritual was done on the ship whenever there was a sailor who had not crossed the equator before. The informant’s grandfather took trips through the equator working as a sailor multiple times.

Analysis:

Being a sailor is a high-risk job, particularly so in the early 20th century when the informant’s grandfather worked. This initiation ritual supports the idea that the equator was a meaningful marker to sailors. Furthermore, the ritual is an excuse to have a celebration, which on a ship with no technology to communicate with the outside world would be important for morale. The somewhat silly ritual contradicts the otherwise dangerous life of a sailor. A discussion of the various ways this ritual has been performed, especially pointing out the fact that the ritual is somewhat of an initiation practice for “landlubbers”, can be found on pgs. 154-159 of Keith P. Richardson’s 1977 article for the Western Folklore journal (Vol. 36, no. 2) titled “Polliwogs and Shellbacks: An Analysis of the Equator Crossing Ritual (Western States Folklore Society).

Napoleon Rhyme

Nationality: African-American
Age: 15
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Washington, D.C.
Performance Date: 03/11/2019
Primary Language: English
Language: Amharic, French

INFORMANT: The informant is my fifteen-year-old sister, who lives in Washington, D.C. We both attended a french-language school until 2014, and this is one of the songs we used to sing as children.

CONTEXT: The informant heard this rhyme from one of her friends in the fourth grade when they started covering Napoleon in their class curriculum. According to her, this is a common rhyme taught to kids by other kids.

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MAIN PIECE:

Original: “Napoléon est mort à Sainte-Hélène/Son fils Léon lui a crevé l’bidon/On l’a retrouvé assis sur une baleine/En train d’sucer des arêtes de poisson”

Translation: “Napoleon died at Sainte-Helene/His son Leon gutted his belly [informal]/They found him sitting on a whale/Sucking on fish bones”

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I think this rhyme is a really interesting example of children’s lore. In general, kids seem to have the instinct to rebel against authority, and this often takes the form of mocking authority figures. In French classrooms, Napoleon is presented to children as somewhat of a legendary figure, so it would make sense that kids would create rhymes about Napoleon, given how venerated he is in French history. As someone who is seen as kind of a silly historical figure outside of France, Napoleon is also a fairly easy target for mockery (he inspired the term “Napoleon Complex,” used to describe people who try to compensate for their short height with overconfidence and ego). I think it also is interesting to observe the difference between what kids’ games and rhymes they learn from adults and what they teach each other; nursery rhymes and tales told and taught to children by adults tend to be more tame, while the things children pass down to other children usually to contain counter-hegemonic themes and seem to be more risqué or vulgar. This is somewhat reflected in the grammar of the rhyme as well. Grammar is an extremely important part of the French curriculum, and is constantly emphasized throughout both primary and secondary school. The use of contractions in the rhyme is another way that it is rebellious.

For another version of this rhyme, see “Napoleon” from Momes.net (http://www.momes.net/Comptines/Comptines-pour-rire/Napoleon)

Viola Jokes

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: New York, New York
Performance Date: 03/14/19
Primary Language: English
Language: German

The informant is a 20-year-old friend from Westport, Connecticut, who plays the violin. He told me about viola jokes, which are silly, baseless jokes that strings players make about violists. He learned these from hearing other people in his orchestra, including his conductor, make these jokes. I asked him for an example of one of these jokes.

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“How do you stop a violin from being stolen? You store it in a viola case.”

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The concept of viola jokes was amusing to me, because they don’t seem to actually be based on anything true about viola players, but they are so widespread that they even have their own Wikipedia page. Based on my own knowledge of string instruments, violas do seem to be the odd ones out, as they use their own clef, the alto clef, which is not used by any other instrument in a classical orchestra. However, there is nothing about violas that actually suggests their inferiority as compared to other instruments, so these jokes seem to be an example of an invented other-ness that knits the rest of the group together in their identity as strings players. Without context, the jokes would seem offensive to viola players, but those who understand the jokes know that it is actually a fake out-group identity that would tie them closer to the group; in other words, knowing that the jokes are not actually making fun of violists allows the violists being made fun of, and others who understand the joke, to participate in string-instrument or orchestral culture.

For more viola jokes, see The Grand Encyclopedia of Viola Jokes by David Johnstone, found online at https://web.archive.org/web/20140824203638/http://www.j-music.es/FileUpload/articulos/gen026-Gran_Encyclopedia_viola_jokes-j-m.pdf.

 

Going Through Doors Riddle

Nationality: American
Age: college age freshman
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: English

JK: Ok, so, it’s a blackout and you’re walking along uh street uh a dark neighborhood street and you see one little cottage that is lit up by candlelight so you go inside and there’s a red door and a purple door. Which one do you go through?

VG: The red.

JK: K, so you go through the red door and you are presented with two more doors. There’s a brown regular looking door and there’s uh- polka dot door. Which door do you go through?

VG: The brown.

JK: You go through the brown door and you are presented with two more doors…it’s a black door and a white door. Which door do you go through?

VG: The white door.

JK: Ok, so you go through the white door and you come out of…the s- into uh- a space brightly lit by candles and there’s a couple there and they’re very angry that you broke into their home and you can either choose death by uh their dogs who will tear you apart or you can choose death by electric chair. Which one do you choose and why?

VG: I choose electric chair-

JK: Why?

VG: Because it’s faster.

JK: Nah-

EM: I know what this is- can I answer it?

JK: Yeah.

EM: Cause- wait there’s no electricity right?

JK: Yeah, you choose the electric chair because the power is out.

(Everyone laughs)

VG: Dammit.

 

Background:

Location of story – N/A

Location of Performance – Different student’s dormitory room, Los Angeles, CA, afternoon

 

Context: This performance took place between 2-3 people who were working on a film project together for class. This story came in response to my question if anyone had time to talk before the film shoot to talk about traditions specific to school, festivals, holidays, and riddles. JK and I had just met recently on this project. His story had just followed two about high school traditions.

 

Analysis: My favorite part about this performance is that the other person in the room, EK, had heard of this riddle before. Moreover, EK’s question about whether she can spoil the end demonstrates the universally understood pressure to let the one being challenged demonstrate their wit. I was actually nervous participating in this performance because historically, I am not very good at riddles and whenever I “fail” I always feel socially inferior. It may seem silly, but my anxiety only confirms the social implications of these riddles. 

 

Newton’s Law “Dad” Joke

Nationality: American
Age: College age
Occupation: Student/Athlete
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: English

KO: Ok uh, do you know what Newton’s Law is?

VG: Yes.

KO: Do you know what cole’s law is?

VG: No.

KO: You don’t know what thinly sliced cabbage is?

 

Background:

Location of riddle: N/A

Location of Performance – Classroom, Los Angeles, CA, late morning

 

Context: This performance was done in a group of 3-4 people after a class in response to a question about potential high school traditions, festivals, jokes, or riddles. KO was the first among the students to offer this joke as performance. KO and I are classmates.

 

Analysis: After my initial recording, KO classified the joke as a “dad joke,” which prompted many others. Therefore, it is apparent that this is a popular genre because everyone was commenting on the tradition of dad jokes and even had a collection of these themselves. I wish I would have questioned KO about how she discovered this joke and the genre of dad jokes as a whole because I am curious to see if these are actually jokes that are sourced from fathers or father figures. My assumption is that this genre rose out of children utilizing these jokes to critique their parental figures and practice rebellion in a relatively harmless way.