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“When I was in like middle and high school, there was always a game where anybody could make like an OK sign with their hand and hold it below their hip, like it had to be below your hip or it didn’t count. And if you looked at it and they saw you looking then they got to neck you (slap you on the neck). This could just happen like any time so you would always have to be careful, and I remember my friends would try to like bait me into looking down so they could neck me. But if I got them they would always say they didn’t look. Looking back, it was like so stupid. But it was just a way to get to hit your friends I think.”
Context
VH explains the circle game as a long running game throughout middle and high school among his friend group. He says that no one ever explicitly taught him the rules of the game, and he feels that it just became a part of his life. VH also points out that the results were very up to personal interpretation and often disputed. This game was always playing, so at any time you could get caught looking. VH also says that he has seen this game on social media and other friends in college knew about it too.
Analysis
The circle game is definitely an example of customary folklore as it is a repeated game that VH learned through experience and participation rather than in any explicit or formal way, which shows how folklore is disseminated unofficially. It’s also a great example of how folklore is constantly evolving and not always clearly defined, as everybody would have their own take on the rules of the game. This game was a manifestation of childhood humor, and also utilizes play frames to slap your friends in an “acceptable” way. The circle game is a great example of the young boy folk group, as it exists in multiplicity and variations outside of just one school/friend group, as VH notes that he has seen it on social media and this was a game that was often played in my school as well (in a totally different state).
Category Archives: Gestures
“B Card”
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“There was a thing when I was in middle school where if someone said they were gonna do something anybody could say B Card right after and if you didn’t do the thing that you said then your friends would neck you (slap you on the neck). I remember I thought it was just a thing like with me and my friends at my school in 6th grade but I remember when I went to a new school in 7th grade, one of my friends said it one day and everybody like knew what it was in our friend group like it was a common thing which was kinda surprising. I think it stood for bitch card, like you’re a bitch if you back out of doing the thing you said. And anything was fair game too so you had to just like watch what you were saying around your friends.”
Context
BS explains that this was a long running verbal game among his multiple friend groups in middle school. Essentially, if BS’s friend were to say an action (ie. “I’m gonna get an A on this test”), BS could then immediately say “B Card”. If the action then wasn’t completed, then BS could slap his friend on the neck. No matter how outlandish the action, anything could be B carded at any time. BS also says that this was a game that existed in 2 different friend groups at different schools.
Analysis
“B Card” is an example of folk speech among young boys, and also a game that utilizes play frames as a way to hurt your friends under “acceptable” rules. It also marked your acceptance or standing of certain friend groups, as not every group understood or valued the saying, and “B Card” was never explicitly taught nor have I ever seen it on social media. BS and I went to the same school, but I also had a similar experience where the school/friend group I came from before also played the “B Card” game with slightly different rules like punching instead of necking, showing that “B Card” existed in multiplicity and variations among us middle school boys. In my opinion, “B Card” could have been a way to hold each other accountable to the things we would say, an example of Mechling’s point that jokes can be used as social tools, but it was definitely a game that gave us an excuse to hit each other due to the mostly outlandish/impossible things that middle school boys would say they were going to do throughout the day.
Rally Cap
Folklore:
Flipping a baseball cap inside out to bring on a rally of good plays in a baseball game. The action can be performed by players or the fans in the stand.
Context:
The informant was a baseball player in Santa Clarita, CA. During games, he or his teammates would perform this ritual to try and help bring good luck or spur on a rally where a lot of good events would happen in quick succession like “a guy gets a hit, a guy walks, a double and they score… a lot of them go with quick bursts of runs.” The informant noted the rally cap “is trying to initate a hot streak,” to get the game on their side and moving.
Analysis:
The ritual is intending to bring good luck and try and spur on the team into a favorable position. The informant noted in the interview that baseball is a game of rhythm that is hard to hold and keep it going. The team aspect and the harder rhythm makes supersitions common to try and create a favorable outcome for the game and the team.
GRANDPA’S FIRST EXORCISM
For this story, I spoke to my friend. He told me this story that he got from his grandfather. The following is told from his first person perspective about his grandfather.
INTERVIEWEE: “When my grandpa was 25 years old he was a deacon at a church in Riverside, California. During his time, he had some house calls regularly. He was a deacon until he was around 40 so he saw a lot of different stuff at peoples’ houses. They would typically send him to houses to pray over new houses, old people, deceased, etc. However, one time he was asked to come to a home to perform a literal exorcism which was very out of the ordinary for him.
He thought this was unusual because he had never done anything like this before. One day, the church sent him to this house to perform the exorcism on this teenage girl who was spasming out, blaspheming, and acting really funky in general. The parents had no idea what to do so they called up my grandpa who and some other people with then church. My grandpa showed up with a few other priests. The other priests must have brought a bible, a cross, and some holy water.
They went into the house and the parents directed them into the room where the teenage girl was. She couldn’t sit still. They did something and they got the demon out of her; repeating a prayer or splashing holy water on her. She tried to jump away from it, but eventually she hit the ground and started shaking and screaming for a couple minutes. During this, the priests recited the prayer again and again. Then she passes out.
The girl didn’t wake up until the following morning super exhausted. She ended up being totally fine afterwards, with no signs of possession or evil spirits holding inside her anymore yet having no idea what had happened. This actually was the last and only exorcism my grandpa had to perform during his time being a deacon; this being a very different experience for him.”
My thoughts: I find it super interesting that his grandfather never did another exorcism after this, nor having done one prior. Around this time, which was maybe the 1970’s, the first Exorcist film came out, which made exorcisms more believed in during this time perchance, which may be why he got this house call in particular. With this, the details such as the girl forgetting everything that had happened, as well as the possession itself, it makes this story very unique; especially in the perspective of someone who has never experienced something like this.
Pre-show ritual – Will Bundy
Text:
CS: We would gather… usually it was before every opening. We would all gather together, um, like, everyone on the crew. And the stage manager, who would be calling the show, would say a prayer to the theatre gods. And we would all have out hands on their head in a circle around them. And then they would say like, “I just hope this show goes well, everyone did so good…” usually it was something along those lines. And once they were done, we would all raise up our arms and go “whoooooooa, Bundy!”
Context: CS is a college student in Southern California who attended an arts high school in Santa Ana. This school had conservatories focused on different art forms, and CS was in Production & Design (P&D), which focused on technical theatre and design elements in live performance.
CS: I have been told conflicting things.My brother, he says that it’s like how in The Mighty Ducks, the movies, they would say “quack, quack!” Like, that’s our “quack, quack.” But, um, the lore that I was told is that Will Bundy was the first P&D student admitted to Production & Design. Like, top of the roster, “B,” Bundy, top of the alphabetical order. And so we’re like, honoring him by saying Will Bundy. And it’s either “whoa, Bundy,” or “Will Bundy,” depending on who you ask.
Analysis:
I think this is a very interesting pre-show ritual. It contains some marks of common pre-show theatre rituals–the standing in a circle, touching hands, a “leader” figure within the group saying some kind of affirmation or “prayer” hoping for a good show, as well as recognizing the work of the people around them–but the chant is one I’ve never heard before. I think the supposed connection to the first student of the program is very sweet, and represents a kind of honoring of the work of the students of the program through all the years of its existence. It’s almost a celebration of the technical theatre program and all the unrecognized work that these students would do.