Text:

When swimming with friends in the ocean and a big wave is coming, you shout “Over, Under,” triggering the “over, under” game.

Context:

S, who is from and grew up in Orange County, spent many hours and days at the beaches with her friends. When swimming in the ocean, they would see waves come in, and one of them would shout “over, under,” meaning, so we jump over the wave or swim under it. The bigger a wave was, the higher the chance everyone would swim under it because you would get pummeled if you tried jumping over a wave that was too big.

Analysis

It seems like this folk speech of “over, under” is a form of “esoteric” folk speech because the use of “over, under” is to trigger a reaction from S’s friends, who are part of her folk group. Therefore, “over, under” would function as “esoteric” speech as it is a form of communication aimed at the members of her folk group, rather than “exoteric” since it is not trying to be communicated to the general public or people outside of the folk group. I believe “over, under” could also be considered “emic” rather than “etic” since it is an insider’s (people who live and grew up in OC) perspective of the ocean and waves, and it would probably not be understood by someone who grew up no where near the ocean. For all the outsider may assume from hearing the shout “over, under” in the ocean a shark could be coming to attack them!