Milking the Cat

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Residence: Newport Beach, California
Performance Date: April 25, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Davis is from Newport Beach, California and enjoys surfing.

Original Script:

Davis: “Dude, stop milking the cat.”

Context:

When someone feels like they are being led on or lied to.

My Thoughts:

Davis said that this is similar to the saying “Stop yanking my chain.” Coming from southern California myself, I thought that I had heard every type of folk speech here, but I apparently have not. This shows that not only is foreign folklore unfamiliar to me, but I guess that even folklore from my culture can be unfamiliar.

Eggy

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Residence: Newport Beach, California
Performance Date: April 25, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Davis is from Newport Beach, California and enjoys surfing.

Original Script:

Davis: “The term ‘eggy’ basically means that someone is kind of strange or weird. A lot of people in my area sometimes even call a party ‘eggy.'”

Context:

When referring to something as odd.

My Thoughts:

Growing up in southern California myself, I have heard this term a few times, but it meant something different. I always thought that it meant that something is awesome, similar to the term that is commonly used “sick.” This shows that sometimes one folk term can mean more than one thing.

Davey Crockett – The Savior of Tennessee

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Residence: Nashville, Tennessee
Performance Date: April 25, 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant:

Clarke is from Nashville, Tennessee and considers himself “one of the biggest fans of his hometown in the world.”

Original Script:

Clarke: “Davey Crockett was from eastern Tennessee, like in the mountains, and people say that he fought a bear when he was a kid. But anyway, during the Alamo, when Texas was fighting for their independence, Davey Crockett was the guy who rallied all the troops from Tennessee, which is why we’re called the volunteer state. Also, even though many people died, Crockett is said to be the spirit of Tennessee because he is someone who helped people in need.”

Context:

This story is a way to inspire Tennessee pride in its citizens.

My thoughts:

For some reason, I am almost jealous that Tennessee has an awesome fictional hero. California does not have such figure to look up to, which I think keeps us from having as much pride in our state as those in Tennessee. Hopefully, one day California will have someone to stir up its citizens to be proud that they live there.

Bath Time – Japan

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Diego
Performance Date: 4/24/2107
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: Chinese, English

My informant was born and raised in Japan, but moved to America to finish her college degree at the University of San Diego. She told me about a childhood custom that is common among Japanese families.

“In Japan a little daughter and dad shower and bath together is normal–with son too. People from other countries say that’s disgusting. (But) it’s because normally dads don’t have time to communicate with their kids cause the work, so bath time is perfect time to have kids time to them. We did until I was 7 or something.”

I knew she had an older brother, so I asked if her dad would shower with both of them simultaneously or one by one. Her response was:

“Both! But that’s only when we’re little like 3 or 4. After that let’s say probably when I’m taking the bath my dad join me after. We just talk and play in the bathtub. Maybe he help me wash my hair, but not the body.”

I thought it was interesting how my informant pointed out how other countries saw this custom as strange, and felt the need to provide an explanation (almost in a defensive manner). I think it is because in Western culture it is more commonly heard of for mothers to take baths with their children since they are the ones to have given birth and are the “caretakers” of the family. A father  taking a bath with his child–especially a daughter– could be interpreted as inappropriate or even as sexual abuse.

However, baths are a huge part of Japanese custom. Japan has numerous public bathhouses located all over the country, varying from rural to urban areas. These bathhouses have large communal baths that are typically segregated by gender. Visitors comfortably bathe and walk around nude in front of complete strangers. With this information in mind, I was not surprised to hear that it is typical for children to bathe with their fathers.

Jewish Funeral

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Boca Raton, Florida
Performance Date: 4/20/17
Primary Language: English

My informant is African-American and is from Boca Raton, Florida. Her family practices Judaism, so she explained to me a part of their funeral ritual:

“We do this thing called Shiva. Basically it’s like you sit in your house and people bring you food. It happens for seven days, so it’s like a week of mourning. People come by whenever and they bring all sorts of food as a way to say sorry. It includes friends and family. It’s like, if you’re Jewish you just know that they’re going to have a Shiva, so you should stop by and bring them food. Usually there’s a lot of people there because once someone passes away usually the mourning house will get a lot of visitors. It’s kind of like a.. not like a social like you go there to socialize. But you go there and you’re eating a little and chatting. You could stop by and there’s no one there.”

As we’ve learned in class, death is a rite of passage. It is a transitional process where the deceased moves from the living world to the world of the dead. According to my informant it sounded like shivas are not entirely somber and grim, but have some light-heartedness to it as well. From other funeral rituals I’ve heard of, it seems like the gathering of people is the most shared attribute regardless of whether or not it is to mourn together or reminisce and celebrate the life of the deceased.