Why?

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/21/2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My informant, M.A., is 18 and was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. M.A. parents both work as corporate lawyers and he hopes to pursue the same career. M.A. is also a practicing Catholic and is strongly connected to his religion. He has one brother and two sisters with the family being almost fully Americanized but still hold on to some of his Syrian heritage.

Folklore: “I took a Psychology class in high school, and my professor was known to post one short, open ended question for the class to analyze and write a minimum of 10 pages in a blue book that would be worth. When the class showed up to take the final, the professor gets up and writes down one word on the board. ‘Why?’ Immediately, all of the students start writing frantically listing different theories or concepts and citing famous psychologists throughout history. However, there was one student who wrote down two words, got up and turned in his book, and left the class. The other students were confused and curious as to what he wrote down that would decide the fate of his grade. Later, when everyone was getting their grade back they found out that the student wrote down the simple phrase, ‘Why not?’ and received the only “A” on the final. M.A. was told this story from his father multiple times when growing up. His dad told him the message to take away from the story is to be confident in what you believe in regardless of what everyone else is doing and if you want to win big you have to be willing to risk big.

Analysis: I like this story and it reminds me of a story my dad would tell me. The story is meant to show that anyone who has ever done anything great usually had to take at least one or more huge chances at some point in their career. If you want to get remembered you have to be bold enough to risk everything.

For more information on this story, see http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/oneword.asp

Typing Drill

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/26/17
Primary Language: English

Informant: My informant, S. G. is 19 and was born and raised in Southern California. Sawyer lives in Chino Hills and has two mothers who both work as P.E. teachers for high school and middle schools. She has one older sister and one younger brother with the family having ties to its Swedish heritage.

Folklore: “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.” This phrase was meant to act as a way to improve your typing skills when people still used typewriters. Sawyer’s mom learned this when she was in college and was a common drill used to teach beginners. She later taught S. G. when she began learning how to type but doesn’t have the same practical meaning when being performed on a computer.

Analysis: The reason why people used this phrase as a typewriter drill was because it filled the 70 space line on a paper rather than being the best phrase to teach typing. Today, there are new drills being used to teach typing but this phrase did come up when I was learning how to type in middle school.

Annunciation Phrase

Nationality: American/Swedish
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/26/17
Primary Language: English

Informant: My informant, S. G., is 19 and was born and raised in Southern California. S.G. lives in Chino Hills and has two mothers who both work as P.E. teachers for high school and middle schools. She has one older sister and one younger brother with the family having ties to its Swedish heritage.

Folklore: “How no brown cow, green green grass.” This piece of folklore is a nonsense phrase meant to be practiced by young children to learn proper annunciation when speaking. Sawyer and her siblings were all taught this phrase growing up from their parents and were meant to repeat it at least once a day. S.G. claims she was forced to practice the phrase until she reached 6th grade.

Analysis: There is no actual proof that this phrase will actually correct a child’s annunciation, but I suppose there is no harm in practicing anyway. S.G. and both her siblings all pronounce their words perfectly so there is no proof to say it doesn’t work.

Mother Proverb

Nationality: American/Swedish
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/26/17
Primary Language: English

Informant: My informant, S. G., is 19 and was born and raised in Southern California. S. G. lives in Chino Hills and has two mothers who both work as P.E. teachers for high school and middle schools. She has one older sister and one younger brother with the family having ties to its Swedish heritage.

Folklore: “A son is a son until he gets married, but a daughter is a daughter forever.” S.G. heard this saying from her mom before she left for college. The saying is meant to show that a son will get married one day and his wife will fill the gap left by the mother, but a daughter will always need the help of her mother to guide her. Her mom told her this to show her that she’ll always be there for.

Analysis: I agree with the saying above in terms of how women have such a large impact on male lives and how we rely on them more than we know. It’s also symbolic of the special bond shared between mother and daughter.

Summer Sun

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/20/2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My informant, D.L., is 20 and was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. D.L. mother works as an admissions director for his high school. He has one older brother who also attends USC. Both of D.L. parents are full Chinese, but have completely adopted the Hawaiian culture. D.L. spends most of his free time at the beach and considers himself more Hawaiian than Chinese.

Folklore: “Māui’s next feat is to stop the sun from moving so fast. His mother Hina complains that her kapa (bark cloth) is unable to dry because the days are so short. Māui climbs to the mountain Hale-a-ka-lā (house of the sun) and lassoes the sun’s rays as the sun comes up, using a rope made from his sister’s hair. The sun pleads for life and agrees that the days shall be long in summer and short in winter.” D.L. was told this story from his teacher in elementary school. The legend, Maui, plays a large role in Hawaiian folklore and is the basis of many creation stories.

Analysis: This is a fun legend that is told to kids in Hawaii. This reminds me of summer and how the days get longer. I have great memories in the summer from staying out later at the beach with the sun still out.