Pull My Finger

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Occupation: Marketing
Residence: Boston
Performance Date: 3/12/16
Primary Language: English

The joke is simple: the jokester says “Pull my finger” and sticks out his finger, the victim pulls the finger, the jokester farts. My father (still) thinks this is hilarious. As he explains,

“It’s something we did as kids. It was super funny back then. And being a dumb guy, still think it’s funny. Back then we would literally fart when you pulled someone’s finger. Tears of hilarity. So every time I hear it I think of being in grade school.”

My dad “performs” this joke every time I see him. It has become something that everyone in my family expects, and that has become a part of the humor for Dad. It’s basically his way of saying, “I’m going to fart.”

Another part of the humor is that the victim becomes complicit in this nasty thing the jokester is doing. The victim is meant to feel like his action of pulling the finger is what caused the fart. I remember as kids we would be astounded as to how my dad could do that on command. Really he was just fooling us all. This joke is more of a prank; it is most fun for the jokester (unless, of course, the victim respects good toilet humor). Pranks are interesting because they walk the line between being cruel and being amusing. I think they exist so that the prankster can be cruel and get away with it by calling it funny.

Cruelty is a common theme in humor in general. A lot of jokes are deprecating and sometimes mean, but if they’re clever or funny enough, they allow people to find joy in all sorts of things that are usually not very funny. Self-deprecating jokes can be used to brush off embarrassing mistakes. And other jokes can be used to inject a little bit of happiness into depressing events.

Pranks, on the other hand, can sometimes be just plain mean. But I think the “pull my finger” joke is one of the simplest, funniest pranks you can pull on someone… no pun intended.

Una Adivinaza de Aguacate

Nationality: Costa Rican
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 4/24/16
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

SB is from Costa Rica. We have been friends for some time, and whenever she cuts avocado I notice she says a little limerick to herself. I asked her what she was saying. She told me: “Agua pasa por mi casa, cate de mi corazón.”

It’s a riddle (adivinaza), and the answer is aguacate, which means “avocado” in Spanish. The phrase literally translates to ” Water runs down my house, it is a punch to my heart.” It is not really apparent what this has to do with avocados, but the solution to the riddle is found in the wordplay. Agua + cate each have meaning on their own in Spanish, but also form the word aguacate.

S explains, “Riddles like these are used to teach kids various fruits in Spanish.” It clearly works, because S remembers this riddle all these years later and still associates it with avocados whenever she has one. I asked her why she thinks there are riddles to learn simple things like fruit, and she explained that aguacate is actually a pretty difficult word for kids to say. This little rhyme, which breaks down the word, helps teach how to say it.

S told me another one of her favorites:

Tiene ojos y no ve,

posee corona y no es rey,

tiene escamas sin ser pez,

¿qué rara cosa ha de ser?

Which means:

It has eyes and doesn’t see,

It has a crown and isn’t a king,

It has scales but is not a fish,

What rare thing could it be?

The answer is piña, a pineapple.

Throughout my time collecting folklore, I’ve noticed there are a lot of rhymes and riddles in various cultures that are meant to teach kids simple things like manners or words. These riddles stimulate creative thinking at a young age. Riddles are not always obvious and you have to connect the puns or wordplay to come up with the right answer. Folklore is a prominent part of children’s development. I believe a majority of what children learn in their early ages is through folklore; before they can read, kids pick up what people are talking about around them. Learning culture is just as important as learning to read and write, and folklore teaches this.

Fan Lhor

Nationality: Thai
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 4/4/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Thai

LS is from Thailand. She explained the folk superstition surrounding eating. According to L, “If you eat the last piece of food on a plate, you’ll get a hot boyfriend, or a fan lhor as we call it.” Food is generally shared in Thailand, served family style with a bunch of plates in the middle of the table that everyone eats from. L told me that this was a favorite custom of hers because all her family and friends took it very seriously. She explains how you say “fan lhor” as you reach for the food. “Whenever we were at the end of the meal,” L recounts, “me and friends would all shout it [fan lhor] and race for the last piece. We always wanted a hot boyfriend, obviously.”

I love this custom because it is so much fun. I have seen L perform this in person at a few dinners. It is a natural thing for her to do at the end of a meal because she is so used to doing it at home. The custom captures the spirit of Thai meals, which are meant to be lively affairs with a big group of people.

I believe the custom exists because it encourages people to finish all of the food served by making a fun game out of it. Table manners are such an interesting part of a culture because they vary greatly. In some cultures it is rude to be aggressive and loud at the table, but in Thailand it is encouraged. Furthermore, these dining customs encourage good eating habits in a fun way. Folklore has this power to stick in our minds because it is performed for us in such casual, quotidian ways. It is easier to remember folklore than traditional rules or literature because it is so informal that it can be repeated and reheard daily.

Thai Animals

Nationality: Thai
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 4/25/16
Primary Language: English
Language: Thai

LS is from Thailand. She says the worst thing someone can be compared to is an animal. A lot of Thai insults and swear words are animals. For example, ควาย (kwaai), which means “buffalo.” According to L, this is one of the worst things you can call someone. She says, “It is degrading to be called an animal.” Another insult is sàt, which simply means “animal.”

I can see where the insults come from. To be an animal is to be less than human. Being called an “animal” is worse than being called a “stupid person” or a “mean person.” By likening someone to an animal you are saying they do not even belong in human society. It is certainly a harsh thing to insinuate, which is the entire point of insults and swear words.

Parents will also use the bad connotations of being an animal to teach their children manners. L explained, “Parents tell their kids that if they eat while laying down they will turn into a snake.” And also, “If you don’t close the door behind you, you’re considered to have a really long tail because your tail is still coming through the door.” L told me her parents would always tell her these things, and that most Thai parents would tell their kids this; therefore, these phrases are commonly know. L told me that she would also use the familiar phrases with her friends to mock each other for fun.

I think this an interesting way to teach children. Children have such active imaginations that they probably believe they’ll really turn into animals. I believe that in most cultures parents teach their children through fantastical consequences. Using fun, imaginative punishments is sometimes easier than explaining to a child the real reason why it is inappropriate to leave the door open or something similar. A lot of folklore that is directed towards children is meant to teach simple lessons such as this.

It is clear why parents teach lessons through folklore. Children are more likely to remember to, say, close the door behind them if they associate it with something crazy like having a tail. This form of teaching clearly works, my friend L remembers the lessons more than ten years later. Folklore has this power to stick in our minds because it is performed for us in such casual, quotidian ways. It is easier to remember folklore than traditional rules or literature because it is so informal that it can be repeated and reheard daily.

Crew Celebration

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: student, athlete
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 4/1/16
Primary Language: English

JD is on the captain of USC’s crew team. He has been racing for over two years now, and the sport has, in his words, “become my life.” Rowers are dedicated athletes that train every day at the crack of dawn. The sport is brutal on the body. J tells me that if he doesn’t puke during practice than he’s not going hard enough.

Races are intense affairs. They only last a few minutes long, and rowers are pushing themselves to the limit the entire time. As in any sport, competition is taken very seriously, and winning means everything.

But rowers have an interesting way in which they celebrate their victories. At the end of the race, the winning team gets the shirts from the team that lost. As J described it, the losers literally remove the shirts they wore during the race and hand them to the victors. “The other team is basically publicly humiliated by having to take off their clothes and give them to us,” J explains.

I think this is a very aggressive celebration that encapsulates the intensity of the sport. It’s almost war-like: the champions are claiming their spoils from the competition. It is very symbolic. The winning team goes home with a material memento that symbolizes the opponents they have defeated. And the losing team goes home with nothing but their (nearly) naked bodies. Of course, I am dramatizing the celebration a bit, but the way J describes it, and from what I’ve seen of their practices and get-togethers, rowers take their sport very seriously. The war-like attitude is very much a part of it. They yell throughout the entire race, and have various other pre-race chants to pump themselves up.

These celebrations are an important part of any sport. In our society, sports have replaced war and fighting as the main way that the lay-man proves his worth. In war, victory was clear because the opponents were literally dead. But in sports, athletes have created new ways to perform and recognize their victories.