The boats is the casino. Before gambling was legal, you could do it in the river, but you couldn’t do it on land. All the casinos used to be on boats. Her parents would say it when she was a kid and she would be so confused. Everyone in Kansas City knows what it means.
I think this folk speech is interesting because it represents how a certain population worked around restrictions that they had, and that became ingrained into their culture. It is also important to look at how the phrase has remained and lasted in the culture even well past the time when it needed to, so the phrase became so widespread and ingrained during the times that casinos were on boats that it couldn’t just leave the vernacular of the people.
“What did the candle say to the other candle?” “You going out tonight?”
Informant’s dad told it to her. He would bring it up at family dinners or at backyard barbeques. She didn’t find it funny at all, because it was a dad joke. Some people would laugh at it and some people would be like “oh my god that’s such a dad joke.” It was used as an icebreaker.
What struck me the most from this collection was the informant telling me about the varied reactions that the “dad joke” would get. The “dad joke” genre is one that has always been strange to me, because I haven’t always been able to categorize jokes into it, and people would call things dad jokes that I didn’t realize were. But I think the way the dad jokes cause reactions in people is important to analyze, because it impacts the way the memories of the joke live in people. Some people enjoy them and find them genuinely funny, meanwhile others will groan at them and find them cheesy. Nonetheless, most people will have a pretty strong stance on dad jokes, which reflects that they have a strong impact on people.
Informant’s Sicilian grandma would say this to her when she sat on the table. She would say it a lot because she was always sitting on the table. At the time, informant was mad about being told that. Now, after her grandma has passed, she laughs at it because it’s a nice memory.
This proverb is one that guides the listener to behave in a certain manner, because it is what is seen as proper in society. People don’t like when you sit on tables, and it’s seen as rude, so this rather crude proverb is used to advise on the way to conduct yourself with such furniture. It gives direct advice about what you should and shouldn’t use tables for, so it fits with the societal purpose of proverbs to impart advice onto someone. The way in which this informant learned of this proverb also fits with the typical passing of them, from someone older to someone younger, and even more so that it’s done through family.
Residence: Santa Barbara, California, United States
Performance Date: 2-16-2023
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish
Text:
Two people face each other. Their hands are connected palms together with fingers together and thumbs upward. They extend their arms to connect their middle fingertips together lightly. (see image below)
One person will try to take one of their hands away from the other and slap their partner’s hand. The partner with try to pull their hands away before they can be hit.
(Though the informant assigned no such roles, I will refer to the partner aiming to slap as the offensive partner and the partner pulling back as the defending partner for ease of communication.)
If the defensive partner succeeds in avoiding the hit, both players will reset their hands to the starting position and the offensive partner will try again to hit the hand. This repeats until the offensive partner wins. If the offensive partner succeeds in hitting their partner’s hand they win, and the defensive partner loses. The original hand position is taken up again and this time the partner who lost will take on the offensive role (trying to slap their partner’s hand before they pull away.) and the partner who won will take up the defensive role (trying to pull away). Play proceeds like this for as long as is desired.
Context:
The informant learned this game at a young age from her father who is from Murcia, Spain.
Analysis:
This game reminds me of many other hand games primarily children will play. specifically, it reminded me of a very similar game I learned as a child. The game I know features the same goal of trying to slap the partner’s hands before they pull away, and also the same system for switching roles. The difference is the starting position. As I learned the game, the offensive partner would place their hands out palms up and the defender would lightly rest their hands over the partner’s hands palms down.
These hand games indicate resourcefulness among people and children especially. This game is a way to have fun without the need for any materials. it is also very quick to learn.
Residence: Santa Barbara ,California, United states
Performance Date: 2-16-2023
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish
Text:
“We’re all girls here”
Context:
The informant recounts that her old synchronized swim teacher would say this saying in response to young girls being afraid to change or be naked in the locker room. The intention as the informant remembers was to create a sense of solidarity and safety among the girls and to tell them that it was safe and not taboo to be naked in this space.
The informant also notes that she has brought this saying up with her boyfriend who has played football (and therefore, presumably been in many a men’s locker room). He was unfamiliar with the saying and did not recount a male equivalent to the phrase.
Analysis:
To me, this saying is an example of teaching or imposing gender on children. This phrase indicates a need to remind children of the gender systems around them. When children are young they are generally unaware of gender. when they go to school and exit their homes later in life they are introduced to gender and what that means for their lives. This saying informs young girls that around other girls and women it is safe and acceptable to be naked and show taboo body parts like genitals and secondary sexual characteristics. It also subtly indicates that it is unsafe or unacceptable to be naked around boys and men.
The fact that there was not a clear or memorable male equivalent saying indicates to me that boys and men are not held to the same standard of concealing their bodies. Nor are they taught of exposure being something dangerous.
