Counting Shoulders

GENRE:

Gesture

CONTEXT: 

J has shared this as a way to flirt. He shared it as a joke, but many people use this in day to day.

What is Counting Shoulders?

So basically what you do is you ask the other person “How many shoulders do we have?” Then they say “two” because they’re not stupid. Then you say “Really? Let’s count.” And you tap your own shoulder for one, then your other shoulder for two. Their closest shoulder is three, and then their furthest shoulder is four. When you tap the further shoulder, your arm will be around them, and you keep it there.

So it’s essentially a pickup line?

Right. 

And people actually use this?

Yeah, in the way that people use pick up lines. Everyone kind of acknowledges that it’s cringey, but they let it be because it’s funny. 

Have you used this?

Only ironically. 

Did it work?

I mean I used it on my girlfriend as a joke. So yes, but I also didn’t need it. 

REFLECTION:

The nature of pick up lines has evolved over the years as people begin to recognize how ridiculous they are. That being said, they still maintain some of the charm, and are an effective way to break the ice. While most pickup lines exist to start conversation, Counting Shoulders exists to break the touch barrier, which can be very nerve-wracking for people. Because of the playful nature, however, Counting Shoulders makes it much easier for this step to be taken. As a result of the physical nature of Counting Shoulders, it requires that a relationship is already established, where a pickup line can be used on anyone. 

Undoing the Macbeth Curse

Background: the informant is a college student and theater major. He is originally from Scranton, PA. He is also my roommate. 

Context: I asked him about this practice while he was cleaning the room. 

Me: What do you do to undo the curse if you say “Macbeth” in a theater?

Informant: Go outside, spin around three times, over your left shoulder, spit over your left shoulder, say a curse word, knock and be let back in. 

(He was adamant that this is the only right way)

Reflection: I asked another theater student with a different background about how to undo the same curse, and she had a slightly different answer. This informant was positive there was a right and wrong way to do this, whereas the other informant (who had folklore experience) believed there were a variety of ways that this tradition could be performed. Perhaps the saying a curse word part of this tradition has something to do with a transference of the curse or bad luck. 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Background: The informant grew up in Sleepy Hollow, New York, home to the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Context: I asked him about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and he sent me a video telling it to the best of his memory.

“The story goes, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, there’s this place, like the pilgrims, ooo America, this undiscovered land, creepy, scary, lots of woods. There’s this one place called Sleepy Hollow, where it is now in New York. It’s haunted, there’s lots of ghosts there, it’s a quiet little grove, and then when you go in, there’s lots of spirits, it’s very scary. That’s the story.
That’s what’s happening there. But then scariest one of all, is supposedly there’s this guy called the Headless Horseman, who’s the ghost of a Hessian soldier during the Revolutionary War, whose head got shot off by a cannon, so at night he rides around looking for his lost head. And that’s the setting of the story. What happens is this guy named Ichabod Crane comes and he becomes a school teacher in Sleepy Hollow. He’s a very frail, skinny, skittish man, and after he teaches, he loves talking to the housewives about all the gossip, hearing all the gossip, and they start telling all these ghost stories. He is just so scared, he’s such a scared person- they really freak him out. He’s just living in Sleepy Hollow, hearing all these scary stories, being very scared.
He goes to this ball or something, or some town celebration, and he sees this girl who is the daughter of the wealthy family in town. I think her name is Katrina Von Tassel, and he instantly falls in love with her, I think wants to marry her, maybe he asks her to marry him and she’s like no. Whatever. So he’s beefing with this other guy, I don’t remember his name, he’s like the big man around town, he’s tall, strong, he’s like the manly man. They’re both fighting over Katrina. The other guy sees that Ichabod is into her and he doesn’t like that.
Later that night when Ichabod leaves the party to go home, he’s riding his old, slow, brown horse home through the dark woods at night in Sleepy Hollow. He hears a horse behind him. He’s looking, trying to see what it is, and then he sees this dark figure in the night. And it’s a black horse, and sitting on top of it is a man all covered in black with no head. He’s like ‘oh my god it’s the Headless Horseman!’ So he starts running, the horse is chasing him, he’s riding on his horse, the other horse is chasing him, they go over the famous Sleepy Hollow bridge, and then he’s like “aaa.”
The story ends and it’s basically up to you to decide whether that was the actual Headless Horseman chasing him or that was the guy who he was fighting with who also owns a black horse, who knows that Ichabod Crane is a scaredy cat, and was basically trying to intimidate him. “

Reflection: this legend reflects many of the values of the culture that produced and tells it. It tells that underdog stories are valuable–Ichabod is the protagonist, not the manly man. It also speaks to the fear of the unknown in Early America, and the nature of the Headless Horseman speaks to a trauma from war, in this case, the Revolutionary war. This legend is commonly known as an authored story written by Washington Irving. It has been told folklorically since it was written down, and it was likely inspired by folklore before it was penned.

For further reading, here is the text of Washington Irving’s story: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41/41-h/41-h.htm

The Jersey Devil

Background: the informant is a college student, originally from Central/Southern New Jersey. 

Context: we were goofing around, editing a film, and I asked if anyone had any folklore. The informant put on a dramatic, deepened, storytelling voice. 

“In the Great Pine Barrens of New Jersey, there once lay a woman, from whom borne the spawn of Satan. She lay eight children from her womb. One of them ate the rest. He stayed in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and became the Jersey Devil.”

Me: Is that why the hockey team is called [The Devils]?

Informant: Yeah. 

Reflection: this sounds a bit like an older, East Coast Puritanical legend. It reflects a culture that punishes women just for existing. I think all people like to think their home is a bit haunted in one way or another. That way, strange happenings can always be attributed to the devil, ghost or whomever it may be that is causing these strange happenings.

Further reading: https://pinelandsalliance.org/learn-about-the-pinelands/pinelands-history-and-culture/the-jersey-devil-and-folklore/

King Śibi and the Dove

This is the story of King Śibi in India, who was a uhh devout Buddhist, so uh in theory he was a devout Buddhist. … Umm one of the Kings of the gods, Indra, wanted to sort of test his faith and see how faithful he truly was. So he and a, and a companion got together and transformed themselves, one into a dove, one into a hawk. And the dove came into King Śibi’s house, palace, and uh and said “I need you to protect me” and he said “Of course I’ll protect you, that’s my role as a King”. Right afterwards the hawk comes in and says “Well I’m ready for my breakfast, where is my dove?” and he says “I can’t let you have the dove because I’m … because he’s under my protection now as the King”. And he says “Well if I don’t have the dove to eat then I’m going to die, I’ll starve to death. So why don’t you have to protect me too, do you have to do something to protect me as well?” And he says, “Well what if I give you … uh flesh off of my arm in the same amount, same weight as the dove?” This is where the pound of flesh came in Shakespeare comes from, an old Indian folklore actually. And umm said, “Ok that’s fine”. So he puts the dove on a scale, one of these scales like they have and he cuts off some of his flesh and puts it on the scale, but the dove is still too heavy. So he cuts the flesh off his other arm and puts it on the scale, the scale still doesn’t bounce. So he starts cutting off his leg flesh, and puts it up there and still the dove is heavier. And finally he somehow manages to raise himself up onto the scale, climbs into the scale himself and just at that moment, both the dove and the … and the hawk transform back into their, their um original form as gods and said, “This was simply a test”. And they restored him to his original health and his devotion was proven.

Background: The informant was previously a monk turned professor of buddhism. They learned this story in their studies of Indian buddhism and through researching and writing papers on the topic. They mainly know about Korean Zen buddhism having spent time as a monk in Korea, however they know about Indian buddhism as well. They picked up this text in their studies of Indian buddhism.

Interpretation: This text lays out and reinforces the fundamental belief in Buddhism that one should give up attachments to their worldly possessions. In this case the Buddhist in question ends up being willing to sacrifice his life in order to save the life of an animal. This act also shows equality in all things, with the human being willing to sacrifice his life for the life of the dove. It also shows this by having the dove weigh the same as the human on the set of scales. Similar motifs can be found in tales such as the tale of the Buddhist monk that throws himself off a cliff in order to feed a starving family of tigers. Another version of the text where a monk feeds himself to tigers is found here. (Wu, Ming-Kuo  (2018, May 7). Jataka tale: Prince Mahasattva. Dunhuang Foundation. http://dunhuangfoundation.us/blog/2018/3/7/jataka-tale-prince-mahasattva).