“Wicked” usage in New England

Nationality: United States
Age: 54
Occupation: Retail
Residence: Tampa, Florida
Performance Date: 2/23/2023
Primary Language: English

Text
“Wicked” used in sayings like “It’s wicked cold outside.”

Context

The informant is in her mid 50’s and is currently living in Tampa, Florida. She grew up in Massachusetts about 20 minutes outside of Boston. She was born in MA and lived there for around 35 years before moving down to Florida. The informant often uses “wicked” in place of “very.” Examples would include phrases like “The line was wicked long” or “The price of that meal was wicked expensive.” The informant usually doesn’t use this phrase in Florida but whenever she visits Boston, she uses this word a lot. The informant also uses this word a lot when she talks to her family in New England on the phone. The informant says she especially uses this phrase when she’s talking to her dad because her dad loves using this word and so the informant makes sure to match his language. The informant’s dad is also from MA and has only ever spent time in New England.

Analysis

The use of the word “wicked” in New England can be traced back to the region’s colonial roots. The Puritans who settled in the area brought with them a rigid moral code, and the word “wicked” was often used to describe anything sinful. Over time, however, the word began to be used more broadly to mean “very” or “extremely”, perhaps as a way of adding emphasis without resorting to profanity. The usage of “wicked” is largely confined to New England because the region has historically been somewhat separated from the rest of the country. This isolation, combined with the region’s unique dialect and cultural traditions, may have helped to preserve the use of “wicked” as a regionalism.

This is a popular phrase and is a type of minor genre in folklore. This phrase connects people and gives people from New England something in common. If you ever hear a person saying this phrase it’s a giveaway that they’re from New England. I interpret this word to mean “very.” However, I think this word will always have a slightly negative connotation for me just because I’m used to hearing my mom and grandpa use it to complain about things. Also, the word wicked will always have a negative connotation for me because I’ve always compared this word to evil, even though in the informant’s context that’s not what it means at all.

Metaphorical saying for “Doing Bad”

Nationality: American
Age: 19-20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 02/16/2023
Primary Language: English
  1. “Screwed the Pooch”
  2. I did an interview with a classmate in my Anthropology class, with an emphasis surrounding folklore and he revealed to me a saying he heard from a friend in high school. “My buddy in high school, this guy I know Jake Harris he really fumbled some science work, something in this class we had together and he’s like man… I really screwed the pooch and I thought that was hilarious. He’s from Simsbury, Connecticut. And I don’t know where he got that or anything, but I heard that and thought it was pretty funny. [How old were you?] At the time, we had to be freshman or sophomores in high school, 15 or 16. ”
  3. My interpretation of this metaphorical saying is that it is simply comedic. I have heard this before, I think I’ve even heard in a movie in the 2000s. It is often times, in my view at least, something that would be said in a stereo typical high school movie. Additionally, from my interpretation and knowledge of this saying it means to mess up something or make an embarrassing mistake of some sort. Moreover, I believe this saying has been around for quite sometime now, but I have not been around many people who say it, so there could be an Northeastern thing.

Fraternity Term

Nationality: American
Age: 19 or 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 02/23/2023
Primary Language: English

1.Fade

2. “To fade…oh I’m fading that or I’m fading you, that’s a term in my frat and its commonly used. To fade means to like leave or disengage from. If we are hanging out and I walk out of the room.. I’m fading you, I’m leaving you. Or if its like I’m fading class, I’m skipping class.”

3. For my interpretation of this term, I associate fading or being faded to a term that is associated with marijuana. I have heard people say they are faded when they are high, but I have never heard of it in this way, so that’s interesting. Because this term is common in fraternities, I could gather that because fraternities are not new, this term has been around for quite some time and is not just used at USC. By the google definition of the word fade, it means to gradually disappear or come in or out of view. With this in mind, thinking historically, in the fraternity environment I would think it is common to come of with slang like this. Moreover, throughout history the word fade has been used and changed in so many different ways, but seem mean the same thing. For example, when getting a hair cut, one can ask for a fade and basically the length gradually gets thinner and thinner to create a fading sort of look. I think this is cool to think about.

Fraternity Term

Nationality: American
Age: 19 or 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 02/23/2023
Primary Language: English
  1. Scope
  2. In a continuation of an interview I did with a classmate of mine in my anthropology discussion class he shared with me some of his fraternity terms and here is what he said: “Scoping is another one, its like to look at. If you are wearing something funny… you can say ‘yo! Scope me’ that’s a few of my fraternity terms”
  3. As he got this term from his fraternity, I find it common knowledge that brother in a fraternity often like to use slang or shorten their words when they talk to each other. This could be to come off as cooler to others or to feel a sense of community knowing you are in a house or organization that has its own language essentially. He did not reveal to me the origins of this saying, but I assume it has been around long enough to become relevant now. I would not personally use this term, but when looking at the definition of the word scope, used in the context my friend did, it seems to make sense. When thinking somewhat historically, people or even animals would “scope out” or look around their surroundings to find someone or something, so this one is not a far reach.

Zapatito blanco, zapatito azul. Dime cauntos anos tienes tu: Children’s folklore/game/counting-out-rhyme

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 2/16/23
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Text: “Zapatito blanco, zapatito azul. Dime cuántos años tienes tú.” “Little white shoe, little blue shoe. Tell me how many years are you.” 

Context: EC’s relationship to this piece stems from her Mexican culture influenced by her childhood specifically within elementary school. Given that she attended a predominantly hispanic elementary school in Whittier California, EC would often hear this children’s folklore/game/counting-out-rhyme within her classmates ranging from kindergarten through third grade as they spoke Spanish. They would typically say the phrase and touch everyone’s shoe according to every syllable of the phrase as they were getting ready to play a game and the goal was to determine who was “it”; similarly to “bubble gum bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces to do wish?”. EC interprets this speech as a fun way to determine who was ‘it” when playing hide-and-seek or tag. She explains that this phrase takes her back to her childhood where playing with friends at recess showcased innocence. She interprets this phrase as a sweet, youthful, random, and nice sounding statement used to get the game started. 

Analysis: The cultural value that I see present within this children’s folklore/game/counting-out-rhyme relates to the customs of childhood within society. Despite the fact that this phrase has cultural value within the Mexican/Hispanic community, it ultimately revolves around the culture of childhood considering that it is a shared experience among many elementary aged children due to the variations in both English and Spanish. Given the fact that even though I am Mexican myself and have never heard this phrase being said at school, I often heard the English bubblegum version. Overall, I see this children’s game as a pure indicator of childhood innocence as it is a silly pre-game ritual used to determine the start of a game whether playing tag or hide-and-seek. I interpret this children’s folklore/game/counting-out-rhyme as a creative standpoint considering it has similar rhyming components and various alomotifs that connect to the English version that I grew up playing.