J, 80 was born and grew up in Spearfish, S.D. He is the grandson of Norwegian immigrants that moved to North Dakota so they could homestead and farm in the early 20th century.
Text:
“’Uffda’ in Norwegian is an exclamation, it represents surprise, annoyance, etc. My mom and grandmother both used that word generously.” said my informant.
Analysis:
The term ‘uffda’ seems to be a very common stereotypical expression in areas such as Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. These regions in the US, are populated by the descendants of Scandinavian immigrants, including many Norwegians. The phrase is used to express surprise, annoyance, relief, exhaustion, disappointment, astonishment, exasperation, and dismay; and it can be used positively or negatively. It is basically the equivalent of an exclamation mark in a regular conversation; it probably has the same functionality as when we say “OMG!”. The following links and articles verify the existence of this folk speech term: https://fillmorecountyjournal.com/what-part-of-uffda-dont-you-understand/
My informant (18), from Maryland, describes what she calls “Kid-Friendly Beer-Pong”. “So this actually a game that my older cousins and I always like create for ourselves. We play a lot of ping-pong but once we get bored of ping-pong, we take off the net and put ping-pong paddles all over the table and basically like stand from like a far distance from the table and throw the ping-pong ball and try to hit the paddles. And this is like a challenge we would do”
“This is like basically an appropriate beer-pong kinda thing, where you’re aiming for the ping pong paddles. And this is them telling me they’re preparing me for college. So we used to play this like when I was in middle and high school, and they’re like ‘you’re gonna be the best when you play beer pong in college’. And I didn’t know what they meant, but now that I’m in college I see that, like, beer-pong’s a game that a lot of people play and they were like preparing me. And i noticed that just in general my cousins are always preparing me for what life throws at me, for college, they’re always giving me advice for like social aspects and these little games also prepare me for what to expect in like a college environment.”
This game could be interpreted as a coming of age ritual, in a way, as it is information that the informant’s cousins passed on to her to prepare her for her next stage of life. We can expect that in this extended family, college is seen as an important step in development, both for the educational purposes, but also as a new social environment that the informant must prepare for.
My informant (18), from Maryland, describes a riddle that she and her friends performed in middle school: “It’s not really a joke, but it’s more like a challenge, like a “are you dumb” challenge. So it’s like I bet I can make you say the color pink ‘okay’ okay so then you’re like ‘what’s the color of the sky?’ ‘Blue’ ‘What’s the color of this chair?’ ‘Brown’ ‘What’s the color of my hair?’ ‘Black’ ‘What’s the color of the grass?’ ‘green’ ‘Ha, I told you I could make you say green’ ‘no you didn’t, you told me you would make me say pink’ and that’s how you make them say pink”
“And so it’s like this little thing that my swim friends and I, back in the past, like middle school? We would just always perform this on each other to like try and get the other person and just to make them seem, you know, like it’s more of like one of those ‘stupid tests’”
The informant began by saying this was a joke, and then changed to calling it a challenge, and finally called it a “test”. I think this piece is actually a kind of riddle, because it tests the wits of the person it is performed on, but instead of wordplay, there is a “trick” meant to catch the subject. Because this is used within the informants team, it might imply that performing this trick affords the performer a kind of social capital in the group when they are successful, suggesting that intelligence is valued in the group.
My informant (18), from Lebanon, describes a joke he would play on his peers as a child. “Me and my cousins used to play it. It’s not a game, well it is a game, but it’s also a joke, where you would whisper something incomprehensive at like, let’s say around a group of people, and if [someone says] “What?” I go “Akal!” […] It means “You ate it!” And then it’s like a progressive game. And whoever can get it the most gets treated to dinner, or gets to do something, or gets a favor. Usually it’s the person who falls for it the most has to do something for whoever won it the most.”
“It’s a game that’s mostly played by the younger generation of course, it’s mostly played around families. It’s kind of a tradition, to mock somebody, make a joke of them.”
In this joke, the teller proves their wisdom and the responder proves their foolishness. This suggests that intelligence is valued in these social group. Especially interesting is the gamification element of the joke: The fact that it is an extended game leads me to believe that this game could establish a sort of social hierarchy among the children in a family. This hierarchy between children in an extended family suggests that the connection of extended family is important in the culture, and that families gather often enough for this game to be maintained.
My informant, (18), from Lebanon, describes an instrument as a folk object: “An instrument in Arab/Middle-Eastern culture that was very popular is the Oud. And it’s literally spanned for generations and generations. It resembles a guitar, it has 6 strings but it has three holes. […] If the Oud is ever played, it’s kind of like you’re listening to God. And like you have to respect it, even though it’s incorporated into some songs, the main origin of the Oud is like the king of all instruments because it resembles that celestial body, and it has representations of the moon because of the higher pitch. And it’s mainly played with the older generation; it’s died down over the years. Usually you bring it around like campfires.” I asked the informant how often he is in a group where it is played. “Every summer I’d say 10-20 times. It’s something that people casually bring out to play, but it has such a big meaning to it. It’s very common to experience it even though it has such a high meaning. It also resembles wealth and luxury cause they’re very expensive. It’s typically played in summer, because it’s usually played outdoors: That’s important. It’s usually played outdoors so that the sounds flow out into the world instead of staying inside. It’s tradition to play it in the summer, because summer is when everybody gathers together, especially during holidays, or weddings. Mainly it’s Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, the Middle East., mainly like West Middle-East.”
“So usually men play the Oud and they play it in gatherings and that’s when everyone has to be quiet, they have to listen, or else its seen as disrespectful because the oud is seen as a symbol of the celestial Arab body.” When I asked about the specifics of the rules of when it is played, my informant said, “Truth is about Middle-Eastern culture is that nothing is that deep. It’s their culture, they do it cause they can, they should be able to do it whenever they want to.” So it would seem that, at least from his point of view, the specific rules are less important than the fact that people should be allowed to enjoy their culture the way that they want to.
The informant seemed to be self aware of the patriarchal implications of men being the ones expected to play this instrument connected to the divine, and that the whole group is expected to listen when a man is playing the instrument. It’s interesting that the instrument can be so casual yet so important at the same time, and I think that this suggests that the culture has integrated the more traditional beliefs to more contemporary contexts. As the informant mentioned, the instrument is used in a lot of songs, but still retains its underlying cultural significance.
