Electricity Riddle

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC Student Housing
Performance Date: 2/20/23
Primary Language: English

Main Performance:

HG: Basically you’re in this, like, house that’s like a labyrinth, or whatever. Um… and there’s no electricity and its like dark and whatever, and there’s these doors. There’s these three doors, um… I’m gonna tell you the doors and you pick, actually.

Me: Ok.

HG: So the first one, there’s Red Door, Blue Door, and Green Door. Which one do you pick?

Me: Blue Door.

HG: Ok, um… and then there’s door one, two and three. Which one do you pick?

Me: One.

HG: One? Ok, and then there’s pink door, white door, and black door. Which one do you pick?

Me: White.

HG: White? Ok, um… then there’s five doors. One with a picture of a giraffe and the other four are just one, two, three, and four.

Me: Three.

HG: Ok… Lotta people pick the giraffe door but that’s ok.

Me: *Laughing*

HG: And then finally there’s three more, its just sky door, grass door and moon door.

M: I’ll go with moon door.

HG: And then you’re presented with three options, you finally enter this room and um… they are all ways to die, basically. The first way is to enter a cage with a lion in it. The next is you have to hang yourself. And then the last one is an electric chair. Which one are you picking?

Me: The electric chair.

HG: Aw yeah why’s that

ME: *Laughing* Because there’s no electricity in the house!

HG: *Laughing* Aw f*ck you


Background: The respondent heard the riddle in middle school to the best of his memory. He is from New York City.

Thoughts/Analysis: I had definitely heard a riddle with the same sort of punchline before the informant had told me his riddle, but I didn’t realize it until he said the last option. To someone who hasn’t heard the riddle before, it is supposed to rely on the complex steps that the riddler walks the subject through before arriving at the final decision. You are thinking about so many things throughout the course of the riddle that you forget one of the basic things about the house. In the performance of the riddle, the informant took many “thinking” pauses between each of my decisions to try and signal to me that he was thinking about the path that I was taking in order to throw me off.

Are you from Tennessee? Pickup Line

Text: “Are you from Tennessee? Cause you’re the only ten I see.””

Context: K.N. first heard this pickup line in high school, but has heard it/seen it on social media several different times since. She understands it to mean that whoever you’re saying it to is a “10/10. Gorgeous. It’s a play on words.” When she first heard it, being from LA she didn’t fully understand when someone asked her if she was from Tennessee, but enjoyed the play on words afterwards. She believe the pickup line can be used anywhere, with anyone. “At a party, in class, in college everyone is from everywhere, so it doesn’t really matter.” She believes the pickup line should be used in a joking manner.

Analysis: This is a common pickup line meant to engage the person you are approaching by asking if they are from Tennessee and then make them feel singled-out/special by following with “‘Cause your’e the only ten I see.” This is meant to indicate your attraction to them, essentially commenting on the exemplary nature of the their physical appearance. I believe that because of the commonality and frequent use of this pickup line, it has become more of a joke than a serious pickup line, but it is a good way to engage and start a conversation with someone. It is widely known, and people often know where it is going when it starts. 

Goldfish Riddle

Performance Date: 2/14/23
Primary Language: English
Language: German

Main Performance:
JC: Alright, so, my name is JC and I heard this riddle the other day here in my German class. My German professor told it to me in German but I am unsure of the origin of the riddle.

Me: Can I hear it in German first?

JC: I can’t do it in German sorry. But basically, so, the idea is that, uh, so you come into a room right?

Me: right

JC: and there are two bodies on the floor, and one of the bodies is Jim and one of the bodies is Sally. And, they’re lying in a pool of water and there is glass everywhere on the floor. And the murderer is also in the room. What happened?

Me: Am I the murderer?

JC: No

Me: Was it a suicide?

JC: No

Me: Is the murderer time?

JC: No

Me: Is the murderer water?

JC: No

Me: Is the murderer glass?

JC: No

Me: *I ask clarifying questions about the riddle*

Me: Is there anything else in the room? Like a chair or a window?

JC: Its like a normal room, like a house

Me: Is the murderer a person

JC: No

Me: Is the murderer a living being?

JC: Yes

Me: Are there any fish in the room?

JC: Yes!

Me: Are they poisonous?

JC: No

Me: Are they piranhas or sharks?

JC: No

Me: Did the fish kill the people?

JC: No, did I say it was people?

Me: Oh, no…

JC: It was just two bodies right?

Me; I give up what’s the answer?

JC: So the bodies on the floor are two fish. And the murderer is a cat and he knocked the bowl off of the table. So the whole trick is that you’re supposed to think it was two people, but its actually two goldfish.

Context:
JC and I are in the same discussion section for our class, and we decided to share riddles to help us with our projects. We both shared the first riddles we could think of, and it seemed like this was the most recent on that JC had been told.

Thoughts/Analysis:
This riddle definitely relies on our thoughts of what a body could be. When looking at two dead fish, I would never consider them to be “bodies” as that is a term I would typically reserve for a dead human. However, the riddle works on the technical level that the dead fish are “bodies” and so by subverting my expectation for what a “body” was supposed to mean I was unable to get the answer to the riddle. If the origin of the riddle is, in fact, German, then perhaps it says something about the German perspective on both human and non-human life in that it treats the death of animals and humans relatively equally.

“A child is a parent’s mirror” – Japanese Proverb

Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 2/19/2023
Primary Language: Japanese

1. Text

Main piece: The informant shared a Japanese proverb that goes: “A child is a parent’s mirror”.

2. Context

Relationship to the piece:

Informant: “This one I heard it from my mom”

Interpretation:

Informant:

“I think it’s both [good and bad]”

“like if a child is nasty, then the parent is nasty”

“but if the child is well mannered usually the parent is too”

3. Analysis

This Japanese proverb is similar to proverbs in other cultures like the Korean proverb “If you plant beans you get beans” and the North American proverb “an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. This common comparison between parent and children across various cultures shows that people often judge parents by their children and vice versa. It also suggests that a child’s upbringing is very influential to their character. It seems to suggest that the parent-child bond is very strong and is difficult to break from. However, these proverbs come from traditional and conservative views of how families are structured and do not serve to explain all families. Therefore, the idea that children reflect their parents is not absolute but a cautionary message to parents raising children and children growing under the shadow of their parents to be better versions of themselves or break away from the mistakes or flaws of their parents.

“Trip seven times, get up eight times” – Japanese Proverb

Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 2/19
Primary Language: Japanese

1. Text

Main piece: Informant shared a Japanese proverb “七転び八起き”.

Original script: 七転び八起き

Phonetic: Nana korobi hachi oki

Transliteration: Seven falls eight get ups

Translation: Trip seven times, get up eight times.

Definition: Persevering, not giving up till succeeding; the ups and downs of life

2. Context

Relationship to the piece:

Informant:

“I read it in a book”

Meaning:

Informant:

“I never really understood what it was”

“I think it’s perseverance though”

3. Analysis

This Japanese proverb seems to say that life is falling seven times and getting up eight times. Even though you keep falling, if you keep getting up, you will end up on your feet. It also suggests that life is full of ups and downs, and is not easy. One must keep failing then trying again to stay afloat. It does have a positive connotation as the number of falls is less than the number of getting up. This outlook of accepting the struggle yet remaining hopeful is one way that Japanese people live their life. Although the meaning seems similar, this proverb is very different from its likes in the western culture like “failure is the father of success”, where failure is suggested to lead to success. Instead, the Japanese proverb tells the people that life is hard, and one must accept that and persevere, where getting up doesn’t mean success but does mean that one can keep on continuing forward. This shows how the Japanese proverb is more realistic and practical, while the North American proverb is more idealistic. This could be traced further back to the power dynamic differences between Japan and the US since the US is a superpower whereas Japan was defeated during WWII and has been forced to remove its military, renounce their emperor, and even be under control of the US for a period of time. As a superpower, the US has the confidence to use more idealistic proverbs while Japan after WWII has a much more stagnant and cynical outlook which leads to more realistic and pragmatic proverbs.