Tag Archives: American

The Unique Rabbit

Nationality: American
Age: 24
Occupation: University Administrator
Residence: Auckland, NZ
Performance Date: March 26, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant is a new professional in post-secondary administration. He lives in New Zealand, but he is originally from Apple Valley, California and went to university at the University of California, Irvine, where he was involved in student affairs and studied computer science. His background is Italian and Polish, and he has 3 older siblings.

This piece is a joke that the informant finds rather corny, but is his sister’s favorite.

“So my sister’s favorite joke is, um…I almost forgot it for a second [laughs]. How do you catch a unique rabbit?”

I don’t know. How do you catch a unique rabbit?

“Unique up on it!”

Okay. Is that it?

“No, there’s more. Uh, how do you catch a tame rabbit?”

I don’t know. How do you catch a tame rabbit?

“Tame way, unique up on it.”

[laughs] Okay, I get it. Very clever.

“I have another joke also. So how do you catch a common rabbit?”

I don’t know, you tell me.

“Common, tame way! Unique up on it.”

Do you know where your sister got the joke?

“Actually, I do. She was on a cross country road trip. So she got super Catholic in college, and so she went on a cross country road trip for, like, something, I don’t remember what. And she learned it from that from one of the other people who was on her bus with her.”

Analysis:

This joke is a very “American” joke in a lot of ways—it’s driven not just by the first punchline, but by how each added part of the joke builds on the original to a final punchline, the culmination of the rest of the joke. The humor is found in punchline rather than in the build up. As is common in Abrahamic cultures, the joke is told in three parts, with the third being the final destination.

The joke also relies on the recipient having a strong grasp of the English language, as each of the punchlines makes use of words that sound vaguely similar—“unique” and “you sneak,” “tame” and “same,” and “common” and “come on.” The first one in particular could be challenging for anyone who is not a native speaker of the language.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 4, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant is a Film Production and Biochemistry major at the University of Southern California, where he is in his third year. He is originally from Washington state, and his family moved there from North Dakota. Before North Dakota, his family lived in various parts of Eastern Europe. The informant says that is very much influenced by his grandfather, who is a professional storyteller.

This piece is one of many versions of Jack and the Beanstalk that the informant heard from his grandfather.

“My grandfather told a lot of stories, and he would always begin them like “Just over that hill,” and we lived in the Pacific Northwest so he would always point to this one hill. At least as a kid, that little suspension of disbelief, I suppose just like, you never knew where the story was going to go. He, he loves, you know spinning the same tale over and over again. He about, like 10 different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. Some of them are like a funnier version of Jack and the Beanstalk, where the bean man is just a swindler, and he just has, like, a very dry sense of humor.”

What’s your favorite version of Jack and the Beanstalk that he’s told you?

“Okay. I think that the version that I always liked was somewhat like the original version, but Jack spent a lot more time up in the clouds, which I think is, you know like, any good story makes you want to search for more than just like the, the, the story that you possibly hear, so it’s the same sort of thing where Jack is, you know, outside and he sells his cow, um, for some magic beans, you know, part of the whole story that he would spin is that Jack had this whole personal relationship with the cow and like he would like, my grandfather would do this thing where Jack would have this whole dialogue with the cow and all the cow would say is “Moo” back. You could like, I don’t know, in the most root form, Jack really cared for this cow and was sad to see the cow go.

You know, it was this whole almost dramatic scene, and so he gets the beans, he goes up to the clouds, and Jack, being mischievous, goes into the house looking for, for gold because his mom’s so poor. Sorry, he’s not mischievous, that’s a different one. He’s going in there to look for food and, like, gold to help with his mom’s situation and he ends up hiding in the oven of the giant, and at first Jack like, then Jack like sees this whole thing play out between the giant being unhappy, and um…so he has five beans.

Sorry, I’m remembering this piece by piece, but um, so Jack like, he’s going to steal from the giant up in the clouds, and he’s about to like take a golden spinning wheel, and then he like has to duck into the oven, and then he sees how unhappy the relationship is, or not unhappy… That there’s something wrong with the relationship between the wife giant and the husband giant, and he like, has this like moment where he decides not to steal the wheel and he goes down the beanstalk again, and he has five beans so this was the first bean that he used.

So he goes back down, and he tells his mom that the beanstalk goes away, because it goes up and then it comes back down and goes back down into the earth. He tells his mom about all of this, like fortunes up in the clouds and the giants and everything. Somehow the word gets to the sultan of the area, and then the sultan wants to go up to the clouds. I can’t remember all the pieces, but Jack has this changing, well he gets duped and he gets his beans taken away, but he has one bean left. And so it’s kind of a moment where he could use that bean as the sultan wants to take gold from the giant, and so Jack can either use that bean to go up and take the gold for himself and go away or he can go up there to let the giant know that the sultan is coming. And so Jack decides to let the giant know that the sultan is coming to take it, and ultimately the bad guy falls off the clouds, and you know, Jack and his mom establish some kind of relationship with the giants.

And I just thought it was a sweet tale of, you know, what misunderstanding can be. And this idea of not treating people as objects, but as people. I don’t know, it was just an interesting story to hear as a kid, and I always liked that version. I don’t know the “original” version of Jack and the Beanstalk, to be absolutely honest.”

Analysis:

I found this piece particularly compelling not just because of the tale itself, but also because the informant’s grandfather told so many version of the same tale. This particular version has a very different message from many Jack and the Beanstalk stories, where the giants were deserving of empathy and Jack did not steal from him. This version is also tied to the Pacific Northwest for the informant, as his grandfather always told the story as if it happened just over that hill over there.

Knowing the informant, it does not surprise me that he likes this version best, as the message in this tale is very much in line with his own personal beliefs. Both the cow and the giants have more complex roles in this version, and the emphasis is on, as the informant says, seeing everyone as real people and not just objects.

For another version of this tale, see feature film Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), directed by Bryan Singer. 

Jack the Giant Slayer. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci. New Line Cinema, Legendary Pictures, 2013. DVD.

 

Barking Spiders

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 4, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant is a Film Production and Biochemistry major at the University of Southern California, where he is in his third year. He is originally from Washington state, and his family moved there from North Dakota. Before North Dakota, his family lived in various parts of Eastern Europe. The informant says that is very much influenced by his grandfather, who is a professional storyteller.

This piece refers to the informant’s grandfather’s habit of blaming barking spiders for his flatulence.

“My grandfather has a way or just, making his own like versions of the same dad jokes. I’ve never heard him do “pull my finger” but the few things that he always complains about is barking spiders. Or, that he stepped on a frog when he’s passing gas. I don’t know, I just always loved the idea of barking spiders, and just how farcical it was. Like he would fart and say, “Oh, fucking barking spiders.” Or, no, not fucking, he’d just complain about the barking spiders.”

Analysis:

This plays on the taboo nature of human bodily functions, where farting is thought of as gross and something that should only be done in private, so there needs to be something else to blame for the function. In this case, the fictional barking spiders. Someone present for performance of this saying would understand that barking is associated with dogs, and that spiders are silent, so the noise cannot have literally come from the barking spiders.

The informant also refers to “dad jokes,” which refer to crass jokes or really cringeworthy puns that are stereotypically associated with fathers. The “pull my finger” refers to another folk practice associated with farts, where someone asks another person to pull their finger, and when they do, the other person releases the fart. The informant’s description of barking spiders assumes that knowledge; it’s common folk knowledge for people of his demographic.

I’m Still on Dial Up

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 4, 2016
Primary Language: English

The informant is a Film Production and Biochemistry major at the University of Southern California, where he is in his third year. He is originally from Washington state, and his family moved there from North Dakota. Before North Dakota, his family lived in various parts of Eastern Europe. The informant says that is very much influenced by his grandfather, who is a professional storyteller.

This piece compares the inability to think quickly to dial up Internet.

“I’m just not fully functional. I’m still booting up—I’m like on dial up speed, honestly. I guess there’s, like an example, you know. That reference to dial up. You know what I’m staying, though? You need to know what dial up is in order to, you know.”

Analysis:

This is an example of terminus post quem, as both dial up Internet and wifi needed to exist for this reference to make sense. In order for this metaphor to be successful, both the speaker and the listened would need to be aware of the different in speed from dial up to wifi. This ties the reference to the 21st century, and as time passes, it would seem likely that dial up would be referenced less and less.

 

Treat Your Mother with Respect

Nationality: American (born Egyptian)
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 7, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Arabic, French

The informant is a graduating senior at the University of Southern California, studying Creative Writing and Social Sciences with an emphasis in Psychology. She was born in Egypt and originally held Egyptian citizenship, but moved to the United States when she was quite young and is now an American citizen.

This piece is an Egyptian proverb about the importance of respecting your mother. The informant recounts her and a friend’s experience with Yo Mama jokes (jokes that insult another person’s mother: ex. Yo Mama’s so fat she rolled over twice and ended up in Africa) and how that reminded her of an Egyptian proverb.

“In Egypt you also cannot make Yo Mama jokes. You will get beaten up. A friend who went there, who grew up here but he was Egyptian, and he went there one summer and he made Yo Mama jokes cause we were in middle school and that’s what we did; everyone’s an asshole in middle school. And um, I think he got punched in the face by his cousin for making that kind of joke.

No it’s just like, the biggest insult you can say to somebody is to insult their mother. It’s like, especially to guys cause it’s like their pride and joy, like “You always treat your mother with the deepest and fondest respect.” So, that was a big proverb. And culture shock when I came here in middle school and everyone was in the Yo Mama phase and I was like, “That is appalling.” But like, I don’t know. Like Yo Mama So Fat jokes, it was just very strange to me.”

Analysis:

While the proverb itself is fairly standard, demonstrated the cultural value of the mother figure in Egyptian culture, it was fascinating to see the conflict that arose when members from both cultures, such as the informant and her friend, participating in or witnessed jokes that directly opposed what they had learned from that proverb.