Tag Archives: American

“Bread and Butter” (Splitting the Pole)

• saying/banisher of bad luck

Many people subscribe to the superstition that “splitting the pole,” or in other words, walking on two different sides of a (usually tall and inanimate) object, i.e. a pole, is bad luck–sometimes promising a split in the pair’s relationship, poor fortune, or even death for one or both parties, according to different beliefs. 

Of course, for various reasons, sometimes it is impossible for two people to avoid splitting the pole, in which case one of them must say “bread and butter” to undo the bad luck. This is presumably tied to the idea that splitting the pole will cause the two to separate in some way, and butter can’t really be separated from bread once spread. 

While there is limited written documentation/proof, because the superstition around splitting the pole seems to have originated among Black Americans, many point to the context of slavery, the life-or-death need for enslaved people to stay together and seek protection in numbers, and the ever-present threat of external parties dividing them from loved ones. 

However, “bread and butter” makes even physical separation powerless, restoring the protective powers of community, especially in travel. 

Hobo’s Castle

Text: 

In the suburbs of Chicago, there is a long-deserted building by a railroad that stands about ten stories tall. It has holes, its windows are broken, and its doors remain open. This building is called Hobo’s castle. There are hobos that live inside, and if you go in there and get caught by them, they’ll eat you!

Context: 

It’s probably called Hobo’s castle because its size makes it look like a castle from the outside and hobos would stay there in between hitching rides on trains back when it was first abandoned. There have been hobos living there since then. Parents would tell their children not to go there. So, obviously, the kids would all bike there and explore. Only the first floor was accessible, but the kids would explore it, all while poking each other to scare their friends and daring them to do things. The people living there would chase them out sometimes, which is likely what spurred the children to begin telling each other that if they got caught, they would be eaten. 

Analysis: 

A recently popularized phrase found online is “fuck around and find out”, which is to engage in an action that is usually risky, and usually results in an unpleasant consequence. The desire to fuck around and find out is unquenchable in children, and this legend came about because of this. Children always want to feel more like full humans when they can, as in many areas of life they are limited by rules even when they feel that they have the physical and mental capabilities to be on par with everyone else, even if this feeling is erroneous. Thus, when there is no one around holding them to rules, they like to break the rules that they don’t think are necessary. They also embellish stories of their lives to make them seem more interesting and with higher risks, like how they view those of adults. Thus, the hobos in the castle will eat them if they are caught, not merely tell them off.

Andre Jackson

Text:

Andre Jackson is a football player who grew up here, in the suburbs of Chicago. He was the size of King Kong, could lift 500 pounds, and most of all, he was a hell of a football player. You should be like Andre Jackson. 

Context: 

Andre Jackson was a real person who became a local legend while out of town because of being someone extraordinary for his area. He went to the University of Iowa, a D1 school, and played linebacker. 

The interviewee grew up not knowing Andre Jackson, but hearing the legends and that Andre was 5 years older than him. VL thought Andre sounded pretty cool, but didn’t think that much of him until Andre visited VL’s school in 7th or 8th grade and gave a talk about what his life as a D1 athlete looked like, as well as what path he had taken to get there. That, and especially Andre’s pure physical presence in the room, really spurred VL’s desire to follow in Andre’s steps and is why he ended up playing D1 football himself.VL later learned that one of his closest friends was Andre Jackson’s little brother.

 Andre was one of few people in that area to go to college, and he inspired VL and 6 of VL’s friends to do that as well, instead of doing what most would, which is graduate high school and go straight to working a job. He was different and he was special, which inspired others in the area to try and be that as well.

Analysis:

I think the idolization of Andre Jackson speaks to the hope for great success that his existence instilled into a community that was otherwise mostly resigned to their lives being rather ordinary. Other than this, I think the interviewee’s interpretation of the legend is pretty spot on. 

My eyeballs (are) floating out of my head.

-American English saying

-Taylor-Corrine’s translation: ”Gotta pee bad”

My friend, Taylor-Corrine, is from Seattle, WA. While she identifies as Black, she belongs to a diverse familial heritage characterized by African American, Caribbean, Italian, and Native/Indigenous cultures. Perhaps as a result, it’s not uncommon for the most random and/or niche sayings to slip right out of her mouth like they’re a part of common vocabulary, and for me to, of course, have questions. This occurred one day recently, when we accidentally locked ourselves out of our own bathroom at our house. 

She said, “My eyeballs floating out of my head,” and seemed surprised by my confused look before telling me it means she “gotta pee bad.” Taylor-Corrine grew up hearing her maternal grandmothers say the phrase. She joked about her ignorance regarding the saying’s origin, “Ion know if it was some shit from the Great Depression or some Italian shit but my great grandma n great great grandma said it when I was younger.”

While not much seems to be out there on the phrase based on a quick Google search, I found an Urban Dictionary folk definition for the phrase “my eyeballs are floating,” which means “My bladder is full; I need to pee.” Therefore, it is definitely used outside of Taylor-Corrine’s family. Additionally, a list of “The 16 Funniest Southern Expressions” on Destination Tips includes the phrase, “My back teeth are floating,” with “my eyes are floating” as a less common alternative. 

Perhaps, then, the saying emerged in the American South. However, this is unclear. Nonetheless, even without a direct translation and only context, the imagery evoked makes sense for what is being conveyed: one’s bladder is so full, the liquid has leaked and started filling the rest of the body to the point of causing the eyes to float. 

Thanksgiving Ornaments

The informant is a student in university who has spent the entirety of his life in the United States, starting various different traditions that she has the ability to experience due to family members building upon their values.

Ritual/Ceremony:

On Thanksgiving, the United States’ annual national holiday, the informant, her family and extended members join together to “share [their] love with one another by bringing [their] Christmas earlier in the year.” The ceremony that takes place accompanying the traditional Thanksgiving feast and activities includes the “exchange of an ornament on Thanksgiving because we often won’t be able to be together during Christmas but we get to carry a reminder of them on the tree.” This is typically done “after the meal ends, giving each other the ornaments, symbolic of our love on Christmas eve and day, is mainly for the extended family members who we don’t get to see on the most chaotic days of the year”.

Context:

The informant states that this tradition has existed in her family since “[her] brother was 5 so that was 13 years ago” and was a very important ceremony that played a “unique part of Thanksgiving day” as it was “more symbolic than the turkey was to [them]”. She had also expressed that these ornaments were usually personalized according to each family member and their interests, specifically over the course of that year. Examples of this in her family exist through an ornament that she received years ago that was “Nemo themed because it was my favourite movie as a child” and that resonated with the rest of the family as they put it on their tree for that Christmas season. Ornament ceremonies had a certain dynamic and were typically done between specific individuals most of the years with an exchange of “the older generations giving the younger generations personalised ones” and the entire family giving the elders “a collective personalised one” from their descendants. This can be seen through her family giving their grandfather a wooden ornament because of their “family memories and love for nature.” She summarises her experience with the ceremony as a “matter of how we can share our love with unfortunately not being able to be in the same space as each other” on Christmas day.

Analysis:

This unique ceremony being done during Thanksgiving presents a different approach to the traditional holiday by implementing the effects of the religious/community holiday of Christmas together. The mix of holidays in a familial setting embraces and highlights the true impact of these holidays on the informant and her family, placing her family in an important position in their lives. Although it is not a generational tradition that has existed for decades, it emphasises the significance of this tradition to the informant herself and her siblings. The personalisation of the ornaments presents the beginning of a narrative of sorts as she is able to collect the personalised ornaments she has received over the years to show the growth in her persona and values as a human. Besides this allowing the family to celebrate the family essence that they do not have on Christmas with the ornaments received on Thanksgiving, it also supports the ideology of feeling extreme gratitude on Thanksgiving. Spreading the “love and family joy” all year round as they prepare for the year ahead of them, with the ornaments piling up over the years symbolizes the impacts of implementing this ceremony onto Thanksgiving. It allows the informant to have grown up feeling connected to her extended family which is evident in the manner she has expressed the importance of family in her life, missing the ones who are not there for Christmas Eve.