Tag Archives: animal

Yeoubi

Age: 20


Date of performance: 2/12/25


Nationality: Korean


Occupation: Student


Primary Language: Korean & English


Residence: United States

Metaphor:

Yeoubi

This word is a Korean folklore metaphor for “Sun Shower” or “Foxes Rain.” Sun shower refers to when it rains and the sun is out while Foxes Rain refers to the folktale surrounding the phrase.

Context:

The interviewee states that this originates from a folktale about a fox’s unrequited love. This story is about a cloud that fell in love with a fox during the fox’s marriage. As a whole the word “Yeoubi” refers to a story about bittersweet love. She originally heard this story from her mom as a child.

Analysis:

My interpretation of the story and its origin follows through with its bittersweet nature. I found it endearing to piece together how the rain is meant to reflect the cloud’s tears as it comes to terms with being unable to stand alongside the fox whom he fell in love with, watching them make a big lifetime commitment to one another. The meaning of Sun Shower helps to exemplify this matter, as it is such a wonderful day for the fox as it gets married, but behind the scenes, it’s a sad day for the cloud, where it watches the love of its life marry someone else.

Chupacabra

Text:

The chupacabra was, in the words of the subject, a goat-looking humanoid creature that would suck the blood out of its victims.  If the subject ever went on a hike or into someplace more rural and nature-like with his family, then they would tell him and any other children with them that the chupacabra was always somewhere, and was waiting for kids who didn’t pay attention or didn’t heed their parent’s warnings so that it could snatch them up and carry them away to devour them.  They would especially remind the subject of this story if they and their peers weren’t staying close to the parents, and were going too far into the wilderness without supervision.

The subject reported that descriptions of this creature varied every time they were told about it, with the subject sometimes being told it was a monster, to sometimes being told it was a demon, to sometimes being told it was simply a scary animal.  However, some things that always stayed consistent with the retellings was that it was very small, very fast, very strong, and extremely grotesque.

Context:

The subject, N.S., grew up in the urban areas of Los Angeles, but was very close to rural hiking trails and other natural, outdoorsy environments, where they and their family would make regular weekend trips towards hiking trails and parks.  It was in these hiking trails and parks that the subject was warned by his parents of the dangers of the chupacabra, and of the dangers of going too far from their parents in the rural area.  The subject also stated that the stories about the Chupacabra slowly began to be phased out of their life as time moved on, until eventually, their parents never mentioned it again.

Interpretation:

The superstition of the Chupacabra was likely meant as a way to prevent the subject from running off from their parents when in heavily wooded and rural areas, especially since the subject could navigate the sometimes-thick brush more easily than their parents could.  By giving the subject a dangerous boogeyman in the form of the chupacabra, the subject’s parents were able to ensure that the subject would stay close to them, as well as avoid taking any unnecessary risks whilst they’re out in such an unfamiliar and dangerous environment.  The Chupacabra also likely had some history buried in actual sightings, with people over time spotting creatures that matched the chupacabra’s descriptions, and created a superstition hidden behind the Chupacabra’s nature and danger.

The Pig Man

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: 530 W. 28th st. Los Angeles
Performance Date: 03/25/23
Primary Language: English

Text: “I actually got told this story while I was in the cabin–this was Cabin 2. The story is before it was Cabin 2, the place was a pig pen. Some guy came to the island and he killed one of the pigs, and he like carved out the pig’s head and made a mask-like thing, and like lived on the island and killed people on the low. It sounds pretty fried, but I lived in the cabin probably when I was like 10 years old, and I was told the story in a very scary way and I was sitting in my little bet like ‘dude, fuck, like this is crazy.’ In the moment this stuff is very scary. When you’re at this camp, you don’t really have your phone, so when the counselors tell this stuff that they’ve told a million times, they tell it very well and there’s no other authority to check the story against.”

Context: My informant, NR, told me this story while we sat together and played NHL while listening to house music and eating frozen yogurt. This was a pretty ideal storytelling setting. He first heard this story as a middle-school-aged camper at a sleepaway summer camp in New Hampshire, and was scared by it at the time. He interpreted the legend as the crux of a practical joke that counselors enjoyed playing on campers. 

Analysis: I believe NR’s legend bears elements of practical joking in that it is leveraged by an ingroup, the counselors, to display the ignorance of the outgroup, the campers. The legend’s employment of elements that could potentially exist add credibility to the horror factor and play upon the ignorance of youth to frighten children. NR also emphasized the credibility of the storytellers, emphasizing that he defaulted to believing their account because he lacked a method to investigate other possibilities without his phone. The Pig Man’s employment of the mask also creates a fear factor, as anyone wearing the head of a dead pig would appear frightening, certainly in American culture where people are far removed from the slaughter of animals and death of animals in general. This legend can tell us about summer camp culture, in which authority is valued as well as respect for the surrounding land, which is often unsupervised and can be dangerous for a wandering child. In that spirit, the legend also plays a cautionary role, encouraging campers to stay vigilant in nature–the closer a camper is to being alone in nature, the more the camper will think of the Pig Man and desire a return to safety. I additionally believe that the death aspect of the legend taps into the childhood interest in death as a taboo topic. 

Drop Bears

Nationality: American
Age: 26
Occupation: Software Engineer
Residence: California

Text
For this narrative joke, my informant is my older brother (SF). The “Drop Bear” came up in conversation when talking about going on a hike or exploring nature in Australia. My parents had mentioned their plans for the following day on the trip to which my cousin interjected and said, “watch out for the drop bears.” “The what?” my father responded.  “The drop bears.” my cousin repeated, dragging on the anticipation of not expanding and letting other cousins and Australian family back him up.  My cousin then explained, “yea, big angry bears that live in the trees and they’ll drop on your head.”  Drop bears are a species native to Australia that most outsiders have never heard of.  The warnings continue to even suggest bringing a helmet into the Australian forests.

Context
My family, being from the US, was unfamiliar with this concept that is widely known by Australians, and had fallen for the joke. We were visiting our relatives in Australia when I was younger, and my brother had remembered the story.  Though fallacious, drop bears have an extensive amount of detailed history and classifications.  According to the Australian Museum, Drop Bears are carnivorous marsupials, “around the size of a leopard or very large dog with coarse orange fur with some darker mottled patterning,” ranging from “120kg, 130cm long, 90 cm at the shoulder.”  My informant’s interpretation revolved around this story being a funny joke but not much more. He enjoyed the idea that this fooled his parents and aligned with his humor of subjecting gullibility.

Interpretation
My interpretation of this story/species is simply a way to prank tourists for entertainment.  It’s a harmless joke that catches newcomers looking up constantly and watching the trees.  It’s incredible that the legend has become so developed, so much so that the animal has basically all of the classifications any real species would, including appearance, diet, habitat, and regional distribution.  I would say this legend brings Australians together, as they essentially have a nationwide inside joke. 

Joke – animal pun

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Colorado
Performance Date: 2/20/23
Primary Language: English

Text:

“Why can’t a leopard hide?”

            “He’s always spotted.”

Context:

DT is an 18 year old who was born and raised in Southern California. He is currently attending Colorado State University, Fort Collins. He loves jokes almost as much as he loves animals. He told me this joke over the phone when I asked about what his favorite jokes were. He informed me that he originally heard this joke from one of his professors in an animal biology class.

Analysis:

This joke is interesting in a few ways. First, this joke uses homophones as its main tool. The use of the word “spotted” refers to two different meanings, both of which are engaged in the joke. Leopards are covered in small spots, but this word also refers to being seen because the leopard can’t hide. This joke is essentially a pun. It’s also interesting to note the complete falsity of the joke. It claims that leopards cannot hide well because of their spots, when in reality, their spotted nature helps them blend in tremendously well with their natural environment. Understanding this adds another layer of humor to the joke because it adds to the silliness. This joke was told in an academic setting in an animal biology class where many hearing it would probably understand the humorous inaccuracies, where if told to a person outside of this community, they might believe this to be an accurate joke.