Tag Archives: animal joke

Mexican Fork – Joke

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Undergraduate Student at the University of Southern California
Residence: Icon Plaza Apartments in Los Angeles, CA
Language: Chinese

Text:

Use your “Mexican Fork”

Context:

“Sometimes, when my family is eating food–and of course we are using chopsticks–someone will try to pick up something difficult to balance with their chopsticks, and we’ll tell them to use their ‘Mexican fork’… aka their hand. Our grandpa used to say it all the time. It is a little… uh… race-y so we only ever say it around family.”

Analysis:

The performer is a 3rd generation Chinese-American, and their grandfather came to America (specifically Lousiana) as a teenager around the 50s. This joke is interesting because it has an America-centered perspective. After all, the default eating utensil is a fork. By saying Mexican “fork” instead of “eating utensil”, it implies that the Chinese “fork” is a chopstick while, in this case, the Mexican “fork” is one’s hands. This could be heavily influenced by the American go-to utensils being spoon and fork and is an interesting reflection of their grandfather’s assimilation into the American folk culture. Additionally, it’s interesting that the performer prefaced that the joke is controversial and only said it in private as it reflects the attitude around the saying changing to be less acceptable over the past 7 decades.

Solovino

Age: 20

Text:

“Solovino”

Context:

The informer tells me that this is a popular dog name in El Salvador, especially for stray dogs-turned-pets, and it means “he came alone”. They learned about this through their parents, but have heard it on Spanish shows like comedy novellas. They initially thought that it was a Salvadorian thing, but learned later that this name was popular in Mexico as well.

Analysis:

Many parts of Latin America–including El Salvador–have large populations of stray dogs who wander into stores and homes seeking food or shelter. Many of these dogs seem to be informally adopted simply because they showed up, hence the name Solovino. It’s like a playful acknowledgment of the dog’s lifestory–he just appeared, and was welcomed. I feel like this may reflect the importance of generosity in Latin culture, where it is extended to family, community, and even strangers(like the passing stray dog). How common this practice must be, for it to reach even social and cultural media, and to have its own variations across Latin America!

The Little Dog and the Panther

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 53
Occupation: Administrative Assistant
Residence: Bay Area, California
Performance Date: May 3rd, 2021
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Main Piece: 

Un día un señor se decide ir al África a cazar animales. Entonces se lleva su perrito de estructura mediana, de común y corriente, no era conocido por ser bravo o atacar animales grandes. Entonces cuando llegan a la selva el señor se decide irse solo y dice, “Tu no me vas a poder ayudar ni a defender de los animales salvajes así que tu te quedas aquí.” Entonces se va el señor y de repente el perro empieza a buscar alrededor a ver que hay. Va caminando y desde a lo lejos viene una pantera negra. Y dice, “Esa pantera viene y seguro que trae hambre y me va querer comer.” Dice, “¿Qué hago, qué hago?” Entonces se dio la vuelta y al un lado del árbol había huesos de animal. Entonces corrió y se arrimó a los huesos y empezó a morderlos, y cuando se aproximó la pantera al momento que lo iba atacar, dice en voz alta el perro, “Mmm, que sabroso estaba esta pantera que me comí. Haber sabido me hubiera comido la otra que venía con ella. Mm mm deliciosa.”

Entonces la pantera cuando lo escucha le dice “¿Cómo este perro de ese tamaño– como pudo comerse uno de nosotros? Mejor me voy.” Y se fue. Entonces el perro dice, “Uy de lo que me salve.” Y encima de un árbol estaba un mono espiando, y que vio toda la escena y escucho todo lo que pasó. Entonces de chismoso, corrio con la pantera y le contó todo lo que escuchó del perro. Entonces la pantera muy enojada dice “Ahora si no se me va a escapar.” Entonces se viene la pantera hacia donde estaba el perrito con el mono trepado en su hombro y el perro los vio que venían y otra vez dice, “Ahora si viene la pantera derechito a comerme. Yo creo que no me creo nada.” Dice, “¿Qué hago que hago?” Entonces corrio otra vez a los huesos y los empezo a morder y se aproximaron la pantera y el mono y dijo, “Ay este mono tonto, ya tengo tanto tiempo esperandolo le pedi que me fuera a traer una pantera para comermela y no a regresado.” Entonces la pantera asustada y enojada se fue y se comió al mono. 

Full Translation: 

One day a man decided he was going to go to Africa to hunt animals, and he brought his little dog with him, who was medium build, a common mutt, and not known for his bravery or ability to attack large animals. So when they got to the jungle the man decided to go alone and told his dog, “You can’t help or defend me from wild animals, so you will wait here.” So the man goes, and then the dog searches around him to see what there was. He’s walking and all of a sudden, far off, he sees a black panther. And he says “this panther is coming and for sure will be hungry and will want to eat me.” he says, “What do I do what do I do?” So he turns around and on the side of the tree there are animal bones. So he runs and gets close to the bones and starts to bite them, and when the panther gets close and at the moment she’s about to attack, [the dog] says in a loud voice, “Mmm, how tasty this panther that I ate is! Had I known, I would’ve eaten the one coming near me. Mm mm, delicious!” 

So the panther when she heard that, said, “How could this dog so small have eaten one of us? I better go.” And she left. So the dog says, “Uy, I sure saved myself.” And above him in the tree was a monkey spying on him, and he saw the whole scene and heard what happened. So like a gossip, he runs to the panther and tells her everything that he heard from the dog. So the panther, very angry, says “Now he won’t escape me.” So the panther returns to where the little dog was with the monkey perched on her shoulder. And the dog saw them and again says, “For sure the panther is coming to eat me. I don’t think she believed me at all.” He says, “What do I do, what do I do?” So he runs again to the bones and begins to bite them, and the panther and monkey approach, and he said at that moment, “This dumb monkey, I’ve been waiting forever for him. I asked him to go and find me a panther to eat, and he hasn’t returned yet.” So then the panther, scared and angry, goes and eats the monkey. 

Background: 

My informant is my mother, who grew up in Mexico. She heard this narrative as a little girl when she was in school, and said that the lesson behind the story was to “not underestimate someone” or else it’ll backfire on you. It’s about using your imagination to your strengths, and learning how to use it to defend yourself, and finally “not being a gossip like the monkey.”

Context: 

This came up when I was asking my mother what kinds of folklore she used to hear when she was growing up in Mexico, and this was one that she heard at school. 

Thoughts: 

While this is a cautionary tale, I think another aspect of the story is to learn how to play to your different strengths. The dog is described as small and weak, and everyone underestimates him, including himself, until he realizes how to trick the panther. It’s about believing in your abilities and learning how to turn someone else’s maldoings towards you into something you can benefit from. That being said, I think this story was told to children on purpose because it seems reminiscent of how little kids can act around each other. Smaller kids are tended to be bullied the most, which leads to them being insecure, and children in general like to be tattle tales and spread rumors about each other. This story shows the consequences of what happens to those who unnecessarily snitch on each other, and to those who get picked on in school, gives them a hero (the little dog) to look up to and follow his example.