Folklore: “Sana sana colita de rana.” – “Heal heal little frog tail.” – A saying used to help with healing if someone got hurt.
Context: Informant is a Mexican American senior at USC. Her family originated from Chihuahua Mexico, and she grew up frequently hearing this saying from friends and family. She remembers hearing it from her grandma. The folklore is a part of a larger saying, but the informant commonly used the shortened version.
Analysis: The folklore is something that shared between elders to youth, who commonly are energetic and prone to injury. It is shared throughout the generations and may even be shared from youth to youth, having learned it from their parents or elder figures.
Crock-a-dilly oh my Crock, crock, crock Say cinco cinco Cinco cinco sock-a-lock-a Fallow, fallow Stick your head in Jell-o Your face is turning yellow 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Alternatives: (Substitute for the last two lines before the numbers)
Stick your head in ink Your face is turning pink
Stick your head in water You look like Harry Potter
Video:
Context:
The informant is from Sudbury, Massachusetts and used this text in the early 2010s as they were growing up. The text is associated with a children’s game that is meant for 2 or more players. The informant played it at summer camps and recess in elementary school up until early middle school (ages 6-12). It acted as a bonding activity to the informant and almost every child knew how to play. To play the game, the children sit in a circle with their hands to either side. Each child in circle would put one of their hands on top of the player next to them and the other on the bottom of the player on the other side. For example, they might have their right hand on top of the hand of the player on their right, and their left hand below the hand of the player on their left. The game begins with one child moving their hand that is on top in an arc motion across their body to the other side, hitting the hand of the next player. Simultaneously, the group began to sing the song. The child who had their hand hit by the first player, repeats the motion to the next player who continues the chain. The sound of the clapping happens on beat with the song. The player who’s hand would be hit on the final beat as the song reaches “10” must pull their hand away before it is hit, making the previous player hit their own hand. If the player removed their hand successfully, they remain in the circle. If they were unsuccessful, they were eliminated from the game and the next round started without them. This continues on until only two players remained where the clapping game changes slightly. The two players sit across from each other and one puts their hands out facing up and the other places their hands above, facing down. The two move towards each other, clap in the middle, and continue moving apart. They then swap directions so the player that went down now has their hands facing up and vice versa. The two then continue the motion, again on beat with the song, with the same mechanic to eliminate the final player. If the final player is successful in removing their hands, they win. If they are unsuccessful, the other player wins. The tempo of the game is changeable and it can go as fast as the children want it to, making the game harder because there is less time to react and pull your hand away.
Analysis:
This game is common throughout many regions of the US but the song’s lyrics change. The last lyrics in this oicotype of the song make references to things that children enjoy such as the sweet dessert Jell-o and the middle-grade series Harry Potter. Other lyrics involve made-up words such as “crock-a-dilly” and “sock-a-lock-a.” Both of these lyrical choices reflect the fact that it is children who are making and adjusting this song. Adults wouldn’t focus on children’s novels or fake words in a song they made for children. Many other versions of the song include words in Spanish like this one. This may be for a few reasons. One is that Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US and is therefore the most likely to be included alongside English in songs. Another is that Spanish is a commonly learned language for children in schools, where this game is often played. The Spanish in this version is the word “cinco,” meaning five in Spanish. This is one of the first words that is learned by children as they start a new language. Since children are the ones who are singing and changing the lyrics over time, incorporating Spanish that they are just starting to learn makes sense.
The game that goes along with the song suggests some adult involvement in the overall activity as it is a way to contain children and encourage bonding with a group. Groups of children do play this game of their own accord and enjoy it but it can be co-opted by adults for their own benefit. Adults might want all the kids in a class or summer camp to sit down and play a fairly stationary and calm game instead of running around and being rowdy. This game gives them that ability. The game is also able to expand to a practically unlimited number of players, allowing for both large and small groups of children to be contained.
The MCAS is a standardized test in Massachusetts that stands for Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. The informant, who is from Sudbury, Massachusetts, took it throughout their time at school. Every child is required to take this test in grades 3rd-8th and 10th. It covers English language and math in all years; science in 5th, 8th, and 10th; and civics in 8th. Passing this test in 10th grade is a requirement to graduating and if a child fails, they have to retake it in 11th grade. The informant heard this nickname for the test through previous generations of students at their school. They used this term with their friends as they talked about not liking the test and bonded over a shared dislike of standardized testing. The informant finds this nickname funny and it’s primary use was as a joke.
Analysis:
Children are obviously not going to enjoy a standardized test but the severity of the language chosen reflects just how much they hate it. In this case, kids are slightly exaggerating their anger at a standardized test because they are aware that it isn’t child abuse but it still shows an extreme level of annoyance. Child abuse is a very heavy topic that children are dissuaded from discussing. Children’s interest in a subject generally goes up based on how much they are told to avoid it. Making jokes surrounding a topic is an easy way to access it in a safe way. It allows children to explore a difficult concept without any real risk to themselves or others. They are simultaneously using it as a way to talk about a topic that they aren’t supposed to.
Children want to rebel against adults when they can because adults control almost every aspect of a child’s life. When they have the opportunity to break away from that control, they take it. This isn’t contained to just children, any group that lacks control over their lives looks for ways to subvert the powerful. One way that is commonly used is jokes, such as this. Jokes are a way to go against what you are told to think or feel or, in this case, told to not think or feel. Jokes can be counter hegemonic and allow kids in this case to regain some power in their lives. This acronym translation is an example of how children exaggerate their annoyance with adult control over their lives, rebel against those adults, and use tabooistic topics within jokes as a way of exploring them.
Text: Okay, so in my elementary school in the bathroom, if you went in Bloody Mary was supposedly on the wall, like if you stared at a certain spot. And so people got really scared and didn’t want to go to the bathroom. I guess you stared for a certain, I don’t remember, like a number of seconds and a certain tile. It was like a tiled wall. So then all of a sudden you were supposed to see it.
Context:
Informant is a freshman at USC studying Themed Entertainment. She recounts her experience in the cafeteria while drinking a cup of coffee and snacking on some hash browns. She is slightly fidgeting and scatter-brained during the conversation.
“The elementary school I grew up in was in Redlands, CA. I learned about the Bloody Mary thing from just people talking about it. I feel like I wasn’t really convinced, but I had a friend that was so scared that I guess I got a little scared because she’d never go to the bathroom alone. She’d be like you have to go to the bathroom with me. And I was like, Okay. I felt kind of silly, to be honest, because I didn’t see anything when they made you look. So I was kind of just like this is weird. I’m pretty sure it didn’t start in our elementary school. I haven’t researched it, but it just came from somewhere else.”
Analysis: This folk narrative is an example of legend, a story in our world that might be true. This Bloody Mary Legend confronts people with what they believe. Even if some do not fully believe like the informant, they can still participate in the legend because of the aesthetic to belief. This legend was prevalent with young kids because children are high on the continuum context or more likely to believe than others. There is also a sort of legend quest involved with this legend because a ritual must be practiced in order to discover the legend. However, because the legend quest comes with a risk of being endangered, the legend is still able to be proved or disproved.
Text: So it’s actually from elementary school, but we had this like Legendish thing where there was supposedly a basement in my elementary school. And like, you could tell because if you like, knocked on the floor, whatever, it sounded hollow. And so there’s like a basement underneath. And like a long, long, long time ago. They trapped this dinosaur down there. And like with the leftover food from the cafeteria, they like fed it to make it happy and like. And then they would say like, oh, and if you dig up the sand like in the playground if you dig far enough, you’ll find like, fossils and other things. But that was like our lore.
Context:
Informant is a freshman at USC studying Aerospace Engineering, originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are sitting in a USC dining hall as she shares between bites of her pancake. She is excited and enthusiastic as she remembers her stories, using frequent hand gestures to emphasize her points.
“I learned it from the other kids at summer school in Oklahoma. A lot of people knew about it. But, like, we really only talked about it in summer school. I don’t know, like outside of summer school, we didn’t really. And when I was like, fifth grade and stuff, we didn’t really talk about it anymore. But it’s still in the back of my mind. It made it feel kind of interesting because I was like, oh, what if it’s true? Like that would be so cool and interesting. Like, I don’t know, because I kind of like mysteries. And I like not knowing something, you know, like something’s possible. Even though that definitely was not. I was like still kind of hoping that there was something there. I think I believed it at first. At first I was like maybe not a dinosaur was down there, but like the fact that for some reason I thought it was proven that it was hollow underneath. So I was like, what is down there?”
Analysis: This legend is an example of socially negotiated belief. The purpose was to confront individuals with what they actually believe, and present evidence like the floor sounding hollow in order to make one question what they believe to be possible. And even if one It’s evident that beliefs are crafted as a social process, especially within this specific demographic of children who are high on the continuum context, meaning they are more likely to believe this legend. This type of legend might be more plausible in this society of elementary school children as this is the time they are new to learning about dinosaurs and fossils and such items.
