Tag Archives: children’s folklore

Hebrew School Pranks

Nationality: American
Age: 95
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Skokie, IL
Performance Date: 04/05/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Some Yiddish

The informant is a 95-year old man who grew up in Davenport, right near downtown with his parents and two brothers. His father came over from Russia and owned a grocery store in Davenport. He now lives in Skokie, IL with his wife and caretaker. He has three sons and 9 grandchildren.

Informant: “In Hebrew school they liked to play tricks on teachers. The tricks were different but they always happened. In my Hebrew school we always used to pull pranks if a substitute teacher came. The school was getting all new desks. The new desks were in the basement of the temple. They didn’t bolt them down to the cement floor, they just had them loose. When the substitute teacher went to go to the toilet, all the other guys in the class (there must have been 20 of us) moved their desks way back. And I was not going to participate in it, that kind of tomfoolery. So I kept my desk right where it was. He comes back, he’s from English this teacher, and you know he has thee gray gloves. He comes back in and sees sall the rest of them all the way back and sees me by myself up front and he looks around and tells me to come up to the front, “come up here and get your punishment.” He hit me across the face with his gloves.”

 

Thoughts:

This story reflects the insider/outsider mentality that is often involved in pranking. Pulling pranks on substitute teachers is a way of bringing closer together the pranksters (the students in the class) and in a sense, is the students’ way of demonstrating their power. It could also be seen as a sort of initiation right for new teachers, or for substitute teachers, into the class. Practical jokes create a situation and distract from a lesson, something students are often very keen on doing.

 

Snow Day Magic Tricks

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 04/19/15
Primary Language: English
Language: none

Informant is a 20 year old college student at the University of Chicago. She is a creative writer, activist, and political science major. She grew up in Highland Park, Illinois with her two parents and two younger brothers.

 

Informant: “So here in Chicago, we have a thing called snow. It actually gets quite cold if you remember.”

Interviewer: “I remember!”

Informant: “Just wanted to remind you since now you live in sunny, always blue-skied, 70 degree Cali. Anyways, there are times that so much snow accumulates that school is canceled. Not very often, but every now and then. Usually ever year, but sometimes just once every two or three years.”

Interviewer: “I totally remember those! They were the best…”

Informant: “They were! Do you remember what we all used to do in the hopes there would be a snow day?”

Interviewer: “Sort of, but not entirely.”

Informant: “Okay, let me refresh your memory. We would put a spoon under our pillow before going to bed—some people put it under their bed, and some people didn’t put a spoon but a fork—and that was supposed to make a snow day happen. But not just out of the blue. IT had to already be pretty snowy, or supposed to snow heavily.”

Interviewer: “Do you remember who told you to do that? Or who told you that worked?”

Informant: “No specific person that I remember. I think we all just sort of knew to do it. Like everyone talked about it working, or having worked.”

 

Thoughts:

I can’t figure why a spoon was the object placed under one’s bed or one’s pillow to conjure a snow day, but I do remember doing this once in the hopes of a snow day. I can’t say for sure if it was my having placed the spoon under my bed or Mother Nature, but we did in fact have school canceled the next day…

I actually googled the practice and found several articles as well as some other ways to conjure snow days! For more snow day “magic,” see http://www.grandhaventribune.com/article/strange-grand-haven/265096.

The notion of “conjuring up snow days”, talked about in the article, brings to mind Voodoo. It’s fascinating that magic or voodoo was so looked down on for so long, and even to an extent is now in the very hyper-scientific society in which we live, but that it holds such an important role for people. This again speaks to belief, and how strong it is despite changing times or new scientific discoveries.

The Nose Game

Nationality: Irish, German, Czech American
Age: 8
Occupation: 3rd grader
Residence: Jacksonville, FL
Performance Date: 3/17/13
Primary Language: English

My informant is eight years old from Jacksonville, Florida. She is 8 years old, and is in third grade at a small Catholic School in her area. Her father is in the Navy, who works at a Naval base nearby and her mother stays at home. She has three sisters, all of which are older than her. While her family moved around a lot, she has lived her entire life in Florida.

The Nose Game

Me: The nose game is where if you don’t want to do something…then you put your finger on your nose real fast and the last one to do it has to do whatever the thing is

Me: do what?

Informant: whatever the people don’t want to do. Mostly answering the phone or getting off the couch.

Me: where did you learn that from?

Informant: Lisa and Bri and Katherine [informant’s sisters]

Me: who do you usually play with?

Informant: I play at school a lot. For who has to clean up at recess. I’m usually the first to yell “nose game!” and point on my nose

I have also heard the version, “nose goes,” as in the person who doesn’t notice that everyone has their finger on their nose must “go” and do whatever task, usually something that no one wants to do. In my home in Minnesota, the nose game is used a lot for who has to go back outside to get something from the car when it is freezing out. It is also common for someone to just touch their nose without saying anything, and the last to notice is the loser. Sometimes this can take awhile, and it is always a little joke or point of ridicule if they didn’t notice.

 

Annotation: In an Episode of Scrubs, the nose game is used to decide who will help Dr. Perry Cox write a will.

Coffee and Tea jump rope song

Nationality: irish, German, Czech American
Age: 8
Occupation: 3rd grader
Residence: Jacksonville, FL
Performance Date: 3/17/13
Primary Language: English

My informant from Jacksonville, Florida gave me a second jump rope rhyme:

“I like coffee, I like tea, I like [person’s name] to play with me. [that person jumps in and their name is spelled in rhythm to the song.”

Unlike the Cinderella rhyme, I had not heard this version. When I was growing up, the rhyme we sang was “I like coffee, I like tea, I like boys and they like me. Yes, No, Maybe so. Yes, No, Maybe so… [kept going until the jumper messed up]”. Both rhymes have the same beginning and same rhythm, but the outcomes are different. In the version collected from my informant, a second person who was called on had to jump in with the first. In the version I played, the jumper kept jumping while everyone playing chanted yes, no, maybe so. Whichever one was being said when the person messed up their jumping or got caught in the rope, was the fate of the person. I played these jump rope games when I was in third grade, the same age as my informant. These games were important to me because it helped build friendships. I had certain people that I played jump rope with on a day to day basis. It was also a big part of “recess culture” to know the songs, and not different versions. I came across this a lot when I moved around from state to state when I was in elementary school. I found that different regions of the country have similar songs, but are slightly different. Knowing the songs being sung during jump rope was very important for a girl’s ability to participate in the games. Jump rope culture also developed as there were certain groups of girls that always played jump rope and there were certain jump ropes that were “better” than others, so girls would race to our bucket of toys to claim the best jump rope as recess was starting. These collections were interesting because I was able to compare them to my childhood experience and compare the songs and the actual performance of jumping rope as my informant demonstrated to me. I also found how difficult it is to swing the rope exactly right when out of practice, and my informant had to correct me a lot in my technique of rope turning.

Cinderella Jump Rope Song

Nationality: Irish, German, Czech American
Age: 8
Occupation: 3rd grader
Residence: Jacksonville, FL
Performance Date: 3/17/13
Primary Language: English

My informant is the same as the nose game entry. Setting is outside in my yard over spring break, and the weather was very cold. She is 8 years old, from Jacksonville Florida. She attends a small Catholic school there. My informant plays this jump rope game on the playground with her friends. She sang the song for me and we also went outside and she demonstrated how she plays the game.

“Cinderella dressed in yella went upstairs to kiss a fella. By mistake she kissed a snake, how many doctors did it take? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5..”

My informant demonstrated the jump rope game for me. A long rope is used and two people hold one end and one person is jumping to the time of the rhyme. My informant had me and another person hold the two ends while she demonstrated the jumping. I asked her who plays the game and she replied that her and her friends play. I asked her if boys played and she said no. One time a boy in her class tried it but was really bad at it- boys usually play kickball at her school. The girl who is jumping will either start standing next to the rope, or will “jump in,” if they are more experienced. The swingers chant “one, two, three and over,” swinging the rope over the jumper’s head and they begin singing the song. The alternative way to start is where the rope is swung to a beat and then jumper runs in at the right time and starts jumping. My informant showed me both ways, but had a little more difficulty running in. My informant claims to have learned the song in first grade (she is now in third grade) and has been playing ever since. This collection was interesting for me because I sang the same song when I was growing up, even though I grew up in a different state. It was interesting to see that the song is conserved across the country. However, when I played we did not chant “one, two, three, and over” to start a game. This was a game predominantly played by girls when I played at recess as well.