Tag Archives: family

Knock on Wood for Luck

Information Info

Age: 38

Date_of_performance: 02/17/2025

Informant Name: CF

Language: English 

Nationality: American 

Occupation:  Senior Manager, Digital Marketing lol

Primary Language: English

Residence: Virginia, US

Text:

“You better knock on wood so something bad doesn’t happen or you don’t jinx yourself”.  It’s a big saying among my family and while I’m not particularly superstitious in general, I always knock on wood or the closest possible hard surface after I say “knock on wood”.  I’m not a religious person but I do believe in karma and that things can happen universally, so I will always “knock on wood”.  My family, particularly my mom’s side, has said this my whole life so I feel like I’ve been saying it since I was able to understand the saying.  

Analysis

Knock on door is a proverb I’ve heard many time before. It brings up an interesting conversation about where that saying came to be. C mentions how she isn’t religious but believes in karma, which makes me believe that it lands in the lap of people who are less spiritual and simply want protection and luck from the universe. Superstitious proverbs most of the time lead back to nature, as we can see from the one above, knocking on wood (whether if its a tree or a table made out of wood from trees) and it connects to wanting to be on good terms with the universe and what surrounds us. I also find this story sweet, even though she isn’t superstitious like her family, it is still ingrained into who she is because her mom taught her it and wanted to have luck throughout life.

Letting go of things proverb

Information Info

Age: 20

Date_of_performance: 02/18/2025

Informant Name: HH

Language: English

Nationality: Puerto Rican  

Occupation: Student/works at the National History Museum

Primary Language: English/Spanish

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Text:

“One saying I grew up hearing (and learned wasn’t that common?) was “let it roll off you like water off a duck’s back.” I think this came from my dad who’s from Alabama so it might have southern roots. The idea of the saying is to encourage someone to let something go, to be flexible, and not to fixate on something too much. Basically a cute way to tell someone to let it go, or that it’s not that deep”

Analysis:

This proverb sounds like it could have southern roots because I haven’t heard of it until H told me in our interview and I’m from the east coast. I can understand why her dad would tell her this proverb growing up, it’s a sweeter version of saying “Don’t freak out. You need to calm down”. It gives you the idea that you need to breath and let it all go. Let go of things you can change, it isn’t the end of the world. We all needed to hear this proverb growing up with all of the pressure being put on us. “Let it roll off you like water off a duck’s back”, ducks don’t get upset when water rolls off their back, they don’t even pat an eye towards it. They let the water roll off them and move on like it never touched them in the first place. This is what the saying wants to feel, like the uncomfortableness come over us and let it go without a second thought or care.

“El burro trabaja doble”

Translation: “The donkey works twice”

Information Info

Age: 19

Date_of_performance: 02/16/2025

Informant Name:  YP

Language: English 

Nationality: Mexican

Occupation: Student

Primary Language: Spanish

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Text:

“The phrase I grew up hearing from all my relatives, but particularly my mom was: “el burro trabaja doble.” 

It’s a funny, straightforward saying and it essentially means to do things all the way right the first time, and don’t take shortcuts or else you’ll have to redo it. It’s basically telling you “don’t be lazy, you’ll regret it when you’re doing the same thing again, fixing your silly mistakes.” Whether I accidentally made my clothes pink cause I accidentally threw red shirt in with my white clothes or I failed an exam because i didnt go back and check my work, my family repeated this phrase to me over and over. At this point, it’s an engrained part of my life. Everything I do, I try to put in my best effort and make sure to take my time with things that I care about so I don’t have to worry about them again later. It’s simple, but it’s made me a pretty methodical person and I credit that to my mom and that saying. And every time I don’t go about my tasks thoroughly, it echoes back in my head that “el burro trabaja doble”

Analysis:
I never heard this proverb before, so I enjoyed hearing her talk about it and the history it has in her family. She mentioned to me before i started recording was that the translation comes off a bit funny ““The donkey works twice” and i would assume she is the donkey in this situation. It is a proverb that gets you thinking about not completely tasks just so it can be done with, but putting your best foot forward and completely it to the fullest extent and correctly. I feel like from the moment people enter high school there is so much pressure put on us that we need to rush to plan our future out in a second and we carry that rush into everything we do because it is ingrained in us that is is better to get things done in a fast way than in the correct way. This proverb could be a wake up call for people, to realize that it is better to take a step back and do things slowly and properly to avoid making mistakes we may regret. I’ll always take this proverb with me as I go through life and hold myself accountable for any mistakes I make because I was doing things quickly and without focus.

In the barnyard

Information Info

Age: 20

Date_of_performance: 02/13/2025

Informant Name: EK

Language: English 

Nationality: American 

Occupation: Student 

Primary Language: English

Residence: Los Angeles, CA  

Text:

“For as long as I can remember, my family loved to play card games, especially euchre. Euchre is essentially a trick-taking game with two teams of two, with a little skill and lots of luck of the draw. In euchre, you play to ten, and whenever any team got to nine, one team member would stick their hands out, interlocking their hands together except for their thumbs which would stick down in as “udders”. Then, the other team member would spray milk on the opposing team, paired with lots of jeering and taunting as they would flaunt how they were “in the barnyard!”. That phrase has only come from my family from what I can tell, but whenever I’m close to succeeding at something, I often say I’m in the barnyard because of that.”

Analysis:

Out of all of the proverbs I’ve got from the interviews, this is the first one that doesn’t have the intention of wisdom or a hidden passage that is being passed down from different generations. This one was created about of a fun game night with his family. It is a proverb that came from a family memory and E created into a message for himself and turning it into a feeling succeeding because he would say that phrase when he won the game. I love hearing stories about a family saying that becomes ingrained into people and soon becomes of great importance to them. if you were to hear someone yell “In the barnyard” after finishing up a hard assignment or getting a dream job, it would be fair for your first reaction would be to be weirded out because that would be the last thing you expected to hear. But to them, it is meaningful for them. That is what proverbs should be at the end of the day, they don’t have to make sense to others as long as you understand the meaning and carry it with you giving you hope or reminding you have good memories.

“Eddie’s Home”

Nationality: American

Age: 21

Occupation: Student 

Residence: Los Angeles, CA, USA

Date: 02/22/2025 

Primary Language: English

Language: English

Description: 

“In my family and other—I’ve heard it done other in other families too, but to like, signify or, like, tell somebody that they have something in their teeth, like at a dinner party or just like in public. You say that ‘Eddie’s home’. And you can be like Eddie’s upstairs, Eddie’s downstairs, Eddie’s upstairs in the left bedroom, etc.”

Subject’s opinion:

Subject:  I feel like that has a lot to do with, like Texas mannerisms and, like, politeness, because…you are like, very like, um…people pleaser, and, I don’t know.” 

Interviewer: Where did you first hear this? Do you remember? 

Subject: I think my family taught me, like, when I was little at the dinner table. Like I was told like, never to put my elbows on the table and that kind of stuff. So, like, as a…how to be polite, I guess.

Interviewer: Do you know why it’s called Eddie? 

Subject: No. I don’t. 

Analysis: 

Though the subject lives in Los Angeles, she noted that this piece of folk speech is deeply rooted in her family’s Texan tradition and highlights the American South’s great stress on social etiquette. The phrase itself—a code only understood by members of her community—reinforces presentation and politeness. It suggests that having something in one’s teeth is not only uncomfortable to oneself but also a violation of a collective commitment to cleanliness and sophistication. In this context, the phrase becomes a way to care for or protect someone, as it prevents them from potential embarrassment. It’s also clear that the subject was brought up in such an environment based on her reference to dinner table manners. The subject, however, displayed a degree of disillusionment towards her community, often putting on a dismissive attitude when discussing such practices. Though the subject did not elaborate further on these feelings, it’s reasonable to assume that she doesn’t entirely subscribe to her community’s commitment to upholding values on social etiquette. That said, the metaphorical code is incredibly vivid and engaging and left a strong impression on the subject. It’s an obscure yet potent piece of folk speech that not only reflects Southern values but also how and where the community engages in a rich oral tradition which “Eddie’s home” is only a small part of.