Tag Archives: high school

Contemporary Legend – Fullerton, California

Nationality: Korean
Age: 31
Occupation: Pastor
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

“Cardboard Kids”

Origins

Pastor Arnold heard this legend from high school friends (in Fullerton). There is an actual house that is associated with this legend and he has passed by it several times.

Quoted from Pastor Arnold

“There was a track called Laguna Niguel in Fullerton. It was an affluent place where a lot of upper class people lived. There was a married couple that had a disabled child. The child lived in a wheelchair all his life. The child was unpopular, didn’t have friends. In an effort to get the child more friends, the parents threw their child a large birthday party and invited many people from school.”

“All the kids came to the party, but they ignored the kid. The child was despondent and left the party. He rolled in his wheelchair out near the lake and accidentally fell in and drowned. So, the parents blamed the kids that came. The parents, who were filled with anger, made cardboard cutouts of all the kids who came and posted them in the windows.”

Collector’s comments

This particular urban legend sounds a lot like the plot of several recent movies / shows in which an unpopular child dies or is killed and the blame falls upon the normal / popular children. Recently, there was an episode of the popular series Smallville in which there is a flashback to Lex Luthor’s childhood. The flashback eventually shows Lex Luthor savagely beating his “uncool” friend for wanting to tattle on three popular students and ruin Lex’s chances of becoming part of the in crowd. Again, the episode uses the common theme of an unpopular child (although Lex’s friend does not have any physical handicap) who dies at the hands of the popular kids.

Joke

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: May 2007
Primary Language: English

“What did the Mexican gardener say when he sat on the grass?”  –Gracias

Justin came up with this joke during high school when he was with his friends.  He says that this joke is not meant to be racist, but is more a play on the words in Spanish and English.  He later explains this joke into more detail, saying that the Mexican gardener got grass on his behind when he sat on it.  He meant to say “grassy-ass” in English instead of saying “gracias” in Spanish.

This simple joke is humorous because of the double meaning of sounds in two different languages.  This use of puns is an example of an appropriate incongruity, which is an equivocation of two meanings under one sound.  We have this within the English language, but using puns across languages makes it even funnier.  The punch line is the answer to the joke: gracias, which means “thank you.”  It is possible that the gardener is thanking someone to let him sit on the grass, but the joke was made so quickly that this connection was probably not made at the time.

Even though this is a very simple joke, it also says a lot about the stereotypes that Southern Californians have of Mexicans. The humor of the joke actually comes from the illegitimate connection between “grassy-ass” and “gracias,” yet it is possible that one can take this joke in an offensive way.  Because Mexicans are very large part of the population, they are commonly employed as gardeners or maids.  Thus, the use of a Mexican as a gardener in this joke is expected and partly related to a racist idea.  The jokes that people have about Mexicans are due to the fact that they are just across the border of California and Mexico.  It is easy to make fun of the differences of language, especially because there are so many Mexicans in the area that the two languages are often used together.

Folk Speech

Nationality: Chinese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: May 2007
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English

What should I wear to the meeting? You should go in your “birthday suit.”

Lillian told her friend to wear her “birthday suit” to the meeting as a joke.   She learned this from high school when another friend said it to her.  She said that to go in a birthday suit means to go naked.  She accepts this speech and does not know where it could have come from.

Although this is a simple phrase, it can be interpreted in many ways.  First off, teenagers constantly joke about nudity, especially with the media encouraging sexual references.  This folk speech could refer to one’s birthday, when one is the center of attention.  A person could “wear her birthday suit” for somebody else, which would be a satisfying present.

Folklore is commonly spread in many ways, whether it is a couple words or a long story.  In this case, simple phrases with sexual connotations are very common and easy to spread.  By having words that refer to a completely different idea, people can have inside jokes with whoever knows the folk speech.  Thus, there is an inside group who is familiar with the phrase, making it folklore.

Folk Speech – American

Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Downey, CA
Performance Date: March 10, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Vietnamese

“Jinx, you owe me a soda.”

My informant first heard this phrase when he was thirteen years old and in junior high.  My informant and his friends were at lunch hanging out and they both said the word “dumb” at the same time, so his friend said “Jinx, you owe me a soda.”  Ever since then, my informant has been using this phrase.  While my informant and I was getting some ice cream at the supermarket, we both said “cookies and cream” at the same time.  My informant shouted “jinx, you owe me a soda.”  At first I did not understand because I am familiar with when a person says jinx, the other person who did not say it must be silent.  My informant explained to me the different version of this folk speech.  Afterwards, I had to treat my informant to a soda.

There are many different versions of saying jinx when two people say the same word at the same time.  The original version that I am familiar with is when two people say the same word at the same time and one person yells jinx, then the other person must be silent.  If the person who did not say jinx speaks, then he or she will be punished by getting hit in the arm or by getting pinched.  Another rule for playing this game is that if two people say jinx at the same time, then the person who said it the slowest must be silent.  Another variation of this rule is that if two people yell “jinx” at the same time, then one person can say “personal jinx” which will overrule their opponent’s “jinx.”  In this case, the person who said “personal jinx” will be in power and win the game.  In the case of my informant, instead of the other person being silent, the other person just has to buy the winner a soda.

This play on words is considered folklore because many people throughout different cities know about this folk speech.  It has been used so commonly that it is natural for a person to yell “jinx” when two people say the same word at the same time.  Even though at first, this folk speech seemed like a childish one that was only played in grade school.  My informant who is in high school proves that the word “jinx” is not restricted to just children who are in grade school.

Prank/Tradition – Phoenix, Arizona

Nationality: Welsh
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Phoenix, AZ
Performance Date: March 05, 2008
Primary Language: English

“So every year at Brophy seniors sell tickets to freshman for the pool party on top of the gym. The party usually is at the end of the year or something. If a freshman says “Let me see a picture or something” the seniors show them a picture that from the air looks like there is a pool but its really the ventilation on the roof or something. So for years now there’s been a “pool on the gym roof.” Tickets would be like $5-10 depending on who you bought them from. If you were a freshman and got tickets to the pool party, you were the shit until you found out it was a hoax and then you were gay. I got tickets when I was a freshman, but I never sold them to freshman when I was a senior.”

Brophy College Preparatory High School in Phoenix, Arizona is an all boys Jesuit high school. Directly adjacent to Brophy is Xavier College Preparatory High School, an all girls Catholic school (the white buildings closest to the baseball field). Therefore a pool party was guaranteed to be teeming with lots of the Xavier girls, which according to Parker was a big deal for the freshman guys who were isolated from the girls in their all boys school. As a freshman at Xavier at the same time as Parker, I heard about the pool party too but was told that girls didn’t need to buy tickets because we got in for free.

The pool party hoax has been around every year for a very long time. No one is really sure of who started it, my older brothers who went to Brophy in the 90s also fell victim to this prank when they were freshman. Parker guessed that the prank started soon after the gym was remodeled, in the 80s. The picture for proof didn’t exist when my brothers went to school at Brophy but Parker thinks that the picture existed for about 4 years before he came to Brophy.

The prank is definitely considered a rite of initiation at Brophy. The freshman guys are usually the only ones who fall victim to the pranks that are carried out by seniors only. Selling the tickets is also a form of initiation for the seniors. Ever since a freshman finds out about that he has been conned he waits until he is a senior to get his retaliation, and usually, his money back. The tickets are only sold for the first week or two of school usually because the secret gets out quickly that there really is no pool on the roof.

The pool on the roof prank disclaims responsibility of the seniors because it is tradition that the faculty and older students already know about and do not try to stop. It is an accepted rite of passage at the high school. The lore of Brophy is quickly learned by the freshman folk the hard way however, with the prank also acts as a method to unify the class, usually against the seniors, but unity none the less is a crucial aspect to building friendships.