Tag Archives: humor

Stealing Ham Urban Legend

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Jersey
Performance Date: 04/24/12
Primary Language: English

Transcribed Text:

“My friend told me this story. He said his friend was working at this grocery store, and this very large, borderline obese African American woman is walking towards the exit, and her body seems especially lumpy? More so than it would be for a normal obese woman. And all of a sudden, out of her shirt, on to the ground, falls a ham. A big ol’ ham, like you’d have for Christmas dinner. And – and she looks around, and she goes “who threw that at me?” (said in a very sassy voice). And- and it was very obvious that it had just fallen out of her shirt, but she proceeds to play it off like someone just threw a ham at her. And she reacts, and I guess this would supposedly be an appropriate reaction for having a ham thrown at you, by saying “nuh uh. Ya bettta don’t” (said in a very sassy voice with left hand on hip and right hand waving with the index finger. Head bobbing right and left while phrase is said). And, and then she just walks out. And the ham is on the floor and the employees were just standing there, mouth agape”

The informant currently attends the University of Southern California as a student. He says that he heard this story from a friend in high school in New Jersey. It has become a friend of a friend story, and he has told many of his friends the story several times. He normally tells the story after he uses the phrase “nuh uh. Ya betta don’t” in some conversation, and the people who do not know the context of that phrase ask him about it. I first saw him use it when it came up in a conversation on facebook where somebody refused to go look for their wallet to pay for a ticket that was going to be sold out within a few hours. The informant replied to that comment with “Sarah just tried to pull the same shit. Nuh uh. Ya betta don’t” to which he received many questions as to what that meant. Ever since then, he has repeated the story many times, each time receiving laughter regardless of if the audience has heard it before or not.

It is obvious by the way the informant tells the story that he is an active bearer of this now legend. Every time he repeats the story, there are fixed phrases and beats to the narrative. He makes use of the oral formulaic theory also with the final phrase where he imitates the woman. The audience, regardless of if they themselves repeat the story or not, the phrase “nuh uh. Ya betta don’t” has become a phrase that many people have started repeating and using within this group of friends at least. This story is a very amusing narrative, but it is also a bit racist. When the informant was describing how to properly say the phrase, he said that one has to do it with a proper ghetto accent and sass. This plays on the stereotype of African Americans that exists in the USA today, where it is normal and almost expected of the group to talk with a certain accent. This piece of folklore is an urban legend that makes use of the oral formulaic theory in the method that it is performed and Blason Populaire with the content that it contains.

 

 

 

 

Man Cheating Joke

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/20/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Transcribed Text:

“So, this man and this woman get married and they’re totally in love with each other. And, when they first move in together after their married, the man tells the woman “Ok, I’m going to be completely honest with you. I’m willing to share my entire life with you and everything with you, as long as you promise me one thing.” And the woman says “What?” He’s like “Ok, I have this box. And I’m going to keep it under our bed. And I need you to promise me that you’re never going to look inside of that box.”  And the woman says “yeah sure, sounds easy enough. That’s fine.” So, many, many years go by. And, the husband is out a lot. The woman is basically at home, by herself all the time, which is really sad and depressing. Anyways, so like, the woman finally one day, is cleaning up, and under the bed she notices that box. This is like ten years later. And she’s like “Oh wow, I totally forgot about this.” And being alone, she gets curious, and finally decides to open the box. And inside, she sees, three empty beer bottles, and a wad of cash. She counts it out, and it’s about 2000 dollars. And she’s like “holy shit, this is two thousand dollars. Is he planning on leaving me, or like, what does he have all this money for, he’s never told me about it before? What’s going on.” So she’s like freaking out. Um… and she’s like thinking why does he want this to be a secret from her. So when he finally gets home late that night, she kind of just can’t keep it in anymore, and she finally confesses. “Hey, uh, I’m so sorry. I finally looked inside that box. I know you told me never to do that, but I did, and I just really need to know. What’s the deal with like those three beer bottles?” And so, he said to her, “Ok… I guess I have some fessing up to do. Um…I, every time I was unfaithful to you, I- I kept a beer bottle inside that box. “ Um…and she just started crying, and cuz, there were three beer bottles in there. And so she’s like oh my god, he cheated on me! But at the same time, you know what, she loved him, forgave him, and-and, they, they went to bed that night, like as a couple, they forgave each other. Him for uh, for her looking in the box, and her to him for like cheating on her. Anyway, so like, uh…in the middle of the night, she kind of just like, wakes up and realizes, wait, so what was all the money for? So she kind of like wakes him up. “Hey honey, wha-what was the money for?” And he’s like “shit,” because uh, he thought he got out of it. So he told her, “ok honey, here’s the deal. Every time I put a bottle in the box, and the bottle- uh, the box got full, I went to the recycling place, and got it redeemed for cash. Haha, and that’s that.”

The informant says she remembers hearing this joke freshman year of high school. She also remembers that it was popular in her high school and that it was one of her favorite jokes to tell to her peers to see their reactions. She thinks it’s funny in how the story goes in a direction that is not expected. The audience is left wondering what the wad of cash means after the wife asks about the bottles, and when the punch line is delivered, it comes with a sense of bewilderment and unexpectedness. She says that it is also a quite lengthy joke, which serves the purpose distracting the audience from the twist and the punchline of the joke.

It makes sense that this joke is circled around in this age group and older, as this type of joke with adultery and money tends to cause more humor in a teenage and adult group. It is a joke that would be told in a normal school or casual setting amongst a group of friends. The punch line causes chuckles and senses of bewilderment and amusement amongst the audience, as it isn’t expected. It also has a theme of couples and sex, which is a big topic in teenage and young adult society. This is an example of age group folklore, where the joke is targeted towards a specific range of ages. Children wouldn’t be expected to understand it. Therefore, to understand the joke, one would have to understand the concept of sex and cheating, which is usually something people learn towards middle, high school and college.

How About That Ride In?

Nationality: German
Age: 25
Occupation: Salesman
Residence: Pasadena, California
Performance Date: 4/15/12
Primary Language: English

“How About That Ride In?”

My informant, 25 years old and living in Pasadena, CA, was a big fan of the Hollywood blockbuster, “The Hangover”, which was released in 2009. He says that he distinctly remembers one of its most famous lines- “how about that ride in”- when the group of young men arrive in Las Vegas where the plot of the movie begins. My informant tells me that ever since the movie came out, that line has “literally become a part of American folklore for guys my age”. “I’ve heard it countless times from my buddies and other peers when we’re all just hanging out”, he says.

My informant says that this piece of folklore is used as a sort of comical relief from an awkward or dull situation. He says it is usually said when conversation is lagging or there is an awkward silence to lighten the mood and bring humor to the room. “Sometimes people say it as a joke when they arrive late to a meeting or gathering. I’ve really heard it in so many different situations” said my informant. He says that he just assumes that everybody knows that it’s a line from a movie, so it’s not ‘weird or awkward’ when somebody comes out and says it in a random situation. My informant says that he ‘laughs every time’ and that it’s ‘gotten him out of some pretty awkward situations in a funny way’. “Sometimes, when people don’t know that it’s a line from a movie, it gets even more awkward, very fast”.

My informant also says that he can use it as a sort of test, to see if this person is somebody he would like to spend time with or hang around with. He is convinced that it how they react to it will show whether or not they have a good sense of humor, and are into popular culture.

I agree with my informant, and have heard this phrase many times on my own as well. It seems like it would be a good icebreaker or funny quote just to lighten a mood. I think it is a great example of a piece of folklore that is stemmed from a part of authored literature, in this case, a film. It becomes more of a folkloric term because it is used in different contexts and to achieve different tasks than it originally was supposed to in the film. It has begun to grow and gain newer meanings among a younger American crowd.

Annotation: The Hangover, Movie, 2009

Joe College

Nationality: American
Age: 25
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2000
Primary Language: English

My informant for this story is my friend.

In his family, dating back to his grandparents, though they were fairly poor and grew up during the Depression and were economically impacted, many members of the family went to college.  This was somewhat unique for the time period, specifically for the region and time they lived in.  Furthermore, many of the children went on not just to college or higher education, but to attain several degrees or terminal degrees.

Accordingly, it became sort of a rite of passage for each sibling to begin their college career and make the visits back home and participate in the other typical collegiate activities.  As each one got closer to go to college and was accepted, all the members of the family would start to call him “Joe College.”  My friend’s grandfather said he was never sure where the term originated or who first started saying it, but he was the oldest of his generation within the family and when he got towards the end of high school and was accepted into college, his parents, grandparents and his siblings began calling him “Joe College.”  It became something that each one went through, again, like a rite of passage.  When he had his own children, he did the same, as did each of his siblings and I remember when my friend got accepted to college, his grandfather called him “Joe College.”  I never knew why or what it meant exactly until I researched it for this assignment.

Always Cut the End of the Ham Off Before You Cook It

Nationality: American
Age: 70s
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2002
Primary Language: English

My informant for this story is my friend’s grandmother.

My friend’s grandmother is a great cook.  She would often cook for us and going over to her house for a meal was one of my favorite things to do.  She would cook many different things.  On special occasions, she would cook a large ham, if there were going to be enough people there to eat it.  Almost every time she would cook a ham, either she or someone else in the family would remind her or ask her if she had cut the end off of the ham before cooking it.  This was sort of a running joke and I never thought much of it until after one meal, she was discussing the origin of the saying.  She had said that her husband’s mother, who taught her many of the recipes she still practices, had always told her to cut the end off the ham prior to cooking it.

It was years later before she realized that the reason they always said this was because they never had a pan big enough to accommodate cooking a ham with the end intact.  To this day, she laughs about this, having not known the reason for so many years.  She also mentioned it so many times to my friend and to me that I often think about this anytime I have ham or on holidays or other special occasions where a ham is being cooked.