Tag Archives: Joke

A Long Lost Friend

Nationality: American

Age: 81

Occupation: Retired

Residence: Mill Valley, CA

Performance Date: December 1st, 2024

Primary Language: English

Language: English

MAIN DESCRIPTION: 

“All right, a few years ago, normal morning I just woke up. I was gonna get up and go to to the bathroom. when I felt like I couldn’t get out of the bed. 
I felt like something was like sitting on me right I mean, I could still breathe and all, but I just felt like I couldn’t get up and I was thinking, is this a heart attack or something? And then finally I did get up and I went to the bathroom. I came back, got in bed and there, I felt it again. 
It was just like somebody sitting on me and and when I started with maybe I picked up my phone and looked at the date and it was July 2 and I suddenly remembered that that was the birthday of my best friend Leonore, who had died of breast cancer years before, and I think it was the first time I ever forgot her birthday and I think she was pissed that I forgot it. So after that, I mean after that everything went away and it was just that weird experience of having this presence there who didn’t hurt me, but was making herself known.”

INFORMANT’S OPINION:

JS: What do you think this appearance means spiritually?

MB: “I felt it related to our friendship, which started in sixth grade and we were she was my closest friend through high school and then once I started going with my husband uh and she she she developed an interest in Spanish culture. And she ended up um taking a job in Mexico and marrying a Mexican person there, had children with him and then later divorced him and she got tired of him and Mexico. 
And she came back and met a really wonderful guy who she married and they lived right in the East Bay until she developed breast cancer. She was she died at 49. It was terrible, so anyway, I felt it was just her maybe disappointment and a little annoyance that I had that remembered her birthday. 
But I didn’t feel it was evil. I mean, she wasn’t trying to kill me. Yeah like, “hey, it’s my birthday.””

PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

Who can say for sure what our human connections to the afterlife or spiritual realm might be? There have been so many examples of people having near death experiences and describing similar sensations of light and hovering. It’s not hard to believe that Lenore paid a visit to MB, if not to just say hello, maybe to nudge MB to not forget her existence or her presence, even if only in spiritual form when she “sat on” her chest on her birthday. 

“Natcho” Cheese

The informant heard this humorous story from his dad. It was his dad’s favorite joke. The story allows him to remember good times with his dad. He now tells it to his kids to get some laughs – and eye-rolls – out of them. He tells it to entertain and be funny when others are telling stories or jokes after dinner or while hanging out.

“All right this guy Shadrack was walking home one day and San Francisco headed home from his business and a couple blocks away he finds this big block of cheese rolling down this big San Francisco Hill and it almost knocks him right over! He says ‘holy cow I just got knocked over by a huge roll of cheese!’ So he picks up this big roll of cheese and it looks pretty delicious so he runs home with his cheese and he runs in the door and he slams the door behind him and locks it and his wife says ‘what’s going on with you?’ And he goes ‘well all the way home when I was running here with this cheese this Mexican was running after me saying, ‘hey! stop! that’s natcho cheese!””

This funny (and not PC) joke is a story that plays on racial stereotypes of Mexicans and White men. The Mexican’s accent is the premise of the joke but the cluelessness of the white man is what makes it funny. This culture enjoys humor by playing on stereotypes, a common joke category for older white males, such as the now 80 year old man whose joke this is. It is a mostly harmless joke, simply a misunderstanding, but it does perpetuate racial stereotypes and thus should perhaps not be told any more.

Easy A

Context: LJ, a former student of a private all-girls school in London revealed to me a unique legend that circulated during her time there. With biennial exams being the center of their curriculum, LJ explained how a legend came about amongst the students to unify themselves during the stress of exams and to make humor out of the extreme pressures that were being put on them as these 2 sets of exams were the sole indicators of their academic achievements within school to show off to higher level learning institutions.

Text: “I went to a private all girls school in London where we would have to take national standardized tests at the end of every 2 years for different classes. At the end of year 11 we would take our GCSE’s which were a bunch of exams on the classes we had been taking for the past 2 years and at the end of year 13 we would take our A levels, which were exams based on the 3 subjects we had been exclusively studying for those past two years.Throughout those 4 years from year 10-13 there was this legend that if someone died in the exam room whilst a GCSE or A-Level took place then everyone in the room would get an A* or a 9(the highest grade depending on if A-Level or GCSE). There was also a similar concept of if someone went into labor during the exam then that person would receive an A* or 9 as well. During exam/ study times there would be lots of jokes made surrounding someone “taking one for the team” implying a student taking the exam should literally sacrifice themselves in the room so that the entire class can get a perfect grade. Similarly, 9 months before those exams girls would make jokes about needing to get pregnant so they could time their birthing to be during an exam. All this being said, this ideology was never confirmed by any teacher or exam board but was commonly known across the London private school kids as the loophole to getting a perfect grade on an exam.”

Analysis: I believe that this legend works as a testimony to the British educational system’s impact on student well-being. It shows how the pursuit of academic excellence can lead to unhealthy levels of competition and that the humor in this legend serves as a rebellion against the system, poking fun at sacrificing the life of a classmate to attain a good grade. This underscores both the rigorous level of academia that students in this system seemed to be struggling with, but also the collective wish for a miraculous escape from the pressures of exam taking. Ultimately I think this legend is a reminder of the need for balance in educational pursuit and the importance of addressing issues involving mental health and general wellbeing of students.

St. Patrick’s Day Pinch

As a widely beloved holiday celebrated around the world, Saint Patrick’s Day has a cavern of intricate folkloric traditions dating back centuries. My informant recounted arguably one of the most popular traditions of the holiday which everybody follows to this date. As to most people’s knowledge, on Saint Patrick’s Day everyone is supposed to wear green to show their spirit for the holiday. However, as there are two sides to a coin, if you do not wear green on the holiday then you receive a punishment. Other than the humiliation one experiences by not wearing green, individuals are prone to being pinched countless times as a burden for not participating in the holiday. This burden lasts the entirety of the day or just until the individual puts on some sort of green attire.

This tradition highlights the cultural significance and playful nature of the folkloric custom associated with Saint Patrick’s Day. It stresses how the heritage of wearing green on the holiday serves as a widespread practice, symbolizing participation and celebration of Irish culture and heritage. The pinching tradition emphasizes the dual nature of this practice, wherein wearing green is not only a means of expressing holiday spirit but also a safeguard against receiving punishment in the form of pinching. This aspect of the tradition adds an element of lightheartedness and kinship, as individuals engage in playful interactions with one another throughout the day. 

ICUP

Text:

ICUP

Context: 

This friend explains that “ICUP” is a “word” that children would ask each other. And she has heard her classmates from elementary school ask each other this question, she has been asked this as well. The joke of asking someone to “spell ICUP” is that it phonetically sounds like “I see you pee”. She interprets this as a joke that mainly boys try to trick each other with or to trick girls. She believes it does not have much meaning other than to be cheeky and to potentially embarrass someone.

Analysis: 

The phrase above is a prank and a joke and I also interpret it as children’s folklore with “potty humor”, which is quite common in children’s folklore and humor with obscenity. Jay Mechling states that children’s play can be cruel and this prank overall seems harmless. Although I see it possibly turning into teasing if the joke is not understood by the one being pranked. But as a verbal prank, someone may find it funny and tell the joke themselves and it continues to spread. The phrase is childish, but creative which is most likely why it continues to be told.