Tag Archives: jokes

Bless Your Heart

Occupation: Data analysis
Residence: Salem, VA
Language: English

Text: “Bless your Heart” (folk speech/saying)

Context:

G is my father, who was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, who now lives in Salem, VA. His family owned a lot of farmland and they didn’t quite live in Richmond, but about 25 minutes outside of the city. It was pretty rural, definitely not suburban, but there were a few neighbors every once in awhile. He has so many sayings and comebacks and jokes that I have heard my entire life I don’t even know where to begin on asking him about a piece of folklore, but when I asked this is the first one he came up with.

G- “Okay I’ve got one. In my experience, the old saying of ‘bless your heart’ is a kind way of saying to, or about, someone that you are a moron (chuckles)”

Interviewer- When have you experienced this piece of folklore before?”

G- “This is a saying that a good friend of my wife has used in conversations about a mutual acquaintance and her apparent ineptitude. It is used as a way to not openly criticize someone but everyone in the conversation understands the use of it. It is, as kids today would say, a polite way to ‘burn’ someone.”

Analysis:

“Bless your heart” is a versatile Southern American expression that can carry varying shades of meaning. It is commonly employed as a genuine expression of sympathy or good wishes, especially in response to someone sharing a challenge or difficulty. However, its interpretation can shift based on the tone and context. In a positive light, it conveys understanding and support. Yet, when accompanied by a certain tone, it may carry undertones of condescension or pity, subtly addressing someone’s perceived shortcomings. The phrase is known for its ability to navigate between sincerity and subtlety, making it a nuanced part of Southern folk speech. In my experience ‘bless your heart’ or ’bless her/his heart’ has been in a condescending manner in an almost passive aggressive way.

Country as Cowshit

Performance Date: 2/22/2024
Language: English

Text: (Folk Simile/Colloquialism)

“Country as Cowshit”

Context:

T is my mother who lives T heard this from neighbor/friend who lived and grew up deep in the Appalachian Mountains. She lives in Salem, Virginia, but grew up all around the country traveling with her family as her father’s job took them to new locations often. She has lots of folklore experiences from her own family to ones she has heard while traveling and those from the friends she surrounds herself with. She decided to share this simile/colloquialism when I asked for a piece of folklore she has heard a lot.

T- “When someone is describing someone they can’t understand because they talk so country they’ll saw they’re Country as Cow Shit.”

Interviewer- Which means they are from so far out in the country that you can hardly understand what they are saying, like they have a really deep accent?

T- “That’s what country as cow shit means, it means they talk like a hick, yeah, just really hard to understand them, they’re just very country.”

T told a story she was told by her friend who she heard it from. T said that he would talk to his wife and call her name and his wife would call his name back, and no one else knew what their names were because they couldn’t understand what they were saying. He would call her and people thought her name was “Janey” and people thought that his name was “Mack” (neither names are their actual names).

Analysis:

In my interpretation this can be seen as something that is silly and said lightheartedly back and forth to one another, or it could come off as an insult to a group of people. I have heard this expression myself before, and in most cases it is other people who are country (but not as country) have said this either about someone or right in front of them. When looking it up, it seems to actually be the title of a country song, on Spotify and Apple Music. The word “cowshit” is similar, but not as popular in my experience as “horseshit” or “bullshit”, both of which are usually used when calling someone’s bluff. The word is described in Green’s Dictionary of Slang as an unpopular person, or nonsense/rubbish. I think the second definition fits best, at least in this saying, as it is saying that the way speak is as country as nonsense.

“Where does the Ocean Lay to Sleep?” Joke

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: United States
Performance Date: 2/16/23
Primary Language: English
Language: N/A

Text

The informant’s demeanor was theatrical, adding to the comedy of the situation. It was overly fanciful, which made it evident that the joke they were planning to tell was something rather simple in structure and recitation.

“Where does the ocean lay to sleep?” they asked, prompting me for a response of some sort.

“Where?” I asked.

They grinned, genuinely a bit proud. “On the seabed.”

Context

RELATIONSHIP –
They stated that they hate the piece, but it happened to be the first joke that came to mind when they searched their brain for jokes that they knew. They wanted to tell another joke, but simply couldn’t think of one.

WHERE THEY HEARD IT –
The informant found the joke out-of-place in a “knock-knock” joke book they owned as a child.

USE OR INTERPRETATION –
They interpret the joke as a play on words. Specifically, they said “My interpretation of the joke is that it’s funny because the ‘seabed’ is obviously the floor of the sea… so where the ocean sleeps– well the ocean doesn’t sleep– which is, you know, it’s interesting and it’s fun to imagine: if it did sleep, where would it sleep? Naturally, on the seabed which is also a play on the English word of where we usually sleep: bed.”

Analysis

The joke is effective due to its play on words specifically in conjunction with the English language. It’s simple and easy to understand for an English speaker as a joke that places emphasis on having a double meaning. The joke personifies an inanimate object– the ocean– to provoke the audience’s imagination without immediately giving away the answer. The resulting punchline is easy to understand and is thus satisfying for the audience. “Seabed” is a rudimentary word in the English language that works in fulfilling the audience’s active imagination as they picture a personified ocean sleeping on the ocean floor.

Plug it in! Plug it in!

Nationality: American
Age: 23
Occupation: Computer Engineer
Residence: San Diego
Performance Date: 02/22/23
Primary Language: English

Text:

A man comes into America and knows very little english initially and what english he does know he learned from television shows. For example, a sitcom comes on and a character says “why yes of course”. A commercial for cutlery comes on where a host talks about “forks and knives”. Then a vacuum commercial comes on and the host says “plug it in”.

One day the man accidentally speeds away unknowingly from a crime scene. When he is pulled over, the police ask him if he is involved in the murder that he was speeding away from. They ask, “did you kill this man”? He replies, using his knowledge of television, saying “why yes of course”. Next, they ask “what did you kill him with”? He answers again using TV knowledge saying “forks and knives, forks and knives”.

The police are startled and bring the man in. Obviously unable to defend himself in court, he is sentenced to death in the electric chair. There, the executioner asks, “any last words”? He replies with the last thing he has left in his English vocab, “Plug it in! Plug it in”!

Relationship to subject:

Although unsure about where this joke story was told, the interviewee said they probably heard it from a friend in middle school. They said it was one of the first jokes they had heard on the darker side, so it was only said to friends and not near teachers or faculty. But this is what made the joke fun. The interviewee said they had not thought of or said the joke for a long time and began reminiscing after saying it, which lead to some funny memories being recalled.

Analysis:

This joke would probably fall into the category of “dark jokes” in my opinion because it involves themes like immigration, death, and language. This joke is funny because it is obviously shocking, but it is also fun because all the information is given early on in a random way, but it all comes together in the end to form the punchline. I found it funny because of the way it was told and I enjoyed how I kind of figured out the ending halfway through. It also seemed to be important to the person telling it which definitely made it more fun.

Speed Trap Ahead

Nationality: Hispanic
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 02/22/23
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Text:

One day a Police Officer found a perfect hiding place for watching for
speeding motorists. He stayed there quite commonly and it was very effective.

But one day, the officer was confused when he saw thateveryone was under the speed limit, so the officer investigated and found the problem. There was a child who was
standing on the side of the road with a huge hand painted sign which said
“Speed Trap Ahead.” But that was not it, the officer followed the road further ahead and it led the officer to the boy’s friend, another boy a few yards beyond the radar trap with a sign reading “Tips” and a bucket at his feet

…and it was full of change.

Relationship to Subject:

This was another funny story joke that was told to the subject by their mother. The mother said to have heard it from their own friend group so it was passed down to a few different groups. The subject remembers hearing this joke after school one day by their mom and did not think it was very funny, but now that they are older they think the details of the story are surprising and a little bit funny. The subject thinks that this is a true story but they are not sure if it is actually rooted in reality and they did not know any actual details of the story, so this does count as folklore in this sense.

Analysis:

I enjoyed this story and I actually found it funny. The way it was told added to the comical nature because it was told slowly and the subject tried to create a sense of suspense about the reason for the lack of speeding that day. It has two “punchlines”, one where the reason for the mystery is discovered, and another about why the reason is happening. I enjoyed hearing the story but I think that this joke would likely prove more successful with older audiences because it is more rooted in the real world and not childish or too vulgar.