Tag Archives: medicine

Laughter is good medicine.

Nationality: American
Age: 61
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English

This is a phrase my mom first told me when I was a young child. She used it when she would do or say something to cheer me up when I was feeling down, after which she would say, “Cheer up, laughter is good medicine.” From then on she always reminded me to have something in my day that would make me laugh, for she said it would actually make me feel physically better. Every once in a while when I was little, and I wanted to watch cartoons and my mom didn’t really want me to I would try to persuade her by saying, “But mom, laughter is good medicine.” That always made her chuckle a bit. The phrase actually came from the Bible, out of Proverbs 17:22. It says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” My mom also told me that she read in a medical journal that doctors will actually have patients watch or read funny material, and some how it actually makes them feel better.

Folk Medicine: Acne Remedy

Nationality: Slovenian/Mexican
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: University of Southern California
Performance Date: April 4, 2011
Primary Language: English

The informant heard the following folk medicine remedy for acne from her father.

The concept is that the person with acne is supposed to cut a chunk from an aloe plant and smear it on his or her face: “I used to have really bad acne [laughter] so have a li’l so when he was younger and so my [her father’s] sister—his [her father’s] mother would tell them to put aloe vera, like the plant, all over their faces and stuff, ‘cause it’s s’posed to be like, healing for cuts and stuff like that, g—and inflammation, so’e—sh—my aunt especially would do that, so, that’s . . .”

The informant says she has never tried it “cause [she doesn’t] own an aloe vera plant, but . . . [laughter]”

However, she believes that the remedy would work: “I think it’s a good idea, I mean, it seems like it makes sense—things I’ve seen on TV and stuff, seems like—natural remedy thing would work, so, yeah.”

Acne is caused by the buildup of dirt and oil in the pores, so it seems unlikely that this remedy would work and more likely that it would just further clog the pores with plant gunk. A pimple is not a wound like a cut to be soothed, and although a pimple stinging from having been scratched open might feel better, it probably wouldn’t go away any faster. Acne is associated with puberty, which is a liminal stage and might therefore be irritating to the sufferer as a signal that he or she is not quite one thing and not quite another.