Tag Archives: middle school

Folk Game

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: February 29, 2008
Primary Language: English

Folk Game- Orangejello and Lemonjello

Ok, this game is really funny. When I was in 7th grade, there was this game named after these two twins in my grade because one liked orange jello and the other like lemon jello. Naturally, it was called Orangejello and Lemonjello.  I don’t know why we played it, but we did it when we were bored in math class.  Everyone would pick a certain character from a movie or show and write it on a piece of paper.  When we did this, we all had to stand up.  People would see all the names on the paper, and if someone correctly identified your character, you would sit down and you were out of the game.  I am not sure why this game was so popular, but it was actually kinda fun I guess.

Joayn described this game to me shortly after one of her boring math classes this year.  Apparently, it brought back memories from middle school.  She said her classmates taught it to her for the first time in 7th grade, and they only played it when they were bored.  She seemed to enjoy the game, but looking back, she thinks it was pointless.  Joayn pointed out that it was just a way to pass time.

This game represents childhood in so many ways.  Most games in middle school like Thumbs Up Seven Up or Murder in the Dark have no real meaning or purpose to them, but the kids enjoy them tremendously.  I think it has something to do with when they are played.  During a boring class, I think any type of break or change from normal class routines will excite the kids no matter what activity is presented to them.  Joayn’s game is a perfect example of this phenomenon.

I think another huge factor to this game and those like it is the interaction the students get with each other.  In a normal classroom environment, the teacher keeps the class structured and there is not much room for fun.  This game brings everyone together and forms a huge stepping stone for socializing.  Lastly, those that know this game feel like a part of a group.  This feeling will create greater interest in the class in the future.  For this reason, teachers are more likely to allow kids to play Orangjello and Lemonjello.

Riddle Series

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Ozone Park, NY
Primary Language: English
Language: Cantonese

“Q: How do you get an elephant into the fridge in only three steps?

A: 1. Open the fridge door. 2. Put the elephant inside the fridge. 3. Close the fridge door.

Q: How do you get a giraffe into the fridge in four steps?

A: 1. Open the fridge door. 2. Take the elephant out. 3. Put the giraffe inside the fridge. 4. Close the fridge door.

Q: One day, there was a mandatory meeting that required the presence of all the animals in the world to meet up at this particular jungle. However, one animal was still missing. Which animal is it and why was it not there?

A: The giraffe is missing because he’s still stuck inside the fridge!

Q: Tarzan had to go to this mandatory meeting because he was supposed to lead the session. However, he had to get across this large swamp where all the crocodiles lived in order to get to the meeting. Unfortunately, all the vines were broken so he could not swing across. How was he able to get to the meeting?

A: He swam across the swamp. The swamp was safe because all the crocodiles were at the mandatory meeting.”

I think I first heard this riddle series when I was in middle school and I got stumped by the questions. When the answers were later revealed to me, I thought they were quite clever because, at first, it didn’t occur to me that each succeeding question was related to the information provided by the previous riddle. I think this is more enjoyable for children and more difficult for adults because adults tend to overanalyze the situation. For example, they would think that the answers to the first two riddles would involve a complicated tricky process. But it turns out that all it takes to answer these riddles is simple common sense which adults sometimes take for granted.

Children’s Game – Rhode Island

Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 9, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Italian

Children’s Game – Rhode Island

“First you gotta get an apple. Then, you like (pause) twist the stem until it breaks off from the apple. Every time you twist the stem, you say a letter of the alphabet. The letter in which the stem breaks off is the first letter of your future spouse’s name. After that, you like (pause) stab the apple with the stem until the stem breaks the skin of the apple. Just like before, each time you stab the apple, you state a letter of the alphabet. The letter in which the skin breaks is the last initial of your future spouse.”

This interview with Catherine was conducted while we were waiting for an annual a appella concert called “SOLtrain” to begin. This concert was hosted by Cal State Northridge’s a cappella group called Aca Sola. She said that she had not played this game in a very long time, so there were quite a few pauses in her description of the game. In addition, the environment we were in was very loud and she was practically screaming while she was telling me about this game. She said that she used to play this game with her friends when she was in middle school in the lunchroom. Most people in her school knew about it. She said that it might be a “Rhode Island or New England thing.” She said it was more of a superstitious game her friends would play every time they were eating apples for lunch. She feels that it was cute back then, but she feels stupid looking back at her times in middle school. Whenever her group of friends would get the initials of someone they actually knew, they would have a great time of laughter and fun. It was a way for her circle of friends to get closer to each other and share in times of jubilance.

It was fascinating for me to hear about this game because I grew up with a similar version. Rather than twisting the stem of an apple, my friends and I would flip back and forth the ring-pull tab of a soda can. Each flip would be equivalent to the first initial of the person you had a crush on. This difference between using a soda can and an apple is particularly interesting because I am from the west coast, while she is from the east coast. Most of my friends from the west coast had also heard about this game using a soda can. The fact that we both played this game during elementary school illustrates that children enjoyed joking around about relationships between men and women.

Children’s Rhyme

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Calabasas, CA
Performance Date: February 20, 2008

Children’s Rhyme

Down by the banks of the Hanky Panky

Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky

Where the eeps, ops, sodapops

Hit Mr. Lilypad and went kerplops

Kyrsti learned this rhyme when she was in middle school from her friends.  She often played it with her friends to pass time during recess or sometimes in class. She and at least five of her friends would sit in a circle, overlapping hands, and sing this chant while slapping each other’s hands going around in a big circle. When you got to the end of the song, whoever’s hand got hit on “plops” was out and had to leave the circle and watch everyone else play. She described, however, how many people would try to cheat and sneak in an extra hand hit in order to not be the one who lost. A number of ways to cheat was to speed up in the middle of the song in order to not have it land no you in the end if you could time it or at the end try to sneak in another hand slap on someone else in order to not be the one out. But she said the most popular way to not lose was if you were the one who the final word landed on, if you could grab your hand away before it got it the person who missed your hand would be out instead.

She said that this game was not only used at her school but that she also played it when she was at camp with her friends or at a party. However, she did point out that this was not a game that they played at home, probably because they had other activities available to them at her house. Kyrsti believed that this game was meant to be a bonding experience because you either had to trust the person next to you wouldn’t try to get you out and you just got to play with your friends and bond. But she also notes how these games were usually only participated in by girls and boys rarely, if ever took part. She believes this is most likely due to the fact that many of the rhymes were about girly activities.

I found this item particularly interesting because this was also a game I played when I was a kid at school and we played it in the same sort of situations. I am not sure whether or not this is a game that spans all throughout Los Angeles, but I do know a lot of people who are from Los Angeles that know this rhyme or at least some version very similar to it. Also, after having interviewed Kyrsti and looking at a lot of my other collections, I realized the children clapping games are some of the most popular if not prevalent versions of child folklore. Many people perform them and they are rapidly passed on because children are constantly teaching the rhyme to someone new. Thus children clapping games are a great example of folklore in modern society.

Annotation: This children’s rhyme can be found in The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays: Over 700 Selections which includes rhymes, riddles, and children nursery rhymes from all over.

Silberg, Jackie, and Pam Schiller. The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems,

Fingerplays: Over 700 Selections. Gryphon House, 2002. 2 May 2008

<http://books.google.com/

books?id=rsydXS8zR0EC&pg=PA160&dq=down+by+the+banks+of+the+hanky+panky&ei=4KUaSOi

XOoTksQONnumCAg&sig=oHYixWnhAVaCYLzI33DWo9H801Y#PPP1,M1>.

Jokes – American

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Nationality: African-American
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Lyndhurst, Ohio
Performance Date: March 12, 2009
Primary Language: English

“The scientific community measures the amount of energy released during the Big Bang as being equivalent to 1 CNRHK, which stands for 1 Chuck Norris Round House Kick.”

“If you have $5 and Chuck Norris has $5, Chuck Norris has more money than you.”

“Chuck Norris does not go ‘hunting’ because the word ‘hunting’ implies the possibility of failure.  Chuck Norris goes ‘killing.’”

“Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.”

“Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked so hard and fast that his foot ripped through the space-time continuum and hit Amelia Earhart in the face as she was flying solo across the Atlantic.”

“Chuck Norris is so fast he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.”

“Chuck Norris once visited the Virgin Islands. They are now The Islands.”

My cousin Nicholas told me that for a while Chuck Norris jokes were a non-stop phenomena around his school. Every day he would hear new Chuck Norris jokes and over time they grew more and more ridiculous. Nicholas told me that being armed with a handful of new Chuck Norris jokes could easily allow someone to have a captive audience and usually his classmates would get animated during the jokes and do things like punch the air or even the legendary Chuck Norris roundhouse kick. Nicholas informed me that Chuck Norris jokes are not popular in his school anymore. He said that people were coming up with Chuck Norris jokes so often that there was just too much and everyone got tired of hearing them over time.

I asked him what he thought the jokes were about and why they became as popular as they did. He told me that Chuck Norris is a lame old guy and the jokes just make fun of him. I asked him if he had ever seen a Chuck Norris film and he said he had not, but he quickly informed me that he had seen many videos making fun of him on the internet and was not at all interested in seeing any of his films.

I remember Chuck Norris from my youth and I have seen a few of his films. He I not particularly entertaining and almost comes across as bland or boring. I think the jokes were popular because they ascribed super human attributes to a somewhat normal guy. I actually like the fact that he is so normal because it makes me feel that even regular people can do amazing things, like Chuck Norris. I think this is also why such jokes are especially potent with children. They often emulate adults and do not yet have much power. Looking up to someone like Chuck Norris allows them to feel closer to the power they hope to one day acquire. In reality Chuck Norris is a 9th degree black belt and has even trained with legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, he just does not look like it on the surface.