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“When I was in like middle and high school, there was always a game where anybody could make like an OK sign with their hand and hold it below their hip, like it had to be below your hip or it didn’t count. And if you looked at it and they saw you looking then they got to neck you (slap you on the neck). This could just happen like any time so you would always have to be careful, and I remember my friends would try to like bait me into looking down so they could neck me. But if I got them they would always say they didn’t look. Looking back, it was like so stupid. But it was just a way to get to hit your friends I think.”
Context
VH explains the circle game as a long running game throughout middle and high school among his friend group. He says that no one ever explicitly taught him the rules of the game, and he feels that it just became a part of his life. VH also points out that the results were very up to personal interpretation and often disputed. This game was always playing, so at any time you could get caught looking. VH also says that he has seen this game on social media and other friends in college knew about it too.
Analysis
The circle game is definitely an example of customary folklore as it is a repeated game that VH learned through experience and participation rather than in any explicit or formal way, which shows how folklore is disseminated unofficially. It’s also a great example of how folklore is constantly evolving and not always clearly defined, as everybody would have their own take on the rules of the game. This game was a manifestation of childhood humor, and also utilizes play frames to slap your friends in an “acceptable” way. The circle game is a great example of the young boy folk group, as it exists in multiplicity and variations outside of just one school/friend group, as VH notes that he has seen it on social media and this was a game that was often played in my school as well (in a totally different state).
Tag Archives: neck slap
“B Card”
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“There was a thing when I was in middle school where if someone said they were gonna do something anybody could say B Card right after and if you didn’t do the thing that you said then your friends would neck you (slap you on the neck). I remember I thought it was just a thing like with me and my friends at my school in 6th grade but I remember when I went to a new school in 7th grade, one of my friends said it one day and everybody like knew what it was in our friend group like it was a common thing which was kinda surprising. I think it stood for bitch card, like you’re a bitch if you back out of doing the thing you said. And anything was fair game too so you had to just like watch what you were saying around your friends.”
Context
BS explains that this was a long running verbal game among his multiple friend groups in middle school. Essentially, if BS’s friend were to say an action (ie. “I’m gonna get an A on this test”), BS could then immediately say “B Card”. If the action then wasn’t completed, then BS could slap his friend on the neck. No matter how outlandish the action, anything could be B carded at any time. BS also says that this was a game that existed in 2 different friend groups at different schools.
Analysis
“B Card” is an example of folk speech among young boys, and also a game that utilizes play frames as a way to hurt your friends under “acceptable” rules. It also marked your acceptance or standing of certain friend groups, as not every group understood or valued the saying, and “B Card” was never explicitly taught nor have I ever seen it on social media. BS and I went to the same school, but I also had a similar experience where the school/friend group I came from before also played the “B Card” game with slightly different rules like punching instead of necking, showing that “B Card” existed in multiplicity and variations among us middle school boys. In my opinion, “B Card” could have been a way to hold each other accountable to the things we would say, an example of Mechling’s point that jokes can be used as social tools, but it was definitely a game that gave us an excuse to hit each other due to the mostly outlandish/impossible things that middle school boys would say they were going to do throughout the day.