Tag Archives: occupational folklore

Proverb

Nationality: American. Self-Identified Ethnicity: Caucasian
Age: 56
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: Champaign, IL
Performance Date: 4/24/11
Primary Language: English

The proverb as performed by Jim:  “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.”

Jim told me that he learned this proverb around fifteen years ago from a lawyer in Tennessee.  The two were working on a case together and discussing settlement terms.  The opposing side didn’t offer as much money as Jim wanted, so the other lawyer told him about this “Tennessee saying.”  The phrase stuck with Jim, because it taught him the lesson that one should never be too greedy.

Jim said that the proverb, very simply, means that a little greed and competition results in gain, but too much is never healthy.  Since originally hearing the proverb, Jim said he uses this phrase as a guiding principle in his law practice.  He references it if clients are unhappy with the amount of money that they’re set to get.  He said that clients need to hear this proverb because they often think that their cases are worth more than they actually are.  Jim said that people need to learn to be reasonable.  Jim also uses this proverb in his daily life, but applies it most often in the workplace.

For the most part, I agree with Jim’s interpretation of the proverb.  A “pig” generally refers to a greedy person, or one who indulges in something.  Therefore, “Pigs get fat” signifies that a little bit of greed results in happiness or success.  When applied to humans, “Hog” has a more negative connotation than “pig,” generally meaning extremely greedy.  “Hogs get slaughtered,” then, signifies that those that are too greedy ultimately end up with nothing.

It’s interesting to note that, for at least a small network of attorneys, this proverb has become a form of occupational folklore.  Most of the attorneys at Jim’s law practice use this proverb as a loose guiding principle, and Jim has thanked the Tennessee lawyer for teaching him the saying.  Because law practices generally deal with taking money from people, this proverb acts as a type of moral compass for the job.

Swim Team Initiation

Nationality: Asian American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Room 4203B, 920 W. 37th PL. Los Angelos, California 90007
Performance Date: 4/20/2011
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

My informant is a third generation Chinese American male  student. He grew up in Irvine, California. He was on the swim team for one year on his high school. During a casual interview (with other friends around), when asked about any sort of tricks members of the swim team would play on each other, he said:

“Informant: Like with the thing where you reach out for someone’s dick and if they flinch…then you put out your hands and uh…give them a titty scoop, which is basically you, you flick their man boobs [lots of laughter]. No really, if someone flinches, when you’re gonna hit them in the balls, it shows that uh…inhibitions…I don’t know what’s a good word…their…their doubtful of their manliness, they think they don’t have balls of steel that could withstand like a simple hand tap. So you have to, uh, flick their male breast to remind them that their not as manly as they might think they are.

Interviewer (me): Is it like an initiation ritual? Do you do it to newcomers or what?

Informant: Well, the more experienced people kinda know the routine, so they don’t flinch. No one actually hits another speedo-ed man’s balls [lots of laughter]. I guess everyone has to accept that no one is going to touch another in the balls so if you flinch it’s kinda saying you don’t trust your teammates.

Interviewer: So uh, what do you think is the importance of this…uh…

Informant: It builds trust among teammates, ’cause you know, if you’re all giddy and you flinch all the time everyone is going to always flick you in the tits [laughter], you’re going to have to learn to accept your teammates or you know, your tits are going to be like jiggling all over the place and you’ll be known for not having balls of steel.

Interviewer: Ok, uh, did you have this done to yourself, or?

Informant: No, I’m a man, I have balls of steel.

Interviewer: So uh, nobody ever touched you [laughter] in the balls?

Informant: No, uh, they tried to do it, but I wouldn’t flinch…I learned fast.…“

While the informant makes this sound like a folk game (prank) that tests one’s masculinity, I would consider this item occupational folklore because it is an initiation or team bonding ritual for a swim team. While the game itself tests what my informant calls “manliness”, throughout the interview, my informant made it sound as if this prank was something the experienced members of the swim team pulled on new members. As suggested by my informant, new members would most likely flinch when the experienced members reached to hit them in the testicles and therefore would have to undergo the “titty scoop” punishment. But, experienced members (such as my informant) knowing the game, would stop themselves from flinching and therefore escape the “titty scoop” punishment. Thus, this prank becomes a initiation ritual where new members gradually learn what it is to be an experienced member of the swim team. In another way, it is also a trust building exercise, as my informant points out, where new members learn to trust that their teammates won’t hit them in the testicles.

However, interestingly, as my informant shows, the swim team has an emphasis on masculinity and what it means to be “manly”. This implies that the male gender identity continues to hold significance in terms of power and strength for the swim team and perhaps, because of this, the swim team thinks that to be successful (a powerful and strong swimmer), one must be masculine.