Tag Archives: planets

Astrology

Nationality: African American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student at the University of Southern California, majoring in Art
Residence: Sherman Oaks, CA
Performance Date: April 21, 2018
Primary Language: English

Collected privately in an empty hallway while his friends played a horror game in the other room, which he returned to after the interview. I began by simply asking, “What do you know about astrology?”

The informant first heard about astrology from his teachers when he was in elementary school, around 6 years old.
Informant: “Ummm, I’m trying to make sure I don’t get it mixed up with astronomy, cause I know there’s a difference, but I don’t know exactly much about it, so… I know it’s not astronomy, right?”

Interviewer: “If I said it has to do with stars and star signs, would you know?”

Informant: “Ooooh that makes s- yeah okay, that’s… Well I know there’s like, a lot of people have the Zodiac sign thing happening? Where they’re, like, ‘Oh this is, like, I’m a Leo,’ or, ‘I’m a Sagittarius,’ or, ‘I’m a Cancer,’ and they can, like, find out where, what the constellation looks like and sometimes it relates back to, like, the calendar, like, kinda like personal, like, type that you are and what you’re about.”

Interviewer: “Do you know what your sign is?”

Informant: “I am a Leo.”

Interviewer: “Do you know what traits match up to each sign?”

Informant: “Not really. Like I think there’s some kind of, like, confidence or leader thing to it? But I don’t take that seriously. Mmmmm… Somebody said Leo’s don’t get along with other Leo’s, and that’s all I got.”
This informant does not know much about astrology, but does know his star sign, as well as some of that sign’s traits. He, like some others, somewhat connects astrology to the Chinese Zodiac, but he is adamant that it is different from astronomy.

Planetary Fun

Nationality: American
Age: 14
Occupation: Student
Residence: Sunnyvale, California
Performance Date: March 2013
Primary Language: English

“Your mom is so fat, she plays pool with the planets.”

The informant heard this joke during recess. Boys his age were trading jokes on the playground. Their juvenile jokes were not meant to be taken seriously as personal insults to each other’s mothers; rather, they were meant as non-unique, verbal teasing following the popular format of the “your mom” type of joke. The boys did not have specific targets for their teasing in mind. Instead, they shared humorous remarks that utilize blanket insults that could be applied to any target, regardless of personal qualities of the intended recipient. This type of joke telling with the “your mom” format seems limited to only children. They seemed to have performed these jests in a lighthearted spirit of fun. Moreover, this activity of swapping jokes allows for their social bonding through laughter.