Tag Archives: rumor

A Cow in Old Main

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Minnesota
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English

My informant is a student at Macalester College, and on campus, there is a story that everyone knows. Around 1900, the president of Macalester had a son who attended the school. His son didn’t like to go to class, but instead liked to play pranks on everyone: his classmates, his professors, and especially his father, driving him crazy. There used to be a conference room on the fourth floor of the building known as Old Main, where the president would hold his important meetings.One day he was in a meeting when a cow wandered into the boardroom. The President immediately knew it was his son’s doing. So when his son’s GPA fell below a 2.8, his father kicked him out of Macalester, as a way of getting revenge. That rule (you’ll be expelled if your GPA falls below a 2.8) has been in place at Macalester ever since.

My informant is a tour guide at Macalester, and always tells this story to prospective freshman. “I first heard it during orientation right before freshman year,” he tells me. “It’s a funny story and I think it gives people on my tours a break from all the info for something cheesy. I think it’s pretty obvious that it’s just a device I’m using to poke fun at the school, but I also think it helps people realize that not all admissions offices see themselves as the gatekeepers in every single sense. I think it’s good to recognize we don’t take ourselves that seriously, and it helps build a relationship with prospective students.”


Ancestry Story

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 64
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Essex Falls, NJ
Performance Date: April 24, 2008
Primary Language: English

Ancestry Rumor

“There has always been a rumor that the LeCates family ancestors were seafaring pirates.  Another rumor is that we come from a band of thieves in France.”

These amusing rumors about our ancestry are said to have started a very long time ago.  It is obviously quite unclear as to whether there is actually any truth to the rumors, but they have provided amusement to the family for years.  We bring it up a lot at family events and holidays that many of us gather for, especially Christmas and Thanksgiving.  My family generally has a great sense of humor, so we enjoy talking about anything that could provide humor.

I believe this rumor started because of our last name, LeCates.  We are of French decent, though many generations ago.  We don’t really consider ourselves French, but every once in a while if something amusing comes up we’ll associate ourselves as a joke.  The particular rumor about being a band of thieves in France most likely came up because we also happen to be a troublemaking family (to some extent, not necessarily in a serious way.)  We tend to enjoying fooling around pulling pranks, etc.  Sometimes we really do get into trouble with the law for tickets or driving and whatnot, and that specifically is when the rumors come out and start getting repeated.  When these situations are combined with out good sense of humor, this creates a perfect environment to stir up old rumors.

The “seafaring pirates” rumor is very similar in that it comes up when any member of our family gets into any kind of trouble.  This rumor in particular comes up when my siblings or I talk about our spending money.  If we had gone out a lot recently or had done a lot of shopping and realize the next day that we’re starting to run low on cash, we joke around that our seafaring ancestors took it.  We say the same thing if money somehow goes missing, as well.  This rumor tends to provide a lot of humor because it can be interpreted, shared, and repeated in a variety of ways.

Family ancestry rumors tend to be very common because they involve a sense of pride.  Even if it seems to be a somewhat negative rumor, like this one, it is still a way of recognizing and identifying a family.  This makes the members of the family feel proud for their heritage, gives them something to talk about, and helps them feel even more connected with each other to have something to peculiar in common.