Tag Archives: tabooistic vocabulary

Fecal Expressions

Some expressions have a way of perfectly capturing a sentiment with crude efficiency. When thinking about what to collect for this project, I was reminded of our first lecture in class and how we managed to get on the topic of toilet humor and remembered two great examples that my friends love to quote.

  • Version 1: “Does a bear shit in the woods?!”
  • Version 2: “Does the Pope shit in the woods?!”

Both are used in response to an obvious question, a kind of rhetorical jab meant to emphasize just how ridiculous it is to ask in the first place. I actually laugh at how they both have the same quote just with a little twist, even more funny is the fact that they both know of the other version, they just prefer their one over the other.

One of my informants initially heard “Does a bear shit in the woods?!” at summer camp, a natural folklore printer. They recalled older campers saying it to younger ones whenever they asked something obvious:

“I think I first heard it when I asked if we were eating lunch after swimming[something they had already done three days straight], and some older kid hit me with, ‘Does a bear shit in the woods?!’ I was definitely too young to even process what they meant…”

My other informant, on the other hand, swears they picked up “Does the Pope shit in the woods?!” from their dad. I personally believe this as their dad is one of the funniest dads of our friend group and has no filter whatsoever. Although they don’t have an exact recollection of their first encounter with the expression, it was ingrained in their brain enough to make that joke at least once a month.

Both expressions are used in familiar settings—ones where you’re comfortable enough with someone to respond to their obvious question with something ridiculous. There’s an inherent risk in using these because they can come off as crass or even a little aggressive. It’s interesting to reflect upon the fact that my friends instinctively knew it only worked best in close circles, no one ever explicitly told them that they couldn’t say it otherwise, it is just a known fact that these kinds of statements are almost seen as taboo in casual conversation. It only works in situations where there’s an unspoken understanding that humor is at play(with your mates).

Expressions like these rely on shock value and taboo humor. This is typically why you only hear these kinds of jokes or expressions within specific contexts. Crude humor, especially potty/toilet humor, is one of the oldest and most universal forms of comedy. It is easy to understand why as everyone relates to this in some way, whether they like it or not. Toilet humor is inherently human: bodily functions are funny and that is a fact. Folklorists have long noted that humor isn’t just about a good set-up and a well thought-out punchline; it can emerge in irreverent, subversive, and random ways.

Humor has long had the ability to push boundaries and create social bonds. The shock factor in jokes like these is what makes them memorable. They’re designed to make you laugh precisely because they play with expectations, dancing around what can be considered taboo or appropriate. This is the same mechanism behind the formula of “dark humor”, including disaster jokes and internet meme culture.

In Of Corpse: Death and Humor in Folklore and Popular Culture, Christie Davies explores how jokes often emerge in response to tragedy or social discomfort, acting as a form of defiance against rigid norms. Just like disaster jokes challenge how we’re “supposed” to react to tragic events, these fecal expressions challenge conversational norms by responding to simple questions with something wildly inappropriate.

This also explains why phrases like these tend to stay within friend groups, families, or tight-knit communities—they require shared humor and an understanding that the crudeness is part of the joke, not the insult. These communities showcase specific examples of the folk and their lore and give a good example of potential contention between what people find funny.

“Jiminy Crickets!”

Nationality: American
Age: 60
Occupation: Writer
Language: English

Context

My mother often used the phrase “Jiminy Crickets!” as a response to something that shocked or surprised her. I mean she even does it to this day. “Jiminy Crickets!” is a reference to the character Jiminy Cricket from Disney’s Pinocchio (1940). Here, the name is a euphemism for “Jesus Christ,” another exclamation with more socially risky language given attitudes around using the Lord’s name “in vain.” This makes the phrase a minced oath: a watered-down substitute for another phrase the conveys the same sentiment.

Analysis

Like many minced oaths, this phrase is meant to avoid using words considered taboo by certain communities while still expressing the same meaning. This phrase is a prime example of popular culture influencing folk vernacular. Apparently, John Bartlett in his 1848 book Dictionary of Americanisms makes note of “by Jiminy,” another exclamation that is itself a corruption of the Greek gemini twins. It seems that the name Jiminy has come completely full circle within American vernacular. It started as folk speech before becoming subsumed by a popular character, only to resurrect itself as a minced oath in the present day. From mythology, to everyday speech, to pop culture icon, to minced oath. The cyclical journey of “Jiminy Crickets” tells us a lot about how our culture influences folk language and vice versa.

“Christ on a Cracker!”

Nationality: American
Age: 60
Occupation: Writer
Language: English

Context

Over the summer, I had said this phrase in front of a friend on a long walk back home. Given that my friend had never heard it before, I thought I had come up with it! I couldn’t remember where I had first heard it. Cut to a conversation with my mother about a month later and, lo and behold, I am not as original as I thought. My mother had heard it before, but where, she couldn’t say. We’ve certainly heard it said before, either to or around us. Otherwise, how could we have known it?

“Christ on a cracker” is an expletive phrase, used to express frustration or shock. It also serves as a minced oath, a watered-down form of more tabooistic wording, in this case a form of “Christ” or “Jesus Christ.”

Analysis

Unlike other minced oaths, which use euphemism to mask taboo words, this one doesn’t fully embrace euphemism to hide the societal taboo, in this case taking the Abrahamic God’s name in vain. “Christ” leads the phrase front and center, perhaps even “Jesus Christ” if you feel so compelled. Rather, it relies on humorous alliteration to compensate for the taboo it’s trying to avoid. The use of “cracker” brings to mind communion bread, so there’s another possible religious connection for the exact wording.

There’s also an element of absurdism in this phrase. It immediately puts an image of the Messiah on a piece of cooked grain in your mind. Is this another tactic the phrase employs to distract from the taboo language it uses, or is it meant to further violate social conventions?

“What the Freak?”

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Language: English

Context

The informant claims that they were the original source for this saying, and truth-be-told I haven’t heard it anywhere else. Around the time of origination, the word “freak” was making its rounds on the internet. In particular, the song “Nasty” by Tinashe had gone viral, and the lyric “is somebody gonna match my freak?” had become a popular TikTok audio. This led to the word’s more frequent usage, and since it’s aurally similar to the words “frick” or “fuck”  in the phrase “what the frick” or “what the fuck,” that’s probably how it snuck itself into the informant’s vocabulary. 

“What the freak?” is most often used immediately after a person says something tabooistic or off-color. It is mostly synonymous with “who said that?”, the implication being that someone other than the speaker had said something weird, and the speaker is reacting to them. “What the freak” is almost certainly euphemistic in nature, and could be an example of a minced oath, a phrase watered down from a more vulgar starting point (in this case, “what the fuck”).

While the phrase has been recorded online, this particular use of “what the freak” that highlights the absurdity of a statement seems to originate from my friend group.

Analysis

This is definitely not a widespread phrase. Only the informant, our housemates, and even myself are the only ones I’ve heard use it, or at least this specific use-case. But I don’t think it diminishes its value as a piece of spoken folklore circled amongst a close, tight-knit group. It speaks to a level of comfort we all share as friends and roommates, and highlights the safe, weird space we’ve created together. When someone says “what the freak,” it immediately sparks laughter and joy in our living room. I think that speaks to the power of folk speech as a means of creating a community identity.

“Quiet” Jinx in Nursing

Nationality: American

Primary Language: English

Age: 19

Occupation: Student

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Text

“So basically if it’s a calm night, never say it’s a calm night or shift, there’s a specific name for it but I don’t know what it is, oh right it’s “a quiet night”. “It sure is a quiet night” that’s how you immediately destroy everything, especially on the ambulance, never say that it’s a quiet night.”

Context

This piece of nursing superstition is something which NA has heard from her mother, where they believe that saying it’s a “quiet night” will lead to the shift/night immediately turning very chaotic. She believes in the superstition “in a funny way” and she thinks it’s ironic but true. Both of NA’s parents have experience in the medical field, and she said that she’s heard multiple stories of them personally experiencing this phenomenon and that they both believe the word holds power. 

Analysis

This superstition is one that I know exists in many emergency services such as hospitals, firefighters, emts, etc. Many truly believe that saying the word “quiet” would cause everything to become chaotic, contrary to the word’s meaning. Because this belief in the power of the phrase is strengthened by experience, this superstition is something which unites people within the who have all shared this experience.