General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, joke
• Language: Marshallese
• Country of Origin: Marshall Islands
• Informant: Katmine Alik
• Date Collected: 10-15-18

Informant Data:

• Katmine is in his late 60’s. Katmine knows almost no English even though he lives in Texas. He is married and has one child. Katmine moved to the U.S. only five years ago. Before living in the U.S. he was born and raised in the Marshall islands on the capital, Majuro.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Food “mona” is an important aspect of the Marshallese culture. Often families and friends gather together and share meals. It is customary to invite guests to dinner. This is extremely common among the better of Marshallese people. They often share with those less fortunate. Christianity is also an important part of the culture. Almost all of the islanders on the islands have been converted to Christianity. As Christian’s, prayer is important.
• Social Context: The informant has a great sense of humor. He is also extremely religious. He would often invite me to his house for dinner. Rice, Fish and chicken are the main dishes at most Marshallese dinners. it is often common to “bwebwenato” or tell stories over dinner. It was at a dinner that he heard this joke.

Item:

• This joke revolves around a man being invited to the king’s house for dinner. While at the king’s house, the king laid out a feast before the man’s eyes. There was rice and chicken and fish and anything else you could imagine. In astonishment and starvation the man suggested that they pray. The king asked the man to pray. With his hands over his head, the man began to pray. While reciting this prayer he stole all the food at the table and left without a trace. This is a joke Katmine often told to friends and family over the dinner table.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

• “Kon men kein, men kein, men kein, kwar letok, letok, letok, thank you God for our food. Amen.” – Marshallese
• “For these things, these things, these things, that you gave, you gave, you gave, thank you God for our food Amen” – English

Informant’s Comments:

• “This is my favorite joke. I’m afraid somebody might follow it one day and steal all of my food… It’s important because food is such a big part of our culture.

Collector’s Comments:

• When Katmine told me this joke I almost fell out of my seat. I loved seeing him perform the actions while saying the story. I think it’s interesting that a lot of these jokes revolve around stories.

Collector’s Name: Anders Peterson

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Joke
• Marshallese
• Food

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Joke
• Language: Marshallese
• Country of Origin: Marshall Islands
• Informant: Anders Peterson
• Date Collected: 11-02-18

Informant Data:

• Anders is a full time student at Dartmouth on the football team. He spent two years before coming to Dartmouth to serve a full time mission for his church. He served his mission in Texas and spent the majority of his mission with the Marshallese people there. He learned there language in his time with them.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The Marshall islands is surrounded by water on all sides. It is a series of Atolls and therefore sea life is an important part of their culture. Marshallese people are really big fans of jokes. They love humor.
• Social Context: The informant learned this joke early in his mission. He used it as a way to connect with the people even though he barely knew their language. He said that this reference to their culture was hilarious to them coming from a “ripelle” or white person.

Item:

• This joke is a reference to sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers are very common in the Marshall Islands. They are known for swaying back and forth, gently with the tides. The connection here is a joke, but also a simile in a sense. It is comparing this sea life to sleep. The reason it is considered a joke is because of the context it is used in. The informant would say this joke on his way out the door of people’s homes. This is commonly a phrase used in the islands to children so it was humorous coming from a white person completely out of context. While the informant felt original in his usage originally, it is actually a phrase used commonly as a joke in the islands.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

• “Bar lo yok, im Kiki in Jibenben!” – Marshallese
• “Goodbye, and sleep like a cucumber!” – English

Informant’s Comments:

• “I loved this joke. It’s something I said the whole two years on my mission. “Jibenben” even became my nickname at one point. It always left the families with a smile.”

Collector’s Comments:

• It’s really interesting to picture Anders saying this. It’s hard for me to really understand the humor because before this project I’d never met a Marshallese person. I felt like a lot of the Marshallese jokes I heard were also this way.

Collector’s Name: Jimmy McHugh

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Joke
• Marshallese
• Sea Life/Cucumber

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, joke
• Language: Marshallese
• Country of Origin: Marshall Islands
• Informant: Lester Lanki
• Date Collected: 10-30-18

Informant Data:

• Lester Lanki is a male in his late 30’s. He is married to Jako Zedkaia and together they have four children. Lester was born in the Marshall islands on the Jaluit Atoll. He moved to the United States in 2004 and now resides in Cleburne, TX. He works at a steel factory in Texas, but back in the islands he spent the majority of his time fishing.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The Marshall Islands is a series of Atolls in the Pacific Ocean.
  The islands are separated by hundreds of miles of water. The islands were formerly ruled by a monarchy where the king had absolute rule. Often, the king of the islands would execute/reward those under his rule.
• Social Context: This is a joke that Lester grew up hearing in his youth. It was a joke that was especially popular among the younger generation. Competition, especially in the form of Basketball, is a big part of Lester’s life and he mentioned it was often competitive events where this joke was told.

Item:

• This is a joke about the king of the island inviting all the men on the islands to take part in a competition. The competition involved swimming to a small island far away. The water between the islands was treacherous and therefore the winner would be granted a great reward. Lekkeke, a local fisherman, was pushed into the water and by coincidence swam to the exact island the king described. He was offered a great reward, but all he really wanted was to know who pushed him into the water.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

• “Juon raan. Kiin eo ioon ilon ko aera karuwannene aelepin armej ro naan komin juon men. Men eo ej al naan juon jiddik ilon eo. Im eaar karuawannene aeolepin emman ro naan kommun e. Ak al eo ear ped buijin men in mor ko im men in tainae. Lekkeke juan emman ear jutak im kajion im kepuket ek ko. Innem Jack ear wotlok Lakkeke ilo al eo. Lakkeke eaar kajion im ewoj naan al eo im eaar pad ion lan eo. Kiin eo eaar ba nan e, jerraman nan kue lakkeke, kwar komon men ko iaar karuwinene aelopin men naan komon e. Ta kwo kanaan? Kwo kanann ke aelop men in aibujujuj ko au? Lakkeke eaar ba ‘eeeeehhh’ I jab kanan. Kin eo eaar bar kajitok, kwo kanan ke juon mutton aelop ilon ko au? Lakkeke eaar ba “eeeeeehhh’ I jab kanan. Kwo kanana ke marre ajiri eo neju? “eeeehhh’ I jab kanan. Ta kwo kanan? Lekkeke eaar ba “eeeehh’ I kanan jele won eo ear wotlok eu.”

Informant’s Comments:

• “This is one of my favorite jokes. It’s about Lekkeke and the king… I always tell this story to my kids.”

Collector’s Comments:

• I loved hearing this story. Lester has a big personality and loves making jokes. In my experience with the Marshallese people I know how much they love telling jokes. It’s often common for them to tell long winded stories (or “bwebwenato”) like this.

Collector’s Name: Anders Peterson

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Joke
• Marshallese
• King/Water/Fishing