Title: Dear Diary

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Joke
• Language: Hebrew
• Country of Origin: Israel
• Informant: Eyal Zimet
• Date Collected: 11-3-18

Informant Data:

• Eyal was born and raised in Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz, Israel. He is currently the assistant coach of the Dartmouth women’s varsity volleyball team. He competed on the Israeli National team for many years, attended the University of Hawaii, and played a professional beach volleyball player in the AVP . Hebrew is his native language, but he is also fluent in English.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The state of Israel is located in the Middle East, with Hebrew being its primary language. Over 9 million people speak the language worldwide. Humor has been present here in this location, historically through works of Judaism, but in today’s culture primarily expressed in a mainstream, anecdotal form, most frequently mirroring American humor.
• Social Context: The interviewee is a native Hebrew Speaker, who learned English while growing up and preparing to serve in the Israeli military. He later graduated with a degree in computer science from the University of Hawaii. The joke was told to him by a native Hebrew Speaker back in Israel. The interviewee said this joke was a ‘family friendly’ joke he had learned from friends when growing up.

Item:

• This joke in Hebrew is a play on words. It is about an eskimo. The joke is funny because it is actually a play on words, which is not apparent until the end of the joke.

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

deardiary-w6cx0m

Hebrew Transcript:

“MA ES’KI’MO’I KO’TEV BA’YO’MAN SHE’LO: YO’MA’NI HA’YA-KAR.”

English Transcript of Translation:

• A man writes in his diary, “Dear diary, what is an eskimo person?” But the “Dear diary” in Hebrew, if you break it down, the “dear” can be read as “it was cold.”

Informant’s Comments:

• When I asked the informant for some jokes he had learned as a teenager, this was the first one he gave. He said it was one of the few ‘family friendly’ jokes he could share. He also noted that in Israel wittiness and word play are very common. Not only is it funny, but is meant to test someones wits and smarts.

Collector’s Comments:

• This joke is a funny example of a short joke, which provides a normal context, then finishes with an unexpected punch line. I did not really understand the joke at first, and still don’t quite understand the humor, but the fact that the informant had to think of ‘family friendly’ jokes and came up with this one felt like he was trying to relate to me as an American in an appropriate way. Although there are no specific references to the Jewish culture or life in Israel, the joke still provides insight in to the type of witty and sarcastic humor often found in modern Jewish humor.

Collector’s Name: Zoe Leonard & Bun Straton

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Joke
• Wordplay
• Eskimo

Title: Blonde Joke

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Joke
• Language: Hebrew
• Country of Origin: Israel
• Informant: Eval Zimet
• Date Collected: 11-3-18

Informant Data:

• Eyal was born and raised in Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz, Israel. He is currently the assistant coach of the Dartmouth women’s varsity volleyball team. He competed on the Israeli National team for many years, attended the University of Hawaii, and played a professional beach volleyball player in the AVP . Hebrew is his native language, but he is also fluent in English.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The state of Israel is located in the Middle East, with Hebrew being its primary language. Over 9 million people speak the language worldwide. Humor has been present here in this location, historically through works of Judaism, but in today’s culture primarily expressed in a mainstream, anecdotal form, most frequently mirroring American humor.
• Social Context: The interviewee is a native Hebrew Speaker, who learned English while growing up and preparing to serve in the Israeli military. He later graduated with a degree in computer science from the University of Hawaii. The joke was told to him by a native Hebrew Speaker back in Israel. The interviewee said this joke was a ‘family friendly’ joke he had learned from friends when growing up.

Item:

• This is a joke in Hebrew making fun of blondes. It targets the American stereotypes of blonde women being dumb and ditzy. The joke pokes fun at the blonde’s ability to decipher a confusing situation, such as a card that says to flip it over on both sides.

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

Blondejoke-10g087x

Hebrew Transcript:

“ECH ME’SHA’G’IM BLONDI’NIT: NOT’NIM LA PE’TEK VE’BE’SHNEY HA’TSDA’DIM “TA’HA’FCHI”

English Transcript of Translation:

• “How do you drive a blonde crazy? You hand her a note that has the word ‘flip’ written on both sides.”

Informant’s Comments:

• When I asked the informant for some jokes he had learned as a teenager, this was the first one he gave. He said it was one of the few ‘family friendly’ jokes he could share. He also noted that in Israel the ‘blonde’ stereotype is widely known, and often times included in much raunchier jokes and comments.

Collector’s Comments:

• This joke is a funny example of a short joke, which provides a normal context, then finishes with an unexpected punch line. The fact that the informant had to think of ‘family friendly’ jokes and came up with this one felt like he was trying to relate to me as an American. Although there are no specific references to the Jewish culture or life in Israel, the joke still provides insight in to the type of witty and sarcastic humor often found in modern Jewish humor.

Collector’s Name: Zoe Leonard & Bun Straton

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Joke
• Blonde

Title: Husband and Wife Driving

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Joke
• Language: Hebrew
• Country of Origin: Israel
• Informant: Eval Zimet
• Date Collected: 11-3-18

Informant Data:

• Eyal was born and raised in Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz, Israel. He is currently the assistant coach of the Dartmouth women’s varsity volleyball team. He competed on the Israeli National team for many years, attended the University of Hawaii, and played a professional beach volleyball player in the AVP . Hebrew is his native language, but he is also fluent in English.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The state of Israel is located in the Middle East, with Hebrew being its primary language. Over 9 million people speak the language worldwide. Humor has been present here in this location, historically through works of Judaism, but in today’s culture primarily expressed in a mainstream, anecdotal form, most frequently mirroring American humor.
• Social Context: The interviewee is a native Hebrew Speaker, who learned English while growing up and preparing to serve in the Israeli military. He later graduated with a degree in computer science from the University of Hawaii. The joke was told to him by a native Hebrew Speaker back in Israel. The interviewee said this joke was a ‘family friendly’ joke he had learned from friends when growing up.

Item:

• This is a joke in Hebrew about  a husband and a wife. The joke ends by poking fun at the wife and her driving abilities, implying that she looses control of the vehicle and is driving all over the sidewalks, and the pedestrians should watch out as they are in danger of her bad driving.

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

WifeDriving-21gnkjh

Hebrew Transcript:

English Transcript of Translation:

• A husband and wife are talking. The husband says to the wife, “Oh don’t worry dear, you are driving excellent! Anyone who has a problem with your driving not should walk on the sidewalk.”

Informant’s Comments:

• When I asked the informant for some jokes he had learned as a teenager, this was the first one he gave. He said it was one of the few ‘family friendly’ jokes he could share. He also noted that in Israel there is a stereotype that women are terrible drivers, and that they should not be on the road at all.

Collector’s Comments:

• This joke is a funny example of a short joke, which provides a normal context, then finishes with an unexpected punch line. The fact that the informant had to think of ‘family friendly’ jokes and came up with this one felt like he was trying to relate to me as an American. Although there are no specific references to the Jewish culture or life in Israel, the joke still provides insight in to the type of witty and sarcastic humor often found in modern Jewish humor.

Collector’s Name: Zoe Leonard & Bun Straton

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Joke
• Husband
• Wife
• Driving

Title: Doctor and the Spoon

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Joke
• Language: Hebrew
• Country of Origin: Israel
• Informant: Gilad Doron
• Date Collected: 11-3-18

Informant Data:

• Gilad was born and raised in Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz, Israel. He is currently the head coach of the Dartmouth women’s varsity volleyball team. He competed on the Israeli National team for 10 years, and later served as a coach for Mate Asher professional volleyball club in his native country. Hebrew is his native language, but he is also fluent in English.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: The state of Israel is located in the Middle East, with Hebrew being its primary language. Over 9 million people speak the language worldwide. Humor has been present here in this location, historically through works of Judaism, but in today’s culture primarily expressed in a mainstream, anecdotal form, most frequently mirroring American humor.
• Social Context: The interviewee is a native Hebrew Speaker, who learned English while growing up and preparing to serve in the Israeli military. He later graduated with a degree from Temple University. The joke was told to him by a native Hebrew Speaker back in Israel. The interviewee went to the doctor for some pains, and this joke is what the doctor replied to him with.

Item:

• This is a joke in Hebrew about a man who goes to the doctor with complaints. He says that his eye hurts every time that he drinks tea and is asking the doctor what he should do. The doctor then replies to him that next time he drinks tea, he should remove the spoon first.

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

spoon2-2960gem

Hebrew Transcript:

English Transcript of Translation:

• “A patient comes to the doctor and says ‘every time I drink tea my eye hurts’. So he says ‘show me how you do it’. So he shows him and he said ‘why don’t you take the spoon out'”.

Informant’s Comments:

• This was the second of two jokes my informant told me, both from an interaction he had when going to the doctor in Israel. The informant said this was a joke his doctor made to him when he was younger and went to the doctors office because he was having some body pains. When I asked for a literal translation, he noted that there were a few words and concepts he could not specifically translate into English, so he provided me with a ‘loose translation’.

Collector’s Comments:

• This joke is a funny example of a short joke, which provides a normal context, then finishes with an unexpected punch line. The fact that a doctor told the joke to his patient is funny in itself as the joke is about a doctor and patient interaction. Although there are no specific references to the Jewish culture or life in Israel, the joke still provides insight in to the type of witty and sarcastic humor often found in modern Jewish humor. It may take the listener a few moments to piece together the joke and realize that the spoon in the tea cup is what is causing the eye pain.

Collector’s Name: Zoe Leonard & Bun Straton

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Joke
• Tea
• Health
• Doctor