Category Archives: Verbal Lore

The Fake Talent Show Prank

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Title: The Fake Talent Show Prank

General Information about Item:

  • Customary, Practical Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Dylan Whang
  • Date Collected: This data was collected on October 29th, 2018 during a one-on-one interview in the library of Dartmouth College with Dylan Whang.

Informant Data:

  • Dylan Whang ‘21 is a male student studying Economics at Dartmouth College. He is originally from New York, New York. Dylan participated in a canoeing trip before the start of his Freshman year at Dartmouth as part of the First Year Trips DOC program. He has an older brother (Derek Whang ‘17), who attended Dartmouth and encouraged him to participate in the Trips program. However, he was not informed in advance of what the experience would be like.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context
    • Dylan encountered this joke first when he was a tripee during August of 2017. Dylan described that this practical joke was one of many played on him and his fellow tripees during their time on trips; however, he feels that this joke was the funniest because it was the best executed and was taken most seriously by his fellow tripees.
    • This joke is typically played by upperclassmen or students leading trips on their first year tripees. As the objects of the prank, the new freshmen are supposed to be initiated and bonded together as a new class by going through the embarrassment of this prank together.
  • Cultural Context
    • This joke occurs on first year trips, which close to 95% of every incoming class at Dartmouth College participates in. Trips are used as a way to welcome each new class to Dartmouth and to break down whatever misconceptions they might have. Accordingly, jokes on trips are used often as they offer a great way to subvert expectations and to make everyone have a good time. Typically, the practical joke is played once the members of the trip and the leaders have left Dartmouth’s campus and are together somewhere in the surrounding wilderness of New Hampshire/Vermont. In this way, practical jokes like this one are very common to the Trips setting as they serve to bring everyone closer together through group humiliation/embarrassment.

Item:

Trip leaders informed their tripees that there would be a talent show on the final night of trips and that there would be a special, unknown reward for whichever trip section performed the best. Trip leaders of Dylan Whang ‘21’s section encouraged their section to come up with something that they could perform together to help win the prize. After his trip leaders had their section perform a song and dance routine several times leading up to when the talent show was supposedly going to take place, he was informed by his trip leaders that it was all a prank. In reality, the talent show was just a practical joke played on all of them to get them to come up with a crazy, embarrassing routine.

Transcript:

  • Jackson: Hey Dylan, I’m just curious if you could just tell me a little bit about your background?
  • Dylan: So, I’m Dylan Whang. I’m a ‘21 from New York City. My brother actually is a 17 and went to this school.
  • Jackson: What are you studying?
  • Dylan: Computer science and quantitative social sciences.
  • Jackson: Cool. So, when you went on trips, did you have like any background or understanding of what it would be like?
  • Dylan: So because my brother told me like it’s a really fun time but didn’t really tell me anything other than that. I think he did like he did kayaking, and I did canoeing so we kind of went to the same spot which is kind of cool.
  • Jackson: Do you remember if there were like any pranks or jokes that were played on you during trips or anything that stuck out in particular?
  • Dylan: Yeah. So like one that actually sticks that sticks out to me is when we were canoeing like towards the end, [our trip leaders] were saying that like when we got back to the Mount Moosilauke or wherever we were going but we would have to perform a talent show. So, our group came up with a song. We did a remix of pop songs to make them have to do with Dartmouth and with Trips. The whole time on our trip we were trying to find songs to do and were practicing them across our boats.
  • Jackson: Why do you think it ended up being so funny?
  • Dylan: It was funny because a couple of our tripees got really into it and were really excited to perform in the talent show. We were actually sadder at the end that there wasn’t a talent show than being upset about practicing and having to come up with a song.

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

Audio file

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I really enjoyed this prank. I was almost sadder that there was not a real talent show at the end because I had so much fun rehearsing songs with the friends I made on my trip.”

 

Collectors’ Comments:

  • Dylan Whang fondly recalled this prank. When I asked him if he recalled any jokes from trips, this was the first thing that came to mind. Thinking about the nature of the prank as a whole, it serves perfectly as a way to develop friendships and to bond as a group.

 

Collector’s Name: Jackson Baur

Tags/Keywords:

  • Joke. Pranks. Practical Jokes. Trips. Dartmouth.

The Cabot Cheese Taste Test

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Title: The Cabot Cheese Taste Test

General Information about Item:

  • Customary, Practical Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Brad Stone
  • Date Collected: This data was collected on October 29th, 2018 during a one-on-one interview in the library of Dartmouth College with Brad Stone.

Informant Data:

  • Brad Stone ‘19 is a male student studying neuroscience at Dartmouth College. He is originally from Tampa, Florida. Brad has lead several trips before as a member of the Dartmouth Outing Club First Year Trips staff.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context
    • Brad encountered this joke first when he was leading a trip during August of 2018. Brad noted that this specific practical joke was not very common on other trips, but that the practice of unknown visitors arriving at random trips and playing practical jokes on the tripees is a widespread part of the First Year Trips experience.
    • This joke is typically played by upperclassmen or students leading trips on their first year tripees. As the objects of the prank, the new freshmen are supposed to be initiated and bonded together as a new class by going through the embarrassment of this prank together.
  • Cultural Context
    • This joke occurs on first year trips, which close to 95% of every incoming class at Dartmouth College participates in. Trips are used as a way to welcome each new class to Dartmouth and to break down whatever misconceptions they might have. Accordingly, jokes on trips are used often as they offer a great way to subvert expectations and to make everyone have a good time. Typically, the practical joke is played once the members of the trip and the leaders have left Dartmouth’s campus and are together somewhere in the surrounding wilderness of New Hampshire/Vermont. In this way, practical jokes like this one are very common to the Trips setting as they serve to bring everyone closer together through group humiliation/embarrassment.

Item:

While a land-based trip is in progress (typically hiking), a random member of the First Year Trips staff unknown to the tripees arrives dressed in a lab coat posing as an employee of the well-known cheese company, Cabot Cheese. The visitor asks tripees and trip leaders if they want to give feedback about some new types of cheese that Cabot is rolling out that are targeted at hikers and other outdoorsy individuals. When the tripees say yes, the visitor gives them several samples of cheese, which are actually all the same cheese and asks them several prodding questions about how the cheeses taste, which is their favorite, etc. Eventually, after the victim of the prank is unable to tell that each cheese is the same and that they are being pranked, the truth is revealed to their embarrassment.

 

Transcript:

  • Jackson: Hey Brad, do you think you could tell me like a little bit about your background and where you’re from?
  • Brad: Yeah. Sure. So my name is Brad Stone. I’m a ‘19 from Tampa, Florida, and I’m a neuroscience major here at Dartmouth College.
  • Jackson: So, when you were coming here to Dartmouth, did you know anything about the school in advance or anything about trips or was that totally new for you?
  • Brad: So, interestingly enough, my dad was an ’87. So I knew a bit about the College. He told me that trips were an awesome experience for him, but he never really went into detail. So I was I knew to expect something positive but was kind of flying blind other than that.
  • Jackson: I know you’ve also led trips before too, so you must now have a lot of exposure. What are what are some funny jokes that you’ve heard before or pranks that you’ve heard being played on trips?
  • Brad: Sure. So this past fall, I was leading a trip had a group of eight ‘21s, and I had a ‘20 as a co-leader. One of the more interesting pranks that was pulled on our trip was a raid done by Vox Crew. So, Vox Crew is sort of the logistical division of some trips. They get make sure you have enough food and water etc. while you’re out on the trails. Any sort of emergency medical that wouldn’t be straight to 9-1-1, they would take care of. So, we met a member of Vox Crew coming down a trail. We just hiked like eight miles, and we were hitting an intersection of the trail around a main road when we met an upperclassman dressed in a lab coat. She approached us and said she was from Cabot Cheese Factory, and they were really interested in polling hikers as that as that was a Target demographic of theirs. So, they led us to a van. Outside the van, they had set up this table with a bunch of different plates of cheese labeled “A,” “B,” and “C.” At a glance, knowing they were Dartmouth students, it was pretty obvious they’d stolen the plates from Foco and had put out the same slices of cheese on each plate, but I decided to play along. And so, we told each of the tripees that they were taking an objective survey quiz asking various questions. The questions kept getting sillier and sillier, until it became obvious to everyone that it was a prank. At that point, we broke out cookies and chatted and had a good time, but it was pretty amusing to see them think it was an actual Cabot employee.

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

Audio file

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I had never heard of this prank being played except a couple times, so I was really excited when it happened to us while I was leading Trips. Definitely brought my tripees a lot closer together and was just a great time.”

 

Collectors’ Comments:

  • This joke seems to function in-line with the goals of Trips as a whole, where the tripees have no idea what to expect. As the object of the humor, the tripees are pranked and embarrassed together, bringing them closer together and helping to build lasting friendships before their time at Dartmouth truly begins.

 

Collector’s Name: Jackson Baur

Tags/Keywords:

  • Joke. Pranks. Practical Jokes. Trips. Dartmouth.

Canadian Ground Fruit

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Title: Canadian Ground Fruit

General Information about Item:

  • Customary, Practical Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Myself
  • Data Collected: This data was collected on November 1st, 2018 via a recording of Jackson’s experience with how the Canadian Ground Fruit prank is usually performed on trips.

Informant Data:

  • Jackson Baur ‘20 is a male student studying Economics at Dartmouth College, who is originally from Houston, Texas. Jackson is of German descent and had never been to New Hampshire prior to going on First Year Trips at the start of his freshman fall.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context
    • Jackson encountered this joke first as a participant in trips.
    • This joke is typically played by upperclassmen or students leading trips on their trip members (referred to as tripees). As the objects of the prank, the new freshmen are supposed to be initiated and bonded together as a new class by going through the embarrassment of this prank together.
  • Cultural Context
    • This joke occurs on first year trips, which close to 95% of every incoming class at Dartmouth College participates in. Trips are used as a way to welcome each new class to Dartmouth and to break down whatever misconceptions they might have. Accordingly, jokes on trips are used often as they offer a great way to subvert expectations and to make everyone have a good time. Typically, the practical joke is played once the members of the trip and the leaders have left Dartmouth’s campus and are together somewhere in the surrounding wilderness of New Hampshire/Vermont. In this way, practical jokes like this one are very common to the Trips setting as they serve to bring everyone closer together through group humiliation/embarrassment.

Item:

To perform this practical joke, First Year Trip’s leaders from each trip will wait until their trips leave campus.  Once they are in the wilderness together, one leader runs ahead and buries a pineapple that they brought along with them in the ground up to the tip of its pointy leaves/stem. Upon returning to their tripees, the trip leader will suggest that the trip goes on a walk or continues in the direction of the partially buried pineapple. When they approach, the trip leaders make note of the odd looking, half buried fruit and highlight for their tripees that they have come across a rare feature of Northeastern plant life called the Canadian Ground Fruit. Excited tripees inevitably gather around and are encouraged by their trip leaders to dig up the Canadian Ground Fruit and even taste it, reassuring them repeatedly that, although it may look like and even taste like a pineapple, it is not a pineapple.

 

Transcript:

  • Jackson: I’m Jackson Baur. I’m a ‘20 here at Dartmouth from Houston, Texas, and I’m studying Economics. Prior to coming to Dartmouth, I had no experience with Dartmouth. I’d never even been in New Hampshire. So, First Year Trips were really my first introduction to the school. On first year trips, one of the most prominent, seems like one of the most archetypal, pranks that was played on us was this one referring to something the trip leaders called the Canadian Ground Fruit. This happened when I was on a hiking trip, and, once we were out in the wilderness, my trip leaders ran away from the group or one of them did and buried a pineapple on the ground up to its stem. When we came across this later, they pointed it out, drew a bunch of attention to it, and said it was something that only grew in the Northeast, a rare plant called the Canadian Ground Fruit. They encouraged us to dig it up, at which point we all noticed that it looked like a pineapple, but they really were insistent that it wasn’t a pineapple, that it was this thing called a Canadian Ground Fruit. And so, when we pulled it out, they encouraged us to even like, you know, cut it open and even take a bite out of it. They said it was edible, at which point, we realized that we were the butt end of a prank, that this was, in fact, a pineapple, and they had just fooled all of us naïve, will-be freshman into thinking that a pineapple was something that is just totally nonexistent, a totally made-up thing.

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

Audio file

Informant’s / Collectors’ Comments:

  • As one of the most fondly remembered practical jokes of Dartmouth Trips, this practical joke is also one of the most widely repeated and referenced after many students are done with their trips.

 

Collector’s Name: Jackson Baur

Tags/Keywords:

  • Joke. Pranks. Practical Jokes. Trips. Dartmouth.

Dear Diary

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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

Blonde Joke

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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

Husband and Wife Driving

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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:

“AL TID’A’GI MAMY AT NO’HE’GET ME’U’LE. MI SHE’YESH LO BA’A’YA IM ZE SHE’LO YE’LECH AL HA’MID’RA’CHA.”

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

Insulting Gestures: American Children — Gesture 10

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The Thumbs Down Gesture (Eitan Vilker)

Title: The Thumbs Down Gesture

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore: Hand gesture
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Daniel (last name withheld)
  • Date Collected: 10-21-18

Informant Data:

  • Daniel was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 2004. His father is an attorney for the state of Rhode Island, and his mother is a psychologist who operates a private practice. Daniel and his family are Jewish. He has lived in the small town of East Greenwich for most of his life. Daniel attends Cole Middle School. His family hails from both Western and Eastern Europe.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Children often use gestures that can be perceived in a neutral or negative light depending upon the situation. Gestures that are universally offensive are more likely to be considered taboo, like the middle finger, so gestures that are insulting sometimes but not always are a favorite of children.
  • Social Context: This hand gesture was brought up as a result of the interviewer asking what insulting gestures Daniel knew. He learned it from his parents and siblings. Most insulting gestures children make are used in school settings, physical activities and games, casual conversations, and at home- in short, the situations in which children spend the majority of their time.

Item:

  • Making this gesture merely involves holding the fingers of one hand into one’s fist and extending one’s thumb. This gesture indicates disapproval with a course of action, an opinion, or another person in general. It can be used as a shorthand for just saying “no” or it can be used in a dismissive fashion.

Associated File:

 

Transcript:

  • “I put my thumb down to sort of say ‘no’ or ‘you’re wrong.'”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This is one of the most open-ended gestures observed. It can be very negative or neutral, and it can have many different meanings and apply to a large range of situations.

Collector’s Name: Eitan Vilker

Tags/Keywords:

  • Insulting Gesture
  • Thumbs Down

 

Family and Sainthood

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Title: Family and Sainthood Proverb

General Information:

  • Verbal lore, Proverb
  • Informant Name: Mike Carlowicz
  • Location: Aquinas House Library, Hanover, NH, 03755
  • Date: October 17, 2018

Informant Data:

Mike Carlowicz is a freshman at Dartmouth College. He was born and raised Catholic, went to Catholic school for all of his education before college, and now is involved in the Catholic student center at Dartmouth. He regularly attends Catholic mass at home. His parents are married and he has siblings.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:

Mike heard this proverb separately from a few different priests at his home parish while they were saying a homily, the reflection on the gospel reading for that day’s mass. He later was in the same space as all of those priests, in an informal gathering room like a study or lounge, and asked them if they had all heard it separately or from each other. They had all picked it up on their own, and it was a coincidence that they each preached about it.

Cultural Context:

Mike says this proverb is meaningful to him because as a Catholic, he believes that we should all strive to become saints. He knows that he’s not perfect, but he thinks this proverb exemplifies how much easier it is to be of a saint-like nature around people who aren’t family. Additionally, he says that this proverb points out that while it is more difficult, family may be a more valuable setting in which to try to emulate those qualities. He outlined two reasons for his interpretation. First, it’s easier to be saint-like around others because family members know your past and the motivations behind your actions; for example, if you’re acting with kindness in order to get your way later or gain something for yourself. Family members can more easily recognize your common sins. Second, the family is a more valuable setting in which to try to become a saint, because they can encourage you, support you, and see your progress. Since it is all the more difficult, it is even more impressive to be able to emulate the saints among people who know you deeply and may also know how to provoke you.

Item:

Orally transmitted proverb:

“It’s harder to be a saint around your family.”

Interview Audio:

Collector’s Comments:

This is a two part proverb, with a statement and a condition. The image is humorous, but with serious implications, as emphasized by the informant with personal connections to his own life and faith journey. This proverb stresses the importance of sainthood to Catholics, and suggests a method of achieving it (by being most saintlike when it is difficult to do so). As the informant inherited this proverb from several sources at different times, it also seems somewhat ubiquitous.

Collector:

Alexandra Norris, 20
3305 Hinman, Hanover, NH, 03755
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Fall 2018

Tags:

  • Proverbs
  • Catholic Proverbs
  • Family
  • Relationships

Kill the Principal

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Title: Kill the Principal

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Marshall Islands
  • Informant: Sanders Leon
  • Date Collected: 10-27-18

Informant Data:

  • Sanders is a native to the Marshall Islands. He was born in the Marshall Islands on the capital Majuro. Sanders moved to the Hawaiian Islands in the United states when he was five years old. He spent two years serving a mission for his church in Texas with Marshallese people.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Marshall Islands are a part of the larger Micronesian island group and are largely surrounded by water. The typical diet of the Marshallese people includes a lot of fresh fish, tropical fruits and nuts. The Marshallese Public School system is similar to the United States in that the system is a network of elementary schools that are guided by central guidelines but managed by an internal leadership staff.
  • Social Context: The interviewee heard this joke when he was a kid on the Marshall Islands. He was educated at a young age in Majuro where the country’s public school system is headquartered. For young Marshallese children, jokes and other forms are verbal lore are sometimes used as educational tools for learning the language.

Item:

  • English Translation of the Joke:
In school one teacher was teaching his class. He said follow me. “Banana taste good”

Then the class said “banana taste good”

Now coconut “coconut taste good”

Then the class said “coconut taste good”

Pandanus?

Then the class said “pandanus taste good”

Breadfruit?

Then the class said “breadfruit taste good”

In the class the teacher saw a rat, then he yelled “kill the rat!”

The class also yelled out “kill the rat”

The principal hearing the teacher came to see if there was any problem.

The teacher saw the principal and said “principal!”

Then the class yelled out “kill the principal”
  • The joke is sort of a play on words, or rather a play on the situation. You can see the prevalence of foods that are important in Marshallese culture. Particularly the mention of pandanus and breadfruit which are fruits native to the old world tropics and the south Pacific region of the world.

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

Transcript:

  • “Mā”? Im class eo raar ba ‘enno mā.’ Ilo class eo rikaki eo eaar lò juon kijirik. I’m eaar lamuj ñan class eo ‘mane kijirik eo.’ Im class eo raar ba ‘mane kijirik eo.’

    Principle eo eaar roñ rikaki eo I’m eaar tal im lale ewōr ke joran. Rikaki eo eaar lo principle eo im ba ‘principle!’ Im class eo raar ba ‘mane principle eo!’

Informant’s Comments:

  • This joke was something from the informants childhood that stayed with him. He enjoyed the joke when he was young and still enjoys telling it today.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The joke may seem kind of silly, however, this is just the type of humor that would thrive in a group of young school children. The food elements of the joke make it distinctly Marshallese, but the punchline is one that could be familiar in many cultures.

Collector’s Name: Jimmy McHugh

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Marshall Islands
  • Elementary School
  • Teacher
  • Principal
  • Fruit
  • Food

Insulting Gestures: American Children — Gesture 9

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The Lifting Both Hands Up Gesture (Eitan Vilker)

Title: The Lifting Both Hands Up Gesture

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore: Hand gesture
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Ari (last name withheld)
  • Date Collected: 10-21-18

Informant Data:

  • Ari was born in New Jersey in 2001. His father is an lawyer, and his mother is a doctor. who operates a private practice. Ari and his family are Jewish. He has lived in Rhode Island for most of his life. Ari attends East Greenwich High School. He has family from Israel and from Germany.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Children like to use gestures that can apply to multiple different scenarios and that they can have plausible deniability for if they are accused of being rude. Thus, gestures that can be polite in certain contexts but unkind in others are a favorite of many children.
  • Social Context: This hand gesture was brought up as a result of the interviewer asking what insulting gestures Ari knew. He’s not certain where he learned it from, but he suspects it originates from within his family. Most insulting gestures children make are used in school settings, physical activities and games, casual conversations, and at home- in short, the situations in which children spend the majority of their time.

Item:

  • When using this gestures, one should hold the fingers of each hand together and bob them up and down a few times. This gesture is actually used in a polite or neutral manner more often than it is used in a rude way, but it can be used to indicate that small talk with another person would be a waste of time and it would be best to end the social encounter as soon as possible.

Associated File:

Ari_Gesture-239qm8r

Transcript:

  • “Interviewer: When would you do that? Ari: Like, to greet someone.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This gesture has a very specific meaning but it can be used in a few different ways, which makes it very useful if one’s goal is to do something that looks innocuous while conveying an entirely different meeting.

Collector’s Name: Eitan Vilker

Tags/Keywords:

  • Insulting Gestures
  • Lifting Both Hands Up
  • Greeting