Kiki in Jibenben

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Title: Kiki in Jibenben

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

Swimming with Sharks

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Title: Swimming with Sharks

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Marshall Islands
  • Informant: Karson Alder
  • Date Collected: 10-28-18

Informant Data:

  • Karson was born in Dayton, ID. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Many men in his church serve full-time two year missions when they leave high school. Karson spent his two year mission in Texas with the Marshallese people. He learned the language in his time there and became very fond of the language and the people.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Marshall Islands are a part of the larger Micronesian island group and are largely surrounded by water. Fishing and Boating are a central part of Marshallese culture, and the islands are home to the largest shark sanctuary in the world. The sanctuary spans over 2 million square kilometers and sharks are frequently encountered when fishing off the shores of the Marshall Islands.
  • Social Context: The interviewee was a native English Speaker who learned Marshallese while serving a mission trip with native speakers. The joke was told to him by a native Marshallese speaker and served as a way to connect the interviewee with the locals as well as educate him on the culture of the Marshall islands.

Item:

  • This is a Marshallese joke about a man who falls overboard during a fishing trip. His cries out for help are misunderstood by the two other fisherman on the boat above and he is eaten by sharks because of this.

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

Transcript:

  • “Alright, here goes the joke; Three guys are fishing on a canoe, and they’re fishing for sharks. And so one of them goes down, and he dives down, and, um, and he ends up getting, like, eaten by sharks, but he tries to say ‘Jipañ! Jipañ!’ and then the bubbles go up to the other two who are waiting on the boat, and all they hear is *Jibong* *Jibong* from the, from the bubbles. And so, they don’t save him and he dies.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • This was a joke that was told to the informant at the start of his mission as he was learning the Marshallese language. It was a fun way to learn about the language and the prevalence of onomatopoeia in Marshallese language and culture.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The joke here is a great one for people outside of Marshallese culture to analyze and appreciate because it was collected in English, so that outsiders can understand it, but it also includes aspects of the Marshallese language. You can see the importance of Marshallese fishing and ocean culture, as well as the use of onomatopoeia, or “sound-associated” words, that is present in the language.

Collector’s Name: Jimmy McHugh

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Fishing
  • Boating
  • Sharks
  • Marshall Islands
  • Onomatopoeia

Lakkeke & The King

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Title: Lakkeke & The King

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

Spanish Tongue Twisters

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Title: Erre Con Erre

General Information about Item:

  • Oral Tradition: tongue twister
  • Language: Spanish
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Joseph Estrada
  • Date Collected: October 15, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Joseph Estrada was born in Austin, Texas in 1998. His mother’s family has lived in Texas for many generations, and his father’s family immigrated to America from Cuba after the Cuban Revolution. Growing up, Joseph spent much time with his grandparents in Miami, but rarely spoke Spanish. Although his grandparents pushed for him and his cousins to learn Spanish, it wasn’t until Joseph developed an interest in Latin America literature in high school that he began exclusively speaking Spanish with his grandparents. At Dartmouth, he is studying French Literature and often takes courses on Spanish Literature.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: This is a very common Spanish tongue twister found in Central and Latin American countries, though it is not specifically limited to these countries. In the Spanish language, tongue twisters are often used as fun verbal drills that help young children learn more difficult pronunciation practices – this case deals specifically with the Spanish letter “rr.”
    Social Context: Joseph described how this tongue twister was taught to him at a young age by his grandmother. The purpose of this tongue twister was to help interviewee learn to practice rolling his r’s, a very important aspect of the Spanish language. The tongue twister itself does not have very much significance outside of its educational function.

Item:

  • Spanish transcription: “Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril. Rápido corren los carros, cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril.”
  • English translation: “An R with an R cigar, an R with an R barrel; rapidly run the cars loaded with sugar off to the railroad.”

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

Informant’s Comments:

  • “Once mastered, this was a very fun tongue twister to say over and over again.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • Though difficult to say, this tongue twister seems very useful in helping to learn a sound that is crucial in the Spanish language.

Collector’s Name: Karam Sandhu

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Tongue Twister
  • Spanish

 

Whiskey Joke

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Title: Whiskey Joke (Christina Wulff)

General Information about the Item:

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Germany
  • Informant: Jean D.
  • Date Collected: 10-25-18

Informant Data: 

  • Jean D. is a 52-year old female attorney who was born and raised in the United States and does not speak German. She currently lives in Virginia.

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: Jokes originating in other countries are passed from culture to culture through oral traditions.  As many people from Germans have married American servicemen and assimilated into the United States, they have brought with them lore, including jokes.
  • Social Context: This specific joke was told to the informant from her 75-year-old German-American neighbor.  The neighbor was born in Germany and married an American serviceman.  Since she has lived in the United States for almost 50 years, she says she considers herself an American.  In addition, the neighbor shared that most of the jokes that she is sent today via email from her friends and family in Germany are sent in English, not in German.

Associated File: 

Informants Comments:

  • “My neighbor told me that even though this joke is old-fashioned and sexist, she still finds it funny because it indicates that the wife was unaware of what her late husband was doing.  When asked to relay any German jokes that she knew, she said that she didn’t know too many and probably needed to find some funnier friends!”

Collector’s Comments: 

  • I agree that the joke is sexist. It could be turned around to have the husband discovering what “medicine” his late wife used to take.  But, it also a representative of Germany being a traditional, patriarchal society.  And, the joke still works when translated into English.

Collector’s Name: Christina Wulff

Tags/Keywords

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Whiskey Joke from Germany

Government Officials Joke

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Title: Government Officials Joke (Christina Wulff)

General Information about the Item: 

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: German
  • Country of Origin: Germany
  • Informant: Siegfried Wulff
  • Date Collected: 10-20-18

Informant Data:

  • Siegfried Wulff is a 53-year-old male commercial pilot. He was born and raised in the United States by German parents and spoke German before he spoke English.  However, having lived, studied, and worked in the United States for his entire life, English is his primary language.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Germans have a great interest in world politics.  They enjoy discussing world news and events at work and at home. Their discussion often take on a bantering or debating manner or tone.
  • Social Context: This specific joke was told to the informant at home when he was a child by his father.  It is one of the few jokes that he remembers his father telling.  His father was expressing his opinion, through humor, that he did not believe that government officials or politicians have a good work ethic.

Associated File: 

Transcript/Translation: 

  • The English translation of this joke is as follows:  What is the busiest day for a politician or government official?  Monday, because they have to tear off two pages from their daily calendar.

Informants Comments:

  • “My father did not have a very good sense of humor.  He was an engineer who liked to speak about intellectual topics. However, he did not think that politicians worked very hard.  In his opinion, they only really worked for themselves.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • It was interesting to see that criticism of politicians is a common theme and source of jokes in many cultures.

Collector’s Name: Christina Wulff

Tags/Keywords

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • German joke on politicians/government workers

Political Joke

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Title: Political Joke (Christina Wulff)

General Information about the Item:

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: German
  • Country of Origin: Germany
  • Informant: Peter Wulff
  • Date Collected: 11-1-18

Informant Data: 

  • Peter Wulff is a 52-year-old male engineer. Although he was born and raised in the United States, after college, he moved to Germany and has been living and working in Buchen, Germany for the past 25 years. Peter is married with one son and now primarily speaks German at work and at home.

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: Germans have a great interest in world politics.  They enjoy discussing world news and events while at work and at home. Their discussions often take on a bantering or debating manner or tone.
  • Social Context: This specific joke was told to the informant at work.  Although the informant is fully integrated into German culture and life, he is still viewed in some respect as an “American.”  As such, given the current political environment in the United States, he is approached daily by his German co-workers about the latest political news/scandal.  Oftentimes, these are in the form of jokes, such as the one that he provided.

Associated File: 

Transcript/Translation: 

  • The English translation of this joke is as follows: Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump go before God trying to get into heaven.  God asks each of them, “What do you believe in?” George W Bush says: “I believe in freedom, American culture and a better life for all.”  God says ok, you can come in.  Barack Obama says he believe in democracy, equality and freedom for all people. God says ok, you can come in. Then God asks President Trump: “What do you believe in?”  President Trump responds: “I believe that you are in my seat!”

Informants Comments:

  • “I hear jokes everyday about American politics, and in particular, about Donald Trump.  The jokes are told to me in both English and German.  This joke in German translates well into English.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • I have heard this joke in English as well.  It was interesting to see that American politics plays such a role as a source of humor in Germany.

Collector’s Name: Christina Wulff

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • German joke on American Politics

Children’s Jokes

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Title: Children’s Jokes (Christina Wulff)

General Information about the Item: 

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: German
  • Country of Origin: Germany
  • Informant: Remy Wulff
  • Date Collected: 11-1-18

Informant Data: 

  • Remy Wulff is a 12-year-old elementary school student in Germany. Remy was born in Germany and has lived there his entire life. Although he can speak some English, his primary language is German, which he speaks in school and at home.

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: In some parts of Germany, such as where the informant lives, most school age children do not use cell phones or have social media.  Therefore, they must obtain lore, such as jokes from other sources.
  • Social Context: Unlike many of his American peers, Remy does not have a cell phone or use social media.  He does watch TV, including some American shows translated in German, such as  “The Big Bang Theory.”  He also enjoys watching cartoons and reading books.  He learned the jokes he told in this video file from cartoons and from his friends at school.

Associated File: 

Transcript/Translation: The English translation of the three jokes that Remy tells is as follows:

  • What is white and goes up the mountain?  An avalanche that is homesick!
  • What is the most dangerous bite for a poisonous snake?  When it bites itself on the tongue!
  • What is orange and goes down the mountain?  A “hiking tangerine”

Informant’s Comments: 

  • The informant loves to learn new jokes, but is very shy to tell them.  (So, for the video, pulled his hat over his eyes!)

Collector’s Comments: 

  • I thought that the jokes were similar to ones that you would hear American school children tell and enjoy. The informant explained to me that in the last joke, the work “hiking tangerine” or “vanderine” is a word play/made-up word of hiking with the ending of tangerine.

Collector’s Name: Christina Wulff

Tags/Keywords

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Children’s Jokes in German

Upright Chopsticks

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Title: Upright Chopsticks

General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore: Bad luck superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: China
  • Informant: Dartmouth 22-year-old senior female
  • Date Collected: 10-17-18

Informant Data:

  • Informant is a twenty-two-year-old student, currently attending Dartmouth College in Hanover New Hampshire. She has lived in New England all of her life, though one side of her family is from the Mid-West and the other is Chinese. The informant is half Chinese and grew up with a Chinese nanny. Some of the superstitions she remembers are recollections of superstitions held by and passed on by her nanny when she was a child. While her mother did not mention many superstitions, others are remembered from her grandfather and grandmother on her mother’s side. Some superstitions are also recalled from Chinese School. The informant was interviewed in conjunction with another Dartmouth female senior that did not want to be identified, and after the other interviewee requested to be anonymous this interviewee requested to be as well.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: In order to talk with spirits, or get in touch with dead family members, incense will be lit and stuck upright. Sticking your chopsticks upright in a bowl looks a great deal like the incense stuck upright in a bowl might look, and thus is highly reminiscent of inviting the dead into the space you are in.
  • Social Context: The informant did not remember personally being lectured for violating the rules laid out by this superstition. She did remember being told about the superstition by her mother when visiting her grandfather’s ashes and lighting incense for him, though it was not in the context of actually performing or even considering the action prohibited by the superstition.

Item:

  • Sticking your chopsticks upright in a bowl is bad luck.

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

Transcript:

  • “A Chinese superstition is that you shouldn’t stick your chopsticks um upright in a bowl because it’ll be like you’re among the dead or more like you’re inviting ghosts in which is bad luck.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • The informant didn’t think she’d ever done this as she rarely had enough rice in a deep enough bowl to make this particularly feasible.
  • It did not seem that she personally believed in the superstition at all and she mentioned that maybe she did this often and just did not pay attention to it.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This superstitions was also mentioned by another informant that I did not get a recording for as I did not record their interview.

Collector’s Name: Mia Kobs

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary lore
  • Bad Luck Superstitions
  • Upright Chopsticks

The Colour Red

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Title: The Colour Red

General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore: Bad and Good luck superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: China
  • Informant: Dartmouth 22-year-old senior female
  • Date Collected: 10-17-18

Informant Data:

  • Informant is a twenty-two-year-old student, currently attending Dartmouth College in Hanover New Hampshire. She has lived in New England all of her life, though one side of her family is from the Mid-West and the other is Chinese. The informant is half Chinese and grew up with a Chinese nanny. Some of the superstitions she remembers are recollections of superstitions held by and passed on by her nanny when she was a child. While her mother did not mention many superstitions, others are remembered from her grandfather and grandmother on her mother’s side. Some superstitions are also recalled from Chinese School. The informant was interviewed in conjunction with another Dartmouth female senior that did not want to be identified, and after the other interviewee requested to be anonymous this interviewee requested to be as well.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The colour red is considered to be good luck. In context of Chinese New Year’s, this stems from a New Year’s story involving a story about a monster called the Nian that was terrorising a village. The Nian was scared away by red paper pasted on the doors around a village. Consequently red was considered lucky, and putting up red papers is also supposed to keep away bad luck and bring good luck.
  • Social Context: The Informant remembers this superstition being relevant at the yearly Chinese New Year celebrations held at her Chinese School. Her mom would always make her wear red to the celebrations, though otherwise she didn’t have to wear red to other places on Chinese New Year’s. Her mom would generally wear a red shirt or sweater though.

Item:

  • Not wearing red on Chinese New Year’s is bad luck.

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

Transcript:

  • “A Chinese superstition is that you should wear red on new year’s or um you’ll get bad luck.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • My mom also really believes in the luck of the colour red in general. Almost all especially nice jewellery she owns is red.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This seems to tie interestingly into the Western superstition of wearing red underwear on New Year’s Eve.

Collector’s Name: Mia Kobs

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary lore
  • Bad Luck Superstitions
  • Good Luck Superstitions
  • The Colour Red