Tag Archives: Jokes

Introverted engineer vs Extroverted engineer

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Title: Introverted engineer vs Extroverted engineer

General Information about Item:

  • verbal folklore, joke and riddle
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Eric Krivitzky
  • Date Collected: 5-11-19

Informant Data:

Professor Eric is an Aerospace engineer who have worked in the field for 15 years and decided to get a new challenge in Academia. So he decided to pursue his Phd at Dartmouth. As a Phd student, he is the instructor for the fluid lab. Before each lab meeting, he asks his students to come with an engineering related joke. So he’s a great repertoire for jokes

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: : Engineers are known to be “nerds” which means that they are not very social. This jokes is often use by engineers as a way to self ridicule themselves and nice Ice breaker.
  • Cultural context:  This jokes only works in the West. In our society, we consider direct eye-contact to be friendly. So someone who does not make eye contact is considered to be awkward. In some cultures, making direct eye contact is considered rude or even a challenge. Avoiding direct eye contact, culturally, is a form of showing humbleness and direct eye-contact may seem even hostile and rude.

Item 

How do you tell the difference between an introverted and extroverted engineer?

An introverted engineer looks at their own feet when they are talking to you, an extroverted engineer looks at your feet when they’re talking to you. There is no such thing as  an extroverted engineer.

Informant’s Comments:

Sometimes people don’t get the joke instantaneously so he has to explain it to them.

Collector’s Comments:

I didn’t get the joke at first until he gave me a brief explanation.

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

Divorce Joke

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Title: Divorce Joke (Christina Wulff)

General Information about the Item: 

  • Verbal Lore, Joke
  • Language: German
  • Country of Origin: Germany
  • Informant: Colin M.
  • Date Collected:10-16-18

Informant Data:

  • Colin M. is a 24-year-old financial analyst who was born and raised in the United States.Colin learned German in a German Immersion elementary and high school program and has practiced German on his travels in Europe.

Contextual Data: 

  • Cultural Context: In Germany, divorce is now a more accepted occurrence than in previous generations. Like many cultures, divorce is often a source of content for jokes.
  • Social Context: The informant first heard the joke told to him in a bar in Germany, by an older gentleman.

Associated File:

Transcript/Translation: 

  • The English translation of the joke is as follows: What do women and hand grenades have in common?  When you pull the ring off, your house goes away.

Informants Comments:

  • “I think this joke is sexist, but a bit representative of the culture in Germany, especially of an older generation.  The joke was told to me in a bar by an older man, and I am not sure if he would have been telling it to me if there were any women around to hear.”

Collector’s Comments: 

  • I agree that the joke is sexist, and a bit representative of a more traditional male-centric German society. It is also interesting that divorce is a common thread in humor of many cultures and nations.

Collector’s Name: Christina Wulff

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Divorce Joke in German

Wayne’s World Joke (Jacob Cruger)

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Title: Wayne’s World Joke

General Information About this Item:

  • Joke, workplace folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Informant #1
  • Date Collected: 3/9/2018

Informant Data:

  • The informant is a Facilities, Operations, and Management Engineering Services employee who is not originally from the Upper Valley region.

Contextual Data:

  • This story dates back to when the Class of 1953 Commons (the main dining hall on campus) was still known as Thayer Dining.

Item:

  • Back before the ’53 Commons existed the same building was called Thayer Dining. The building had a long-serving maintenance employee with an office on the building’s upper level. This office was infamously messy, full of parts and equipment the employee saved over the years. It was such a distinctive office it received its own nickname: “Wayne’s World.” This name continues to be a joke recognized by some Facilities, Operations, and Management employees.

Collector’s Name: Jacob Cruger

Transcript:

  • “Before ’53 Commons was completed… the building that was there before was just called Thayer Dining. It was the same old building from the outside and the maintenance man in Thayer Dining… had his own space in sort of the attic… he tended to collect parts and pieces of equipment and he would collect them in case he ever needed them in the future. And you can imagine what that place looked like, you know he was here for like thirty five years or something. So it was termed, his name was Wayne I can’t remember his last name, so it was a ‘Wayne’s World.’ So everyone, if you say ‘Wayne’s World,’ around here, everyone will know ‘oh yeah Wayne’s World.'”

Tags/Keywords:

  • Joke
  • FO+M

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“C’s Get Degrees”

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Title: “C’s Get Degrees”

General Information about Item

Genre/Subgenre: Oral folklore: saying

Language: English

Nation of Origin: United States of America

Informant Data:

Peter Wang is a male, 21 year old Dartmouth College student in his senior year. He is currently studying Economics and is from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Peter participated in corporate recruiting during Summer of 2015, Fall of 2015, Summer of 2016, and Fall of 2016. He will be working for Applied Predictive Technologies consulting after graduation.

Contextual Data:

The saying in question is a common saying amongst those going through the corporate recruiting, or tough academic times in general. The saying “C’s get degrees” is meant to state that those with bad grades (C’s) can still obtain a degree and graduate. The saying is meant to humorously provide a sense of comfort during hard times. It is important to note that the saying is not exclusive to the recruiting process, but that it was quite popular amongst those going through the recruiting process, as it was a difficult time for all those involved.

Transcript of Associated File:

Q: Hi, what is your name and year?

A: Peter Wang, ‘17

Q: What is your major?

A: Economics

Q: What are you doing after graduation?

A: I’m working for APT in Washington DC

Q: Have you heard of any sayings, superstitions, or jokes about the corporate recruiting process?

A: Yea, there’s one sort of joke/saying that goes “C’s get degrees!”. I remember during corporate recruiting season, when interview decisions were coming out and no one was getting interviews, I would just burst out with “Hey, at least C’s get degrees!” and all my friends would start laughing.

Q: Interesting, what sort of role did this saying play amongst your friend group?

A: It was just a funny way to relieve stress and keep our minds off the bad decisions

Q: Would you say it’s specific to Dartmouth?

A: No, I would say I hear it the most at Dartmouth but I’ve definitely heard it at other schools

Informant’s Comments:

The informant stated that the corporate recruiting process can often be grueling and mentally straining, and in order to keep the mood lighthearted after a job rejection or other disheartening news, students would say “At least C’s get degrees”. Such a saying would generally elicit a chuckle from those surrounding and serve to keep spirits and morale high during difficult times.

Collector’s Comments:

This example of oral folklore illustrates the difficult and exhausting nature of the corporate recruiting process. It serves as a humorous, rallying saying intended to raise the morale of those who hear it. Its effectiveness may be debatable. It may also be classified as a joke or tease due to its humorous nature.

Collector’s Name: Matthew Kang, Dartmouth College ‘18