General Information about Item:
- Conceptual Folklore – Superstition
- Magic Superstition
- Practical Magic
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: United States
- Informant: Paul Cane
- Date Collected: 02-20-2018
Informant Data:
- Paul Cane was born in the UCLA hospital, on May 31, 1997. Paul has lived in California his whole life. Paul started swimming when he was eight, and changed to a year-round swimmer when he started his freshman year. He is a junior swimmer at Dartmouth College, but went to Georgetown his freshman year before transferring.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: The cultural context of this folklore represents the rituals people do to make sure they are prepared for their sport. In swimming, goggles become very foggy quickly, and it can make it hard to see when you race. There are certain ways to help it so that it does not get foggy.
- Social Context: The data was collected during a one on one interview in Baker-Berry library. Paul described a ritual he performed back when he first started swimming. He actually started the ritual himself, and spread the folklore to all his friends who were swimming at the time.
Item:
- Paul would lick the inside of his goggles before every race. He did this so that his goggles would not fog, and he shared it among all his friends and teammates.
Image of Paul’s Swim Cap and Goggles:
Transcript:
- “It sounds kinda gross, but when I get on the blocks, whether they are foggy or not, I will lick the inside of my goggles I wear every week to make sure they are clear and I can see. This ritual before races started because one time when I was 10, I didn’t do it, my goggles fogged up, and I couldn’t see. So since then, I have done it ever since. I instantly told all my friends that licking the goggles would make sure they would not fog up, and they started doing it too. Since then, my friends and I will always lick my goggles before I race.”
Informant’s Comments:
- It works!
Collector’s Comments:
- This superstition seems like an example of James Frazer’s practical magic, and an example of substituting magic where the actual scientific cause is unknown. Apparently, there is some scientific basis for saliva working like a barrier against moisture forming on the goggles, so the magic superstition does have some scientific basis.
Collector’s Name: Matthew Luciano
Tags/Keywords: Conceptual Folklore, Magic Superstition, Practical Magic, Goggles, James Frazer, Swimming