WEBVTT - What is folklore? 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.480 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house Stuff Works 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:12.800 dot com. Hey there, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:18.320 josh Joshua Clark, and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.320 is over there, just Jerry uh. And that's stuff you 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:24.400 should know that. She has a new sitcom out on 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:30.319 that its called Jerry. It's suddenly Jerry. Um, how you doing. 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:39.040 I'm fine as well, coming too, intrude, just checking. I'm 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.920 excited about this. When I first read our article, I 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:43.400 was a little bit like, oh, this is a little 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:48.040 unwieldy because it's so folklore. It's just it's an amorphous. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:50.879 As it turns out, it's everything. Yeah, pretty much. But 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.640 then you sent, um, what was that other good article from? 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.000 Actually we should shout that out. It was from a 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.920 I think the University of Louisiana or something like that. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.720 They have a folk life folklore department, and it was basically, 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:08.720 we we stumbled upon some unit for teachers to teach 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.480 what folklore is, and we're like, hey, it works for us, 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.120 super helpful. Yeah, it was very helpful. It definitely. It 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:16.560 took a lot of this amorphous stuff that was in 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.600 our article and chipped away at the edges and give 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.800 it a little more shape, you know, agreed, So, um, 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.760 you did kind of hit it on the head. It's 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.280 it's kind of like, um, nailing jelly to the wall, 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.520 defining what folklore is, because it is so much stuff 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:38.160 that phrases folklore. If if it isn't just me saying it, 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:41.119 if I share it and now other people say it, 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.080 it could become stuff you should know folklore oral oral folklore? 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:49.240 Did you make that up? It was? I think I've 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.920 heard it before, So that's folklore. Yeah, I guess, so 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:57.080 it's a it's a variation though of Um, what else 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:01.200 did I hear? Oh? Yeah, we were talking about the 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.360 the nuclear fusion reactor where they were saying that keeping 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:08.040 plasma contained is kind of like trying to hold jelly 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:13.040 in a bunch of rubber bands. That's a nerd science folklore. 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.760 That's what inspired made us say nailing jelly to the wall. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.760 I like that. It seems like it really sums it up. 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.960 So folklore. Yeah. I found this other definition I thought 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.680 was pretty good, which is uh, traditional art, literature, knowledge 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.240 and practice that is disseminated largely through oral communication and 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.520 behavioral example. Uh. And then this was the key for me. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:38.120 Things that people traditionally believe do no make and say. 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.400 In other words, everything, Yeah, I mean, you're right, everything 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.600 that that's That's about as good a definition as you're 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.520 gonna find. One of the problems with studying folklore is 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.520 that there are so many definitions out there. Apparently folklorists, 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.960 who are people who study folklore, UM. I don't like 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.880 to be too judge. It's kind of part and parcel 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:03.480 with their um their field of study. You don't judge stuff, 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.799 you just collect information. The problem is is that they've 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.079 also just kind of collected definitions for folklore along the way, 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:14.320 and there isn't one set definition that's accepted by everybody. Yeah, 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:18.160 a folklore collected stuff. I was like, that's stupid. It 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.080 wouldn't be it would be a good Why are you 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:25.240 guys doing that? That's a good TV show? The bad 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.679 folk folklore? And I might say folk here and there 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:33.120 because I mispronounced that word often and how are you 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.600 saying it? Well, a lot of times I'll say the 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.080 l In fact, up until about a year ago when 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.120 someone wrote it in was a stupid It's pronounced folke 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:45.680 like f o k folk and not folk. But the 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.600 weird thing is is like I hear the l missing 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.880 when I hear folk weird. That's some sort of like 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.440 I don't hear f o k e. Like it's clear 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.600 to me that there's a fo l k in there. 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.360 You hear the silence. It's a great word. Oh okay, 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:05.760 it's beautiful. It is beautiful. Um. And another thing too 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.320 that we should point out that folklore is love to 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:12.440 point out is that, um, it is not and should 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:19.520 not be associated with being backward or old timey or uneducated. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:21.839 Like I think a lot of people have that connotation 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.000 in their heads that folklore is like the hillbilly on 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:29.240 the porch, you know, when their homespun wisdoms, and it 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.160 can be that, but it's it's it's not that at all. 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:35.200 Like it's not just that, right. Um. A really good 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:40.719 example that contradicts that is, um Snopes. Snopes dot com 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.800 is basically a clearinghouse of modern folklore. I never really 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.839 thought about that, you know, Um, the Nigerian prince scam. 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:52.480 That's folklore. Yeah, it sure is. Emoticons even are considered 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:57.720 now a form of um verbal communication verbal folklore. Yeah, 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.040 And like you said, it's everything and the reason it's 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.240 everything is because um it comes out of groups. Like 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.800 if I just have a habit, you know where Um, 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.680 I keep a rubber band twisted around my finger until 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.680 it turns purple, and then I'll take it off for 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:16.440 half an hour and then do it again. This is 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.520 just some weird habit that's not folklore. Folklore is something 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:22.920 that's shared between a group. Yeah, and uh, those groups 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:28.200 can be like almost anything the I think them. That 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:32.240 great article you sent and it says neighborhoods, communities, and regions, 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:40.080 but also religious groups, families, occupations, gender like pretty much 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:44.440 any grouping, enthusiast, hobbyists, anything you can think of that 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:46.840 you can group more than two people together. It can 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.440 be a folk group exactly. You can have like a 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.960 Catholic dockyard worker who is also a member of an 0:05:54.120 --> 0:06:00.200 RC playing club, who also is a member of a 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.120 book club at the local library. Right, So that one 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.520 person is going to be a member of all those 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.760 different folk groups, and all those folk groups are gonna 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.720 have their own folklore. True. But uh, that's yeah, you're right. 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:13.359 That's another good thing to point out is you're not 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.440 just in one group. You have you spanned many, many groups, 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:22.120 and for instance, I have family folklore. Uh, we have 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:27.640 probably occupational folklore, you know, the old podcaster folklore for 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.120 us and our colleagues. Uh, and my gender and my 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.800 age and uh religious affiliation growing up, like, we all 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.560 have many many groups in subgroups that we fall into, right, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.159 and we get our information from that. Yeah. One of 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.000 the things that I think has been tricky about defining 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:49.240 folklore is that there's not it's not obvious necessarily what 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.960 folklore is for. Yeah, not at first blush, but if 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:57.000 you go and read some of the people who study it. Um. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.680 The idea of folklore is that one of the main 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.480 things it does is it reinforces membership in a group. 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:06.560 It makes you feel special for being part of that group, 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:12.440 an insider um. And then it also um reinforces the 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:17.600 norms of that group. Like folklore is based on basically norms, customs, traditions, 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:19.840 things that the members of the group have said, this 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.880 is what you know, we identify with. Yeah, and not 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.320 always too um, As that teaching site points out, not 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:30.200 always reinforcing those norms, sometimes overturning those norms. Yeah. Like 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.320 a good way to overturn the norm is to take 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:35.360 an existing norm and turn it on its ear because 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:37.640 it makes it really approachable to the other people in 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.320 your folk group. They understand what you're doing very clearly, 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.640 and it gives them a different perspective. Or using the 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.360 traditional channels. Yeah, like uh. I think one example I 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.080 saw somewhere was taking a traditional folk song maybe and 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.480 adding verses to it to spend its meaning to the opposite, 0:07:54.480 --> 0:08:00.360 perhaps like Bob Dylan he's famous for stealing things. Or 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.760 Jimmy Page. Uh oh, yeah. Have you heard that song 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.680 the Zeppelin or the Yes Stairway to Heaven lawsuit? No, no, 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.360 who whose song was it? Originally? I can't remember the name. 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.120 I mean, this is not news. It's been around for 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.360 a while, but um yeah, I mean they've been sued. Uh. 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.240 It was a group that opened up for for Zeppelin 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.720 on an early tour and supposedly played this song, and 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.120 I think Zeppelin has I haven't looked at it up lately, 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:28.960 but I think they have defeated the suit. But when 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.640 you hear the song, you're like, oh, that sounds a 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.920 little bit like the opening bit the Stairway to Heaven. 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.560 So it was like the musical the music. It wasn't 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.199 like any of the leader. Yeah, that that opening guitar 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.600 strumming pattern, UM was pretty darn similar. But um, as 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:48.040 any musician will tell you, everybody steals. There's only so 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.400 many variations of chords and picking patterns that you can do. 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.520 And uh, it's just part of the rich tradition of music. 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:59.160 It's the nick things, respectfully, not you know, not right 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.040 buster's I want a new drug kind of feeling. Yeah, 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.280 I mean that's when your lawsuits come up. Um, it's 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.200 not just music that there's that long tradition of stealing 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:11.240 um or nicking or whatever you want to euphemism. It's 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.760 literature is very much the same way. There's something like 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.000 five or ten themes and all of literature and everything 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:21.720 else is just basically a variation of them. And that's 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.800 one of the things that folklore, uh are folk folklorists 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:30.160 have learned through studying folklore, is that we humans share 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:33.880 what can be called basically a common imagination. That humans 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:39.559 across time and space, um all have a a like 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.680 a certain number of slots of looking at the world. 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:47.040 Certain things in the world capture the human imagination in 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.520 a similar way in all different parts of the world, 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:54.800 and we tend to use similar explanations for them. So 0:09:55.040 --> 0:10:00.760 you'll have independently evolving folklore among groups who've never met before, um, 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:05.440 that seek to explain or have a story about something 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:07.760 that is just kind of out there in the environment. Yeah, 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:09.920 that's a good point. Um. One of the examples of 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:15.079 that is uh, in folklore stories are frogs and toads 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:18.880 can be found and all kinds of old stories and 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:23.120 all cultures all over the world. That I mean, it's 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.480 possible too if you're close to one another, like uh, 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.520 Korea and China may have stories to overlap one another 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:34.680 just through a common geographical boundary. But stuff like frogs 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:36.480 and toads will pop up, you know, let's say in 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.440 Europe or medieval Europe or in Asia, like places aren't 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.200 even close to one another where it's inexplicable basically, right, 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:47.320 and they'll share like a similar um personality or something 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.520 in the story. So like frogs and toads are commonly 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:55.000 thought of as shape shifting tricksters. Yeah, and I think, um, 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:57.880 this article points out that that's probably because they go 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.880 from tadpole to frog or toad and they change themselves physically. 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.400 So it's um, you know, the old dummies back in 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:10.319 the day they would just use that obvious. Obviously they 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.800 can become human too, since they go from tadpole the 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.920 frog exactly like the frog prince. And you you mentioned 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:20.480 also um shared regional characteristics that are most likely the 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.360 result of stories making it from one group to another, 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.080 crossing borders. But among groups that are close together and 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:32.880 UM that example you gave of East Asia, UM, Japan 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:37.680 and Korea, Thailand, China, they all have UM. They the 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.679 idea that there's a rabbit in the moon and he's 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:43.160 using a mortar and pestle. And what that would be 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.160 is a motif. Like all of them have the shared 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.480 idea that there's a rabbit in the moon. Right, But 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.400 then there's what are called variations of that motif. So 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.440 in Japan and Korea, the rabbits making mochi, which is 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.160 a sweet, squishy rice cake that often has like something 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:02.640 even sweeter injected in like red sweetness. Right. Um. In 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:07.360 China the rabbit is making medicine. In Thailand's husking um rice. 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.839 So you have variations on what the rabbit is doing. 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.000 But the motif is if you look up at the moon, 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.000 there's a rabbit doing something up there. Yeah, and like 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.400 we said it's most likely because of a shared border 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:23.000 or just because simply people moving between those countries. So 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:27.120 we'll talk about where folklore comes from. Friends, if you 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:46.080 can believe it or not. Right after this chuckers, So 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:50.120 we're back. We're talking folklore. We should also say folklore 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.720 is actually um a fairly recent word. It was coined 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:58.360 in eighteen forty six by a guy named William J. Toms. Yeah. 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:04.880 He was a an early and tiquarian. He was also 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.440 very interested in studying um what has now come to 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.160 be called folklore or folk life. We should point out 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:14.200 that's a modern term that people folklore is like even 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:18.080 more yeah, because folklore has this connotation that um, that 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.760 it has to do with stories, oral traditions, or even 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.720 not true things. Because you've heard like, oh, that's just folklore, 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.640 like an old lives tale. Yeah, exactly. So they've expanded 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.880 it to include or to reflect how inclusive it is 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:35.040 by calling it folk life. But um. William Thomas came 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:38.840 up with folklore, and it was originally hyphenated UM, and 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:42.040 he was describing these stories that he would go out 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.360 into the countryside and collect from folk like he published 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:49.959 a book of like English rural stories that included things 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.560 like robin Hood and Friar talk and some of the 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:56.680 other stories that we have become disnified over the years. 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.400 This guy originally put down for the first time on 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:02.160 pen and paper and became one of the early folklore. Yeah, 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:05.600 and didn't they call just anyone living in rural areas. 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.520 Weren't they just called folk? Which is why we sort 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.079 of associate it as like being a bumpkin today. But 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:12.680 I used that word all the time, in fact, on 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.840 the Facebook wall here. That's my most common way of 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:18.240 addressing the stuff. You should know army is hey folks. Oh, 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.000 I know, it just sounds like chummy. Yeah, very folks. Folk. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:26.000 See there you go, y hey folks. Uh. So there 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.400 are a bunch of innumerable, innumerable groups really that pass 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.520 along folklore. Um, and they're called folk groups folk groups, 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.040 but we can we can group them generally, not folk 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:44.040 groups like Peter Paul Mary, Yeah, but folk groups. Yeah. 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:45.760 I think I said it with the ELG just now, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.480 didn't I Maybe I like it. It's called the regional addiction. 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:52.360 People get all hung up on that stuff. You gotta 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.120 say this wrong. What's weird though, is like neither one 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.960 of us sound like Southerners. Yeah, not really, And I 0:14:57.960 --> 0:14:59.760 mean like you were born here and you don't sound 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.600 like a Southern. Yeah, I say I have certain colloquialism, 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:07.200 so like, uh, have your picture made? Oh yeah, that's 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.760 sometimes I'll say, like you mash a button instead of 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:13.000 push a button. And there there's It's. I think people 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.240 should embrace things like that regional dialect instead of getting 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.440 all hung up on the Queen's English or the King's English. 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:24.359 See right there, Yeah, that's a that's regional. I imagine 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.960 either one the prince is English. Um, it's that what 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:31.240 you're talking about is antithetical to globalization, chuck, Oh really sure, 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.680 look at you regionalism smarty fans. Well, I mean that's 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.920 that's counter to globalization. Globalization is turning the earth into 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.640 one large village with all these shared values and everything. 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.320 Regionalism is saying like, no, we'll just stay his pockets 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.440 of interacting groups that have our own, our own values 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.360 and traditions and customs. That I think it's on brain 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.560 because I posted something today on words that are mispronounced 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:58.320 a lot, and um, what what's up there? Oh? I 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:03.560 mean also like banal and uh dr SEUs suppose supposed 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:07.920 supposedly pronounced his name is so so ice. I can't 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.280 remember how he pronounced it, but it's just like common words, 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:13.640 you're probably mispronouncing. And the was on there And someone said, 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:20.120 you guys always pronounced the wrong because supposedly, yeah, exactly, 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.240 supposedly there's a rule. Not supposedly, I think there is 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:28.000 a rule. You mean supposedly, Well, that wasn't on there. Um, 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.040 Well that's a different that's just saying the wrong word. 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.640 But I think the you should say the when the 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:38.200 following noun is starts with a vowel, like the apple, 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:43.400 not the apple, but you could say, you could say 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.200 the test because the apple almost sounds like it's th 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.240 h apostrophe apple. Yeah, and I get it. But the 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.520 app it's just sort of a regional thing. I think 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.080 in the South you might hear more the m then 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.000 the snotty New Englander soon. I've never really paid that 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.160 much attention to that one. I haven't either, you know why, 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:06.239 because we are laid back, that's right, Um, all right, 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:08.000 So what we're talking about, we're talking about people who 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:12.160 spread the groups, the folk groups. One of those folk groups, 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:16.639 though not Peter Paul Mary one of his children. And uh, 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.000 this is a really big one because when you think 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:23.520 about going back to your childhood, everything like the games 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.800 like hide and see cop scotch. Uh, this article pointed 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:29.640 out how you decide who's it like that is super 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.679 specific to your region. Um, but also not not just 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:37.560 that the differences regionally, but think about how intricate some 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.480 of the rules were some of those games, like they 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:45.959 were like really well thought out, intricate rules that no 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.399 one ever wrote down. They were just past. Yeah, you 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.520 knew it from observation, imitation orally like somebody told you. 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.119 But people no one handed you a flyer called like 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:59.080 kick the can and you you know, well one kid did, 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:02.359 but we didn't know one like that kid. You learned 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:04.200 the hard way not to do that. What was your 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:06.720 How did you decide who was it? I'm sure you 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.600 probably had a go to well. The author of this 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.240 article mentions bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish. I've 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.520 never heard that. I have heard that. Okay, I love 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.200 that one. That the images it evokes, like how many 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.640 pieces do you wish? And you go one to three, 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.640 somebody says how many they want? And then you count 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.199 out between two or three people like seven, and then 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:27.959 whatever you laying on that person? Is it right? Yeah? Uh? 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.080 Usually we did dirty dirty dish rag though, yes, I've 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:33.040 never heard of that one. Either your mother and my 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:36.280 mother were hanging out clothes. My mother socked your mother 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.520 in the nose. Never heard it. What came after that? 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.480 That's misogynistic and violent something it really was. Something else 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.040 happens after that, and then it just suddenly goes to 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.840 and you are a you dirty dirty dish rag? Do 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.480 we did? There were three that I remember very strongly. 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:58.080 The one potato to potato uh, engine engine number nine, Yeah, 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:00.680 going down Chicago Line. If the train you dump the check? 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.480 Do you want your money back? Oh? Yeah, I forgot that. 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.720 And then maybe so who maybe so wanted their money back? 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:09.480 Of course you want your money back. Of the train derails, 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:11.119 now that's the kid who just wanted to get along. 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:15.200 And then engine and or no no uh? Any meaning? 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:17.320 Is the other one? Any meani money more kitch to 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.880 talk about them though? The hollers let them go? Any renie? 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.520 Is that it? And then we also there were variations 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.919 on you know, usually counting out like I'm making my 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.920 two hands locked together. We would do like that and 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:33.800 and then if you when you landed on them, you 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:38.240 would split them into two two fists and then count 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.840 each one. So there were lots of variations. And uh, 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:44.320 I mean that goes down to the neighborhood you live in, 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.000 you know, it's like that specific. Yeah. We would also 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:52.080 just leg wrestle for domination and then that person would 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.000 choose who was it. I've never leg wrestled. It's not fun. Yeah, 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:57.440 I don't. I didn't even know what it is. Really, 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.000 it's exactly what it sounds like. I mean, I think 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:01.720 have seen it. You lay on the ground and lock 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.919 legs like there's no no other body parts involved, right, 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.040 I mean, you're just basically on your backup on your elbows, 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:12.760 using your legs to do basically make the other person 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.920 cry or stop shout to stop. But it's not there's 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:18.480 not like a pinning or like like an army. Yeah 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:20.920 you can, you can pin and it's not it's one 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:24.400 of those things like um, like the Supreme Court's view 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.800 of pornography, Like there's no obvious pin it's just you 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:29.240 just kind of know what when you see it, you 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.000 know what I mean, Like you can tell you oh yeah, 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.400 that's a pin, but I mean you wouldn't. Again, there's 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.919 no kid like handing out a leg wrestling and you 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.239 flyer that shows what counts as a pin. You just 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:43.359 kind of know what it pens. Alright. Another folk group 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:48.200 are families. Very rich traditions within families from everything, uh 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:53.760 from family recipes to holiday traditions. Uh and I think, um, 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.240 like whether or not you use the the plastic tinsel 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:01.320 on your tree is technically a type of family folk lore. Yeah, 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:04.560 Or whether you open gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:08.400 or whether or not you're you hide your Easter baskets yeah, 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:11.520 or you burn your Christmas tree on Christmas Day, or 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:14.400 your family gets in a huge fight every Christmas Day. Sure, 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:19.840 that's another one rich traditions. Um. Family stories also make 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:24.359 up traditions. So like, um, my family story about my 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:29.480 aunt Squeaky taking shooting at President Ford, that that would 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:34.520 count as family folklore. It's very good. Uh So within 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:38.560 families it's another very um strong place where you see 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:42.840 variants and motifs. Um. Well, yeah, across like all folklore, yeah, 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:45.720 but especially within families. For me, Uh, well, I think 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:49.080 within all families because like you know your grandmother's recipe 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:52.480 for uh like I make the Thanksgiving dressing. What other 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:55.960 people in the North called stuffing, we called dressing, And 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:58.359 it's my family recipe. That has to do with what 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:00.280 he uses the base though, doesn't it Like if it's 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:04.640 corn based, it would be dressing. Dressing Again, if it's 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:07.160 like bread based or wheat based, it would be stuffing. 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:09.760 I don't know who knows, but go ahead, Sorry for interrupting. Now, 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:14.040 that's right, minds both though, Like cornbread dressing also has 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:20.440 uh as as either biscuits or bread in it as well. 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:22.720 But that was my family recipe. My grandmother made it, 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:24.840 my mom made it, she taught me, and I put 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:27.760 my own spin on it as and that's my own motif. 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:32.080 That's your own variation on the motif. Very variational. So 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:34.439 so the motif would be the dressing or stuffing, and 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.359 then what you do with the recipe would be the 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:39.359 variation of it. Yeah, and I mix it up from 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:41.960 year to year, even just kind of testing things out. Man, 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:47.360 you are a folk rebel, that's your am. But yeah, 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:51.520 so family recipes are very that's a common um family folklore, 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:55.800 family generated folklore. We've got a lot of our indoctrination 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:59.040 to just folklore in general through families, and so it 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:03.920 was so important in some cultures, including some Native American 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:08.040 tribes and some West West African tribes, that they would 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:13.520 have a designated basically a folklore's what a folklore um 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:17.600 a modern folklore researcher would call a tradition bearer who like, 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:20.240 their job in this village or group is to tell 0:23:20.320 --> 0:23:23.800 each family their family folklore. Like that, it was that 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:26.560 person's job to keep in charge of all of the 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:29.679 folklore of the different families in the community. Yeah, I 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:32.159 bet that that was a pretty cool gig. I imagine 0:23:32.160 --> 0:23:35.919 they were like the the uh, the great storytellers that 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:38.920 they could tell a story if they're tried, the great 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:43.639 racin tours. Um it's another word. Yeah, yeah, you like 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:46.320 that one. Yeah. I don't know how I feel about 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:49.360 that word. No, really like I think about it once 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:51.760