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Never kill a toad or a storm will surely follow.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: BELIEF -- Animal
BELIEF -- Sun

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Falling picture is an omen of death.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: Observation
BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial

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Crush an eggshell and you end a sailor's life.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial

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Legend

There was a man that was so stingy he wouldn't get married because wives eat so much.  One woman wanted a husband real bad, so she convinced him that she didn't eat. After they were married, she slipped out bits and pieces when he wasn't looking. But she was getting hungrier and hungrier.

One day the man had to go away for the day. The woman went to the food and found four hams. She was so hungry she ate one of them.

When the man came in, he went to look at his food. He was so shocked to find a ham missing that he fell dead.

The woman called the neighbors to bury her husband. They came and put him in a coffin. Then three of them started to carry him to the graveyard. On the way the man came to; he decided to make the best of his loss, so he spoke aloud, "I'll eat the three."

The three men thought it was the dead man speaking of them. They dropped the coffin and fled.

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector share the same surname.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: PROSE NARRATIVE -- Human Being

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The coon and the possum had a fight
They had a mighty scratchin'
The turkey gobbler ran so fast
The rooster ran a laughin'


 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector share the same surname.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Lyrical Verse

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"Let's go to bed," said sleepy-head;
"Let's wait a while," said Slow.
"Put on the pot," said Greedy-gut,
"We'll eat before we go."

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector share the same surname.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Lyrical Verse C730.334

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Adult: (gives an order, such as, "Come here.")
Child: What for? (pronounced "fur")
Adult: Cat fur, to make you a pair of kitten britches.

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector share the same surname.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: SPEECH -- Formula

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As I went over London Bridge
I met my sister Ann
I pulled off her head and licked her blood
And left her body stand.

(speaking of a bottle of wine)

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector share the same surname.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- C8
RIDDLE -- True Riddle

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Sending red roses to someone implies a serious relationship -- yellow roses are for friendship.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

James Callow Keyword(s): SYMBOL

Subject headings: CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Street Trip Relations between relatives, friends, host and guest Social class Rank
CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Marriage
BELIEF -- Plant

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A game that I (and a lot of other children) played revolved around trying to avoid stepping on a crack when walking on the sidewalk. This rhyme was recited -- "Step on a crack, Break your mother's back."

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.
Informant probably first learned this in Houston, Texas.
 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; TEXAS ; NASHVILLE ; HOUSTON

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- C5
BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness

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As a child, my friends and I would play a game to decide who we would marry. It involved counting all the buttons on our own clothing, one time, while reciting this rhyme:

"Rich man,
Poor man,
Beggar man,
Thief,
Doctor,
Lawyer,
Indian chief."

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.
Informant first learned this as a child, probably in Houston, Texas.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; TEXAS ; NASHVILLE ; HOUSTON

Subject headings: Observation
Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Verse
BELIEF -- Marriage

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In front of Baker Hall (a boy's dorm) at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, there is a marker with the name John Walker Vinson engraved upon it. Legend has it that Vinson was a member of a national fraternity at Austin College in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, he was shot and killed during a brawl with another national fraternity. For that reason, there are no national fraternities (with the exception of Alpha Phi Omega--a service fraternity) on that campus.

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.
Informant probably first learned this in Houston, Texas.


 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; TEXAS ; NASHVILLE ; HOUSTON

Subject headings: PROSE NARRATIVE -- Legend
BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal

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Jump Rope Rhyme

I'm enrolled in College Hill School,
S-C-H-O-O-L spells school for me,
Question mark, period, comma, out.

On out, the jump-roper jumps out and starts the grades by running in, jumping once, and running out (for first grade) on up to junior high. When reaching junior high and high school (in the game), the rhyme is repeated substituting the names of the junior high and high schools. However, for grades nine through twelve, the jumper has to run in backwards (the motion of the rope is reversed by the turners).

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.
Informant probably first learned this in Houston, Texas.


 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; TEXAS ; NASHVILLE ; HOUSTON

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Verse Game Verse

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Rope-Jumping Rhyme

Cinderella -- dressed in yellow,
Went upstairs to kiss her fellow,
Kissed a snake -- By mistake,
How many doctors did it take?
One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . .

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.
Informant probably first learned this in Houston, Texas.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; TEXAS ; NASHVILLE ; HOUSTON

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- C750-

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At Austin College in Sherman, Texas, when someone is accepted into medical school they are thrown (fully-clothed) into one of the fountains on campus.

 

Submitter comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.
Informant probably first learned this in Sherman, Texas.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; TEXAS ; NASHVILLE ; HOUSTON ; Austin College

James Callow Keyword(s): Initiation

Subject headings: CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Initiation rite Hazing

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When I was in junior high, there was a "belief" that was followed religiously and carelessness elicited much ridicule: one did not wear green on Thursday because that meant he/she was queer. Red clothing on Friday signified that a girl was pregnant.

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.
Informant probably first learned this in Houston, Texas.


 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; TEXAS ; NASHVILLE ; HOUSTON

Keyword(s): COLOR

Subject headings: CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Typical Elements of a Festive Pattern
BELIEF -- P5

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If your ear itches, someone is talking about you.

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; TEXAS ; NASHVILLE ; HOUSTON

Subject headings: Spirit / Mind / Body
BELIEF -- Body part Senses

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Working Class Hero

John Henry is distinguished by his skill in his job, with a tragedy resulting from his being overcome by a machine. He was the black hero of the tunnel construction gang. According to tradition he died while competing with his steel hammer against a steam chill at Big Bend Tunnel in West Virginia.

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: PROSE NARRATIVE -- B43

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Bunbuku Chagama

There lived an old man and an old woman in the small village of Japan. One day, the old man caught a racoon and hung it from the ceiling to make racoon soup. But the grandmother who was very sympathetic and warm-hearted took the rope off the racoon and helped it. A few days after, the racoon visited her and walked a tight rope taking the form of a kettle and danced very well to entertain her. It is said that he wanted to return her kindness.

 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.
Informant probably first learned this in Hiroshima City, Japan.

 

Where learned: JAPAN ; TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE ; HIROSHIMA CITY

Subject headings: PROSE NARRATIVE -- Animal Tale

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Blood on the Saddle

There was blood on the saddle, and blood all around
And a great big puddle of blood on the ground.
The cowboy lay in it all covered with gore
And he won't go a riding no broncos no more.
Oh pity the cowboy all bloody and red,
For his bronco fell on him and mashed in his head.


 

Data entry tech comment:

Informant and collector are the same person.

 

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Sorrow Unhappiness

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