Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for P438 returned 634 results.
If you make a strange face and someone hits you on the back,
your face will stay in that position forever.
Submitter comment: This saying is popular among grade school age children.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE POINTE FARMS
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Body part Senses Head, physiognomy, face BELIEF -- Measure of time BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 00-00-1985
If you yawn and don't cover your mouth, the devil will steal
your breath away.
Submitter comment: This is a saying popular among young children.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE POINTE
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Devil Demon BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness SPEECH -- Gesture |
Date learned: 00-00-1990
Many Vietnamese people believe that the spirit of dead
ancestors sit on the heads and shoulders of the living. It is
therefore considered inappropriate to touch the shoulder or pat
the head of a Vietnamese person. This is an insult to the
ancestors.
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter BELIEF -- Body part Senses SPEECH -- Gesture |
Date learned: 00-00-1969
It has recently become popular for males to wear an earring in
one ear. Frequently the ear that the earring is worn in is used to
tell the sexual preference of the wearer. The saying "left is
right and right is wrong" tells that an earring in the left ear
means that the wearer is heterosexual and an earring in the right
ear means that the wearer is gay or homosexual.
Submitter comment: This has become popular in the early 1990s.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE POINTE
James Callow Keyword(s): LEFT RIGHT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses |
Date learned: 00-00-1991
Something that I heard a few years ago in school was that
whenever a person got his hair cut other people would ask if that
person got his ears lowered rather than if he got his hair cut. I
guess this is just an unusual way of referring to a haircut.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; ALLEN PARK
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses SPEECH -- Formula |
Date learned: 00-00-1986
Unknown
Always burn your hair when you cut it, because if a bird gets
ahold to it, you will have bad luck.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Bird BELIEF -- Bad luck |
Date learned: 00-00-1990
How To Become Invisible
Find a black cat. On a full moon go to where the roads cross
and boil a kettle of water. Drop the cat into the water. Boil
the flesh off the bones. Put the bone between your eyes and then
in your mouth. This will allow you to become invisible. Take
the bone out of your mouth and you will become visible again.
James Callow comment:
See Hyatt 5: nos. 10061, 10076, 10078, 10082-10086, 10091-
10095, etc. for the invisibility (disappearance) effect. Also
see Hyatt 1: 74-97 for an earlier section on the black cat bone.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Lansing
| Subject headings: | Charm / Enchantment / Conjuration Favorites BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Mammal BELIEF -- Moon BELIEF -- Sign Geometric figure Cross and its various modifications BELIEF -- Color |
Date learned: 02-10-1992
Proverbial Saying
A dimple in your cheek,
Many hearts you will seek.
A dimple in your chin,
Many hearts you will win.
Submitter comment:
My grandmother used to tell me this because I have a dimple in
my chin, and did not like it.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Puckett, Ohio, no. 12841: "A dimple on the chin, /
Many lovers you will win." -- Irish - Dutch - German informant.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; ROSEVILLE
Keyword(s): Apothegm ; Cheek ; Dimple ; LOVE ; Maxim ; PROVERB
| Subject headings: | Favorites Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Lyrical Verse BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Marriage |
Date learned: 00001950S
Child Rearing
If a child is slow to walk (over one year old), stand the child
behind any door in your home and sweep his/her feet with a straw
broom.
Submitter comment:
This really works!!! I tried it with my son, within three days
he was walking.
Where learned: Arkansas ; PINE BLUFF
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Street Trip Relations between relatives, friends, host and guest Social class Rank |
Chills
If a person has a sudden chill up his/her spine, a mouse has
run over his/her grave.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Mammal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Sensations and involuntary actions Chills, shivering |
Sex of Child
If a pregnant woman "carries" her child "high" or close to her
breasts, she is expecting a girl; if she carries the child "low" or
closer to her pelvis, she is expecting a girl.
Submitter comment: She's about 95% accurate by my experience.
Where learned: Arkansas ; PINE BLUFF
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Birth |
Metaphor
One saying that I learned as a child while walking to school
was "Don't Step on a Crack or You'll Break Your Mama's Back."
(Referring to cracks in the sidewalk.)
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
DON'T CUT YOUR HAIR UNTIL A FULL MOON,
OR IT WILL FALL OUT.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Moon BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
THE FIRST PERSON IN THE HOUSE AFTER MIDNIGHT ON NEW
YEAR'S EVE HAS TO BE A RED HAIRED PERSON TO INSURE
GOOD LUCK FOR THE HOUSE FOR THE NEXT YEAR.
A BLACK HAIRED PERSON WILL BRING BAD LUCK.
Submitter comment:
INFORMANT'S FAMILY ALWAYS MAKES SURE EITHER THE
RED HAIRED BROTHERS OR SISTERS ARE THE FIRST ONES
IN THE HOUSE NEW YEAR'S EVE.
Where learned: NEW YORK
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- January 1 New Year's CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- December 21 solstice to March 20 BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Color BELIEF -- Good luck BELIEF -- Bad luck |
WHEN A PERSON BREAKS A LIMB, SUCH AS AN ARM OR LEG,
IT IS A TRADITIONAL CUSTOM TO SIGN THEIR CASTS
WITH NAMES AND GRAFFITTI.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Custom CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Entertainment Diversion BELIEF -- Body part Senses |
Date learned: 03-16-1970
CAPTAIN AHAB
FOR THIS GAME, THE PERSONS WHO DO NOT KNOW CAPTAIN
AHAB ARE BLINDFOLDED AND TAKEN INTO ANOTHER ROOM.
ONE BY ONE, THEY ARE TAKEN INTO THE MAIN ROOM.
STILL BLINDFOLDED, THEY ARE SEATED OPPOSITE
CAPTAIN AHAB. CAPTAIN AHAB IS ONE OF THE GUYS AT
THE PARTY WHO MERELY TAKES HIS ARM OUT OF THE SPORT
JACKET, AND SITS WITH ONE LEG UNDER HIM. THUS, THE
PERSON IS TOLD THAT CAPTAIN--A WAR VICTIM--HAS ONE
GOOD ARM, BUT LOST THE OTHER ONE AND ONE GOOD LEG
BUT THE OTHER WAS SHOT OFF AT THE KNEE. THE PERSON
FEELS THE GOOD ARM AND THE BAD ONE; THE GOOD LEG AND
THE BAD ONE. HE IS ALLOWED TO FEEL ONE EAR BUT NOT
THE OTHER, BECAUSE IT IS STILL SENSITIVE FROM THE
PAIN. ALL THIS TIME THERE IS A THIRD PERSON INTRO-
DUCING CAPTAIN AHAB AND HOLDING THE NEWCOMER'S HAND
TO GUIDE TO CAPTAIN AHAB'S DESIGNATED POINTS. FINALLY,
THE PERSON TOUCHES CAPT. AHAB'S GOOD EYE AND IS ABOUT
TO TOUCH HIS BAD EYE, GUIDED BY THE THIRD PERSON
WHO JAMS IT INTO A JAR OF VASELINE.
Submitter comment:
I HAVE SEEN THIS GAME MANY TIMES, BUT NOBODY SEEMS TO
KNOW WHO STARTED IT.
Where learned: DETROIT ; MICHIGAN, ASSUMED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity BELIEF -- Body part Senses |
AFTER SNEEZING, KNOCK ON WOOD AND GOOD LUCK IS
ASSURED THE REST OF THE DAY.
Where learned: HIS HOME
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Conversions Body parts and functions SPEECH -- Gesture |
Date learned: 09-25-1968
WHEN HUMAN HAIR BECOMES LIMP, RAIN IS NEAR.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; SARANAC
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses |
Date learned: 11-18-1971
(INFORMANT) HAS UNTIL RECENTLY THOUGHT THE HEART WAS
IN THE CENTER OF THE CHEST.
Submitter comment: PRESENTLY TAKING AN INSTRUCTOR(TION?) IN FIRST AID.
Data entry tech comment:
SHE IS MORE RIGHT THAN WRONG IN THINKING THE HEART IS
IN THE CENTER OF THE CHEST.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT ; AMERICAN RED CROSS BUILDING
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses |
Date learned: 10-29-1971
TO MAKE HAIR SHINEY: PUT BEER ON IT; BUT THE BEER HAS
TO STAND OVER NIGHT--OR LEMON JUICE ON IT--OR VINEGAR
ON IT--OR ALL THREE.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses |
Date learned: 11-02-1971