Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for C520 returned 79 results.
IF YOU STEP ON A CRACK YOU'LL BREAK YOUR MOTHER'S BACK.
A GAME I PLAYED WHEN I WAS YOUNG, YOU WEREN'T ALLOWED
TO STEP ON A LINE ON THE SIDEWALK. WE USUALLY PLAYED
WHILE WALKING HOME FROM SCHOOL, IT MADE THE WALK SEEM
SHORTER.
Where learned: HARPER WOODS ; MICHIGAN, ASSUMED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Date learned: NOT GIVEN
SOME GRADE SCHOOL CHILDREN DO WALKING GAMES TO AND FROM
SCHOOL. THIS WALKING GAME IS ONE THAT YOU ARE NOT
SUPPOSE(D) TO STEP ON THE CRACKS (LINES) SEPARATING
CEMENT BLOCKS. DURING THE WALK TO AND FROM SCHOOL THE
CHILDREN ARE CONSTANTLY SAYING, "STEP ON A CRACK,
BREAK YOUR MOTHER'S BACK."
Submitter comment:
THE INFORMANT WAS INVOLVED IN THIS GAME DURING HER GRADE
SCHOOL YEARS AT BEARD SCHOOL IN DETROIT (1961-63).
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Date learned: 11-01-1971
COPS AND ROBBERS
SHE KNEW COPS AND ROBBERS IN THESE VERSIONS:
NAZIES VS. AMERICANS ON THE PRAIRIE (PARKING LOT).
(THEY PLAYED IN A PARKING LOT, AND CALLED IT A PRAIRIE}.
Submitter comment: A FEW YEARS LATER THE ENEMY WERE THE COMMIES.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Date learned: 11-03-1971
LUCK STRIKE GAME
UPON SEEING AN EMPTY LUCKY STRIKE CIGARETTE PACK,
YOU TRY TO STEP ON IT WITH YOUR FOOT WITHOUT ANYBODY
ELSE SEEING YOU. THEN YOU ARE ALLOWED TO PUNCH THE
FIRST PERSON WHO COMES NEAR ENOUGH, SAYING, "LUCKY
STRIKE!" YOU MUST SAY "WIPED IT OFF!" OR THAT PERSON
CAN PUNCH YOU BACK USING THE SAME PACK. YOU USUALLY
PUNCHED THE PERSON IN THE ARM.
Where learned: PENNSYLVANIA ; SCRANTON
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Special Object or Implement BELIEF -- Number |
Date learned: 00001950S
INDIAN GAME
INFORMANT SAID THAT THIS GAME CAN BE PLAYED WITH ONLY
TWO PARTICIPANTS. THEY GRAB ONTO EACH OTHER'S
ELBOWS AT THE CROOK WITH THE OBJECTIVE BEING TO
TRY TO STEP ON EACH OTHER'S FEET. THE FIRST
PARTICIPANT TO GET HIS FOOT STEPPED UPON LOSES THE
GAME.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Pastime Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Date learned: 12-02-1971
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 |
BEAVER
WHEN A PERSON SAW A STATIONWAGON WITH WOOD PANELS,
HE WOULD YELL "BEAVER," AND HIT THE PERSON NEXT TO
HIM IN THE ARM.
Submitter comment:
THIS WAS A CUSTOM POPULAR AMONG ST. JOSEPH SCHOOL
CHILDREN IN WYANDOTTE, MICHIGAN IN THE LATE 1950S.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; GROSSE ILE
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity SPEECH -- Formula |
Date learned: 10-02-1970
"OLD MAID"
KIDS IN CIRCLE WITH EVERYONE HOLDING HANDS-ODD NUMBER OF KIDS.
THERE IS ONE PERSON IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CIRCLE. ALL COUNT FROM
1 TO 20 --STOPPING HERE BECAUSE 20 IS A GOOD MARRIAGEABLE AGE.
EVERYONE RUNS FOR A PARTNER: ONE IS LEFT OUT AND IS THE OLD
MAID, TO BE IN THE CENTER OF THE CIRCLE THE NEXT TIME THE GAME
IS PLAYED.
Submitter comment: PAT LEARNED THIS GAME WHILE BEING A CAMP CONSELOR IN 1971 IN NC
Data entry tech comment: SPELLING ERRORS WERE CORRECTED
Where learned: PEABODY COLLEGE
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Date learned: 06-12-1972
GAME
IN ENGLAND THEY STILL HAVE CONTESTS TO SEE WHO CAN
MAKE THE UGLIEST FACES. IT IS PERMISSABLE TO
USE YOUR HANDS. THIS SPORT IS CALLED "GUNERING."
IT FIRST BEGAN IN 1267. THE CHAMPION TODAY IS
ALBERT BENNION.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Favorites Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity SPEECH -- Instructions Directions |
A CIRCULAR MOTION OF THE HAND WITH THE INDEX FINGER POINTED
STRAIGHT OUT TURNING TO THE RIGHT MEANS "TO PICK IT UP,"
OR "YOU'RE TOO SLOW."
Submitter comment:
INFORMANT USES THIS WHEN HE'S ENGAGED IN A SPORT ACTIVITY
SUCH AS BOWLING, BASEBALL, OR RUNNING TRACK. THE
INFORMANT IS VERY ACTIVE IN ATHLETICS AND HAS USED AND SEEN
OTHERS USE THIS GESTURE.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity SPEECH -- Instructions Directions |
Date learned: 10-31-1971
Consequences
Each person has a long piece of paper and a pen. A caller asks the following questions aloud to the group.
1. Write down a man's name.
2. Write down a girl's name.
3. Where did they meet?
4. At what time?
5. What did they do?
6. What did he say? (any other appropriate questions)
7. And the consequence was . . . With each question everyone writes down his answers, folds his paper over so the answer cannot be seen, and hands the paper to the person next to him. The papers continue rotating around the group until all questions have been answered. The sheets are then read aloud to the group.
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Meeting the King and Queen of England
A kind of trick game. All the children are kept outside the room except two, a male and a female. These two sit on two chairs with about the space of another chair between them. The chairs are draped with a sheet in order that when the "king" and "queen" sit on the chairs, the vacant space is not visible.Then one by one the other children are brought in individually and requested by the king and queen to sit between them. Of course, the child falls . . . expecting to sit on a chair but instead finding only air.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Postman's Knock
One person is outside the room. He knocks at the door and says, "I've got a letter here." Someone says, "Who for?" To which the postman gives a name and then kisses whoever the "letter" was for.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Games
In jump rope slang:
Hot peppers or red hots--turning the rope very fast.
High waters--swaying the rope back and forth--each time getting higher and higher.
Run through school--Each person "runs in" and jumps once, then twice, then three times, and on up to twelve. Those who miss are considered "out."
Data entry tech comment:
Informant and collector are the same person.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Jump Rope Slang
"Front doors"--face the rope as it turns clockwise, run and jump into it.
"Back doors"--face the rope as it turns counter clockwise, run and jump into it.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Bob and Sue (any 2 children's names)
Sittin' in a tree
K-i-s-s-i-n-g.
First comes love
Then comes marriage.
Then comes Sue with a baby carriage.
Data entry tech comment:
Informant and collector are the same person.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Rock School
Object--to proceed up to the top of the steps
Participants--1 teacher--any number of players
The teacher places rock in hand and puts hand behind back, players attempt to guess which hand the rock is in. The player who guesses goes up the step, if he does not he stays where he is.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Game
The children sit in a ring. One takes up a poker and bangs it three times on the floor. He then hands the poker to the person next to him and says, "You can do but little if you can't do that." Generally the next child will take the poker and bang three times on the floor. This is wrong. The correct action is for the person who received it, to pass the poker from his hand which received it to the other hand--and this is the action which was done as the first person said, "You can do but little if you can't do that."
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Games
1. Tin Can Lurky (comparable to our kick the can)
2. Runs Across--children on opposite sides of a playing field attempt to cross to the other side without being caught by a "catcher" who stands in the center of the field.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |