Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
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DURING THE RENAISSANCE, ALCHEMISTS CONCOCTED MEDICINES
CONSISTING OF THE SPOTTED SKINS OF LIZARDS FOR MALIGNANT
TUMORS AND OF WALNUT SHELLS FOR HEAD INJURIES.
Submitter comment: THE WALNUT SHELLS RESEMBLE THE BRAIN.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; FERNDALE
James Callow Keyword(s): HOMEOPATHIC
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Remedy |
Date learned: 10-01-1988
QUARTER BOUNCE
THE OBJECT OF THIS GAME IS TO SOMEHOW BOUNCE A QUARTER
INTO A GLASS. THE PERSON THAT SUCCEEDS CAN MAKE ANYONE
PLAYING DRINK.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; ANN ARBOR
James Callow Keyword(s): DRINKING GAME
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Special Object or Implement |
Date learned: 00001980S
To cure a sore throat or a cold, sulphur powder
was placed on a feather. The feather was placed
in the back of the throat and the person administering
the treatment would blow the sulphur onto the throat.
Submitter comment:
Mrs. Wolf's mother routinely used this procedure when
she was growing up.
Where learned: OHIO ; Hicksville
Keyword(s): Remedies, Medicine
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mineral BELIEF -- Method of Curing |
If you leave food uneaten at a big family gathering
you will have bad weather the next day. Conversely,
if you make sure that all the food has been consumed,
you will be sure to have good weather on the morrow.
Submitter comment:
Elinor heard this saying while a young girl. She has
been told that it is a German belief. To this day in her
family, the phrase "Finish it so it'll be a good day
tomorrow" is used to encourage everyone to eat.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; FRASER
Keyword(s): function, prediction, celebrations, meals
Date learned: 00001950S
Every old crow
Thinks its baby white as snow.
Submitter comment:
This proverb was told to Maryann by her Italian father,
as a way of dismissing praise given to children by
their own parents.
Where learned: ILLINOIS ; SKOKIE
Keyword(s): sarcasm, humor, parental pride
James Callow Keyword(s): ANIMAL METAPHOR ; BIRD ; COLOR
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Proverb PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Date learned: 00001960S
(sung to the tune "Colonel Bogey March" theme from
the movie "Bridge on the River Kwaii")
Comet, it makes your teeth turn green.
Comet, it tastes like gasoline.
Comet, it makes you vomit.
So drink some Comet, and vomit, today!
Submitter comment:
Matthew only recently learned this song, and thought is
was new. When he tried to teach it to his older cousin,
Joshua, who lives in the Chicago area, Josh had already heard
of it.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; ALLEN PARK
Keyword(s): Parody, commercial, humor
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Good humor Jest Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Children |
RIDDLE
WHAT DO WEEDS AND A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON?
IF YOU GIVE THEM AN INCH THEY WILL TAKE A YARD.
Where learned: NEW YORK CITY ; NEW YORK
James Callow Keyword(s): GREED ; MEASUREMENT
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- True Riddle |
Date learned: 05-00-1990
PROVERB
WHEN YOU SIT DOWN TO BREAKFAST I'LL BE GETTING UP FROM
DINNER.
Submitter comment:
THIS WAS A SAYING TO DESCRIBE HOW SOME PEOPLE WERE ALWAYS
AHEAD OF OTHERS, USUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH GIRLS MATURING
BEFORE BOYS. WOMEN SUPPOSEDLY ARE ALWAYS AHEAD OF MEN
ACCORDING TO THIS SAYING.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
James Callow Keyword(s): CONTRAST ; PARALLELISM ; TIME
| Subject headings: | Favorites PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Date learned: 00-00-1990
Entry filtered.
If a woman or girl sings at the table, she
will marry a crazy man.
Submitter comment:
Informant said this happened to a friend of hers who
used to listen to the radio and sing while she was
eating. When she grew up she married a man who was
crazy.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
James Callow Keyword(s): EATING ; FUNCTION ; Meals ; TABLE MANNERS
| Subject headings: | Favorites BELIEF -- Physically handicapped Deformed BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Marriage BELIEF -- Measure of time Eating For menu, see N222. |
Date learned: 00001940S
SILVER JACK
HE WAS JOHN DRISCOLL, FRIENDS--AND BEST KEEP A CIVIL
TONGUE IN YOUR HEAD AND BE SPARING WITH THE LINGERING
LOOK, IF YOU WERE IN HIS WHEREABOUTS WHEN THE SAGINAW
VALLEY WAS STREWN WITH THE SAWDUST AND GAUDY LEGENDS OF
LUMBERJACKS AND RIVERMEN.
HE WAS THE REDOUBTABLE "SILVER JACK" DRISCOLL. THEY SAID
HE COULD BEND A RAILROAD SPIKE BARE-HANDED - THAT HE
COULD BOOST A BARREL OF SALT UP OVER HIS HEAD AND HOLD
IT THERE WHILE DRINKING A PINT OF WHISKEY HELD BETWEEN
CLENCHED TEETH.
THEY SAID YOU NEVER SAW A BIG MAN SO CAT-QUICK -- WHETHER
WHIRLING HIS BIG, HARD FISTS IN A SALOON BRAWL, OR
KNUCKLED TIGHTLY ABOUT THE HANDLE OF A TWO-BITTED AXE
MEASURING A FOREST PINE.
THEY SAID SILVER JACK WAS A KIND OF ROUGHSHOD, LUMBER
DAY ROBIN HOOD WHO CUDGELED TORMENTORS OF THE WEAK.
THEY SAID HE WAS A SAVAGE VARLET AND BULLY WHO LIKED
TO WATCH BLOOD SPURT AFTER HIS FIST STRUCK.
THEY SAID MANY THINGS OF SILVER JACK DRISCOLL, MOST
CONTROVERSIAL LUMBERJACK AND RIVERMAN OF HIS TIME.
HE PLIED THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF THE MICHIGAN
PINELANDS AND LOG STREAMS. THERE IS A RECORD OF HIM
IN MINNESOTA AND CANADA. BUT IT WAS IN THE SAGINAW
VALLEY THAT DRISCOLL ENDURED LASTING FAME -- CALL
IT NOTORIETY IF YOU WILL.
SOME SAID HE WAS CALLED SILVER JACK BECAUSE OF
PREMATURELY WHITE HAIR. OTHERS SAID HIS WAS FLAXEN-
WHITE. THERE ARE SEVERAL OLD-FASHIONED "TINTYPE"
PHOTOGRAPHS WHICH SHOW HIM A WITH CAREFULLY POMADED
MANE OF BLACK HAIR.
OLDTIME LOGGERS -- LONG DEPARTED FROM THIS VALE OF
NEON LIGHTS AND CHROME-PLATED GADGETS OF MODERN LIVING
ONCE TALKED OF THE SIGHT IT WAS TO SEE SILVER JACK
SWINGING DOWN THE CHALK-COVERED BOARDWALKS OF EAST
SAGINAW (NOW THE EAST SIDE) AND SAGINAW CITY (NOW
THE WEST SIDE).
THEY SAID NEVER WAS SUCH A ONE AS SILVER JACK TO
"BLOW HER IN" WITH A FAT WINTER'S PAYCHECK, AFTER
THE LOGS HAD BEEN DRIVEN DOWN THE RIVER OVER
FRESHET-SWOLLEN TRIBUTARIES OF THE SAGINAW.
OTHERS CLAIMED JACK DRISCOLL WAS GOADED INTO MOST
OF HIS MANY FISTIC INTERLUDES -- THAT HE HAD, IN
THE LUMBER ERA, THE EQUIVALENT OF A WILD WEST
TWO-GUN REPUTATION SOMEBODY ALWAYS WANTED TO TEST.
SOME VOWED HE WAS MUCH MISUNDERSTOOD AND MALIGNED -
A CHAP AN EARNEST PREACHER MIGHT HAVE FASHIONED INTO
AT LEAST A PROPER DEACON IN A DESERVING PARISH.
BUT HISTORY RECORDS THAT DRISCOLL, AN ACKNOWLEDGED
SOMETIME VISITOR IN LOCAL VILLAGE "POKEYS" IN THE
MICHIGAN PINELANDS, ALSO SERVED FIVE YEARS'
IMPRISONMENT IN SOUTHERN MICHIGAN PRISON. HE
WAS SENTENCED BY SAGINAW COUNTY CIRCUIT JUDGE
DEWITT GAGE ON A CHARGE OF ARMED ROBBERY. ADMIRERS
SAID HE WAS FRAMED. THE LAW SAID OTHERWISE.
SILVER JACK DRISCOLL DIED APRIL 1, 1895, IN A
HOTEL IN L'ANSE, MICHIGAN.
WHATEVER HIS EPITAPH, IT COULD HARDLY BE ADEQUATE,
SAINT OR SCALAWAG. HISTORIANS AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL,
ARE NOT AGREED EVEN TODAY.
Submitter comment:
I AM NOT SURE WHO WROTE THIS STORY BUT IT DID COME
FROM THE FIRST ANNUAL TIMBER TOWN FESTIVAL
MAGAZINE AROUND 1950.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; SAGINAW
Keyword(s): LUMBERJACKS ; SAGINAW VALLEY LOGGING
James Callow Keyword(s): STRONG MEN
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Secular hero |
This little saying was used often in my neighborhood
when I was a child, particularly among siblings:
"Liar, liar, pants on fire,
Hanging from a telephone wire."
Where learned: NEW YORK ; Kenmore
James Callow Keyword(s): INTERNAL RHYME
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Speech Speech |
Date learned: 00001973 ca.
This was an autograph in my mother's yearbook:
"2-4-6-8, Don't make love by the garden gate,
Love is blind, but the neighbors ain't."
Where learned: PENNSYLVANIA
James Callow Keyword(s): Assonantal rhyme
| Subject headings: | 730 Lyrical Verse Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Autograph Verse |
Date learned: 06001958 ca.
While traveling I used to play a game with whoever
was in the car with me. What we would do is have one
person start off with the phrase "I'm going to
California and I'm going to take a...". Then the
person would finish the phrase with a word beginning
with the first letter of the alphabet. Then the next
person would repeat what the first person said, but
also add a word beginning with the next letter of the
alphabet along with trying to remember all of the
previously listed items in order. If a person missed
an item, they lost or were counted "out" if more
than two were playing. If the whole alphabet went
without a winner, then it would begin with the letters
going backwards until there was a winner.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
James Callow Keyword(s): Cumulative game
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Mental Activity Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Memory |
Date learned: 00-00-1983
THUMB WRESTLING
THE GAME OF THUMB WRESTLING IS PLAYED BY TWO PLAYERS.
THE OBJECT OF THE GAME, LIKE IN REGULAR WRESTLING, IS
TO PIN YOUR OPPONENT. THIS IS HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED:
THE PLAYERS INTERLOCK FINGERS WITH THUMBS UP AND FREE,
THEY PLACE THEIR THUMBS TOGETHER, AND THEN WHEN THEY ARE
READY THEY PLACE THUMBS DOWN ON TOP OF THEIR OWN HANDS,
THEN DOWN ON THE OPPONENT'S HAND, AND THEN THEY BEGIN TO
THUMB WRESTLE, TRYING TO PIN THE OTHER PLAYER'S THUMB FOR
THREE SECONDS, WHEN THIS IS DONE THE MATCH IS OVER AND
THE PLAYER WHO HAS PINNED HIS OPPONENT WINS.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; Lansing
Keyword(s): THUMB GAMES
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Bodily Activity |
Date learned: 00001980CA
HOUSEWARMING GIFTS
WHEN A FRIEND GETS A NEW HOUSE, YOU SHOULD TAKE THEM HONEY AND
BREAD ON YOUR FIRST VISIT. DR. SNIDER DOES NOT REMEMBER WHY
THIS IS DONE, BUT HE REMEMBERS THAT IT IS IMPORTANT.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; WEST BLOOMFIELD
Keyword(s): NEW HOME
| Subject headings: | 686 Properties attributed to specific numbers or numerals individually. CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Street Trip Relations between relatives, friends, host and guest Social class Rank |
Date learned: 09-12-1990
IF A PERSON IS ILL, FOLLOW THIS RECIPE: FEED A COLD,
STARVE A FEVER. IF A PERSON HAS A COLD, HE SHOULD DRINK A LOT
OF FLUIDS, EAT A LOT OF CHICKEN SOUP, AND TRY TO EAT A LOT IN
GENERAL TO KEEP UP HIS STRENGTH. IF HE HAS A FEVER, HE SHOULD
REFRAIN FROM EATING OR DRINKING ANYTHING EXCEPT WATER SO THAT THE
FEVER HAS NOTHING TO FUEL IT.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; WEST BLOOMFIELD
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Method of Curing |
Date learned: 09-12-1990
WHEN A PERSON TAKES MORE FOOD THAN HE CAN EAT, A PERSON MIGHT
BE TOLD, "YOUR EYES ARE BIGGER THAN YOUR STOMACH."
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
James Callow Keyword(s): METONYMY
| Subject headings: | SPEECH -- Formula PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Date learned: 00001972CA
ICE COLD BEER MAKES YOU WANNA CHEER,
ICE COLD GIN MAKES YOU WANNA WIN,
ICE COLD DUCK (CLAP THREE TIMES)
MAKES YOU WANNA SCORE.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT ; BASKETBALL GAME
James Callow Keyword(s): ALCOHOLIC DRINKS ; INITIAL ITERATION ; INTERNAL RHYME
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Custom Festival Custom Festival |
LIMERICK
THERE ONCE WAS A GIRL FROM MADRAS
WHO HAD A MAGNIFICENT ASS.
IT WASN'T PRETTY AND PINK
AS YOU PROBABLY THINK
BUT WAS BROWN, HAD LONG EARS AND ATE GRASS.
Submitter comment:
THE INFORMANT LEARNED THIS IN 7TH GRADE AT HELEN
KELLER JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, ROYAL OAK, MICHIGAN
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; ROYAL OAK
James Callow Keyword(s): DONKEY ; PRETENDED OBSCENE LIMERICK
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Narrative Verse |
Date learned: 00-00-1965