Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for Rid returned 141 results.
RIDDLE QUESTION: CLOCK
"WHAT IS IT WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES 13?"
ANSWER: "TIME TO BUY A NEW CLOCK."
Submitter comment:
INFORMANT IS JUST HAVING FUN BECAUSE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THERE IS
NO CLOCK THAT WILL INFORM YOU THAT IT IS 13 O'CLOCK.
INFORMANT LEARNED IT AT WORK.
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): RIDDLE JOKE: CLOCKS
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 11-11-1971
WHAT WEIGHS 1000 LBS. AND CHEEPS?
TWO 500 LB. CANARIES.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): BIRDS: CANARIES ; RIDDLE JOKE
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 00-00-1971
Entry filtered.
RIDDLE
WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU CROSS AN ELEPHANT AND A COW?
PEANUT BUTTER.
Submitter comment: LEARNED FROM A FRIEND.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): ANIMALS: COWS ; ANIMALS: ELEPHANTS ; RIDDLE JOKE: CROSSING ONE THING WITH ANOTHER
James Callow Keyword(s): HYBRID
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 10-13-1967
RIDDLE
"WHY IS SLIPPING ON A BANANA PEEL LIKE MUSIC?"
"BECAUSE YOU'LL BE FLAT IF YOU DON'T SEE SHARP}"
Where learned: UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DORM
Keyword(s): BANANAPEEL ; FRUIT: BANANAS ; MUSIC: INTERVALS ; RIDDLING QUESTION
James Callow Keyword(s): LOOK SHARP ; PUN
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: NOT GIVEN
RIDDLE
WHY IS BOWLING A QUIET GAME?
YOU CAN HEAR A PIN DROP.
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): GAMES: BOWLING ; RIDDLING QUESTION
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Phrase RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 09-30-1967
RIDDLE
WHAT DID BEN FRANKLIN SAY WHEN HE DISCOVERED ELECTRICITY?
HOW SHOCKING}
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): CONUNDRUM ; FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN ; HISTORICAL ; RIDDLING QUESTION
James Callow Keyword(s): PUN
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 11-27-1967
ELEPHANT JOKE
WHAT WAS THE ELEPHANT DOING ON THE HIGHWAY?
OH, ABOUT TEN MILES AN HOUR.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): ANIMALS: ELEPHANTS ; RIDDLE JOKE: ELEPHANT JOKE
James Callow Keyword(s): PUN ON DOING
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 09-00-1968
Entry filtered.
RIDDLE
IF YOU ARE IN A ROOM
AND ALL FOUR SIDES, CEILING AND FLOOR
ARE MADE OF STEEL AND TOTALLY ENCLOSED,
THERE ARE NO OPENINGS,
THE ONLY THINGS IN THE ROOM OTHER THAN YOURSELF
ARE A TABLE AND A SAW,
HOW DO YOU GET OUT?
ANSWER: CUT THE TABLE IN HALF,
PUT THE TWO HALVES TOGETHER TO MAKE A HOLE,
AND CRAWL OUT THROUGH THE HOLE.
Where learned: COLORADO ; GORE RANGE
Keyword(s): RIDDLE
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- True Riddle |
Date learned: 07-00-1980
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
Japanese custom
The bride-to-be receives all belongings needed for marriage,
money, clothes, furniture, etc.
Where learned: JAPAN
Keyword(s): Bride
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Marriage Before wedding BELIEF -- Marriage Gifts |
Date learned: 00-00-1925
What did the monkey say when it backed into the
fan? "It won't be long now."
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; LENNON
James Callow Keyword(s): Wellerism posed as a riddle
| Subject headings: | Favorites PROVERB -- Wellerism Quotation RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 00-00-1981
WHILE VISITING THE WEST, TOURISTS MIGHT BE TOLD THE STORY
OF THE MOST FEROCIOUS AND DIFFICULT ANIMAL TO HUNT. THIS
BEAST IS CALLED A JACKALOPE. IT HAS THE BODY OF A
JACKRABBIT AND THE ANTLERS OF AN ANTELOPE. WILD JACKRABBITS
MATED WITH ANTELOPE TO SCARE OFF SETTLERS. IN SOME SMALL
TOWNS YOU MAY ACTUALLY SEE ONE OF THESE WILD BEASTS
STUFFED AND MOUNTED ON THE WALL AS A WARNING TO
OVERZEALOUS TOURISTS.
Submitter comment:
THE REALLY INTERESTING PART OF THE STORY IS WHEN
TOURISTS REALLY BELIEVE IT!
Where learned: MONTANA
James Callow Keyword(s): HYBRID
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Jest Anecdote BELIEF -- Animal |
Date learned: 00001980S CA
A popular joke in school was:
If a rooster is on top of a roof, on a peak,
and lays an egg, which direction will the egg roll?
Answer, roosters do not lay eggs.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
James Callow Keyword(s): Catch Riddle
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- True Riddle |
Date learned: 00001970S
Love
There was a little girl who lived all alone, her parents were
dead. All she had was a dog named Love. One day a murderer
broke into her house and said the only way he would let her
live is if she can think of a riddle that he could not guess.
She had three days to come up with the riddle. The man then
left. The girl thought and thought and thought. She stroked
her dog and rocked in her chair. On the third day the man
returned. The little girl had on a pair of gloves, a pair of
boots and a thick pair of pants. This was her riddle.
Love I sit
Love I stand
Love I hold, in my right hand.
I can see Love,
But Love can't see me.
If you can unriddle this,
You can hang me.
The man thought and thought and thought. The girl rocked and
rocked and rocked. Finally the man left, he could not figure
out the riddle. He never returned again and the girl spared
her life. The answer to the riddle was she had cut up her
dog. She placed a piece of the dog named Love under her
bottom as she sat in the chair. She placed another piece of
the dog in her boot and still another in her glove of her
right hand. She could still see the dog, but it, being dead,
could not see her.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; Sparta
James Callow Keyword(s): neck riddle
| Subject headings: | Favorites PROSE NARRATIVE -- Ordinary Tale |
Date learned: 00-00-1950
MAN FROM UNCLE
CONSIDERED A MYSTERY OR WEB GAME. TWO PLAYERS FORM A
BRIDGE WITH THEIR HANDS. THE REST OF THE PLAYERS
MARCH IN A CIRCLE TO MUSIC GOING UNDER THE BRIDGE.
WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS, IF A PERSON IS CAUGHT UNDER
THE BRIDGE HE IS OUT OF THE GAME. IF THE BRIDGE
CATCHES TWO PEOPLE AT ONE TIME, THEY MAY FORM
ANOTHER.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; WARREN
James Callow Keyword(s): LONDON BRIDGE
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Singing Dancing Marching |
Date learned: 09-24-1969
Saying
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Keyword(s): Anticipate ; Bridge ; Cross ; Language ; Saying
| Subject headings: | SPEECH -- Group of Vowels and Consonants, and of Words |
Wedding Custom
At a shower for a bride-elect, she wil have the same number of children as ribbons broken.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Keyword(s): Break ; Bridal ; Bride ; Broken ; CHILDREN ; CUSTOM ; Offspring ; Predict ; Ribbons ; Shower ; WEDDING
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Maturity |
AT A BABY SHOWER, IF THE BRIDE-TO-BE BREAKS A BOW ON A
GIFT, SHE WILL HAVE ONE BABY. IF SHE BREAKS TWO BOWS,
SHE WILL HAVE TWO BABIES; ETC.
Keyword(s): WEDDING OR BRIDAL SHOWER, I RATHER THINK.
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth BELIEF -- Number Properties attributed to specific numbers or numerals individually |
Date learned: 00-00-1968