Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for leg returned 134 results.
Urban Legend
THE INFORMANT TOLD ME THAT STUDENTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT THERE
WAS A PROFESSOR WHO USED TO THROW THE EXAMINATION PAPERS UP THE
STAIRS AS HIS METOD OF GRADING THEM. THOSE THAT LANDED ON THE
HIGHER LEVEL GOT "AS", THE NEXT STEP GOT "BS" AND SO ON DOWN
UNTIL THE BOTTOM STEP WERE THE STUDENTS WHOSE PAPERS LANDED THERE
RECEIVED "FS".
Submitter comment:
HE (THE INFORMANT) TOLD ME THAT THIS PRACTICE WAS ATTRIBUTED TO DR.
H. THEODORE HOFFMAN OF THE ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated / 02-24-2011 / TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): ACADEMIC ; Grade ; Legend ; MYTH ; Stairs ; Student ; TEACHER ; URBAN
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Human Being |
Proverb
If the goat did not jump she would not break her leg.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: HOME ; Sulinski
Keyword(s): ANIMAL ; Aphorism ; Apothegm ; Break ; Goat ; Jump ; leg ; Maxim ; METAPHOR ; PROVERB ; RISK ; VERSE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Urban Legend
Nashville Reservoir
The reservoir used to be a place for many people to sight-see. They could climb to the top of the wall and look in at our city's water supply. A locked gate was placed there becasue so many people were using the water supply to unload unwanted cats, dogs, babies, and trash.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Keyword(s): Babies ; Cats ; Dogs ; Litter ; Nashville ; Reservoir ; TRASH ; Urban Legend
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Tale |
Urban Legend
Hookman of Percy Warner Park:
I can't recall when I first heard this tale, but it seems to have been with me as long as I remember. There is supposedly a large rock located somewhere in Percy Warner Park, Nashville, where many people have reported seeing a hookman. The hookman only appears after dark and people whop have parked near this rock have heard the scraping of metal against their car.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Keyword(s): HOOK ; PARKING ; Sexuality ; SUPERNATURAL ; SUPERSTITION ; TABU ; Urban Legend
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Legend |
Prank
Dorm Doorknobs:
I have often heard of this trick praticed in college dormatories and once actually saw it being done. One night, quiet [sic] late when most everyone had gone to sleep a girl on muy floor took a ball of string and tied either end to doorknobs which faced one another. The idea of this is that the next morning when girls began leaving for class they would be unable to open their doors. You can well imagine the shouting which occured the "morning after" this trick.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Keyword(s): COLLEGE ; Doorknob ; Dorm ; Dormitory ; JOKE ; PRACTICAL JOKE ; Prank ; String
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- C537 |
Language
The eight secluded areas complete with love seats in a girl's dorm lounge are known as the "passion pits."
Submitter comment:
The college is Emory and Henry in Emory, Virginia and the dorm is Martha Washington
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Keyword(s): COLLEGE ; Dorm ; Dormitories ; Language ; Lounge ; Loveseat ; Nickname ; Passion ; Pit ; SLANG ; Vocabulary
| Subject headings: | SPEECH -- Place |
Ghost Tale
In Chapel Hill, TN, There is a ghost that roams next to the railroad. All you can see is his light as he flashes it up and down the tracks. It is supposedly a lineman who had fallen off the train many years before. When he fell he lost his head. Now he roams the track swinging the light looking for his head.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Beheaded ; DECAPITATION ; GHOST ; HEAD ; Lineman ; RAILROAD ; Story ; SUPERNATURAL ; Tale ; Urban Legend
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter |
Legend
Legend of Davey Crockett:
The West was a rich source of tall tales of a man such as Davey Crockett, the country boy/indian fighter elected to Congress. In washington, he told tall tales about his Western days"...killed himself a bear when he was only three."
Tales such as these have become legends.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs Added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Bear ; Congress ; Davey Crockett ; INDIAN ; Legend ; TALL TALE ; Wild West
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Legend |
Celestial Body Legend
Idea of looking for the "man" in the moon.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs Added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): ASTROLOGY ; ASTRONOMY ; CELESTIAL ; Legend ; Man ; MOON ; Tale
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Moon |
Prose Narrative Tale
Prose Narrative Tale:
Folktale of New England -- The Gingerbread Man.
Children's story of a runaway cookie including repeated theme: "rubn, run, as fast as you can. Can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread man."
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs Added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE ; Bookhouse Volume One
Keyword(s): CATCH ; CHILDREN ; Cookie ; Fast ; Gingerbread ; Gingerbread Man ; Legend ; Narrative ; New England ; Prose ; REGIONAL ; Run ; Tale
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Tale |
IF YOU STEP OVER SOMEONE'S OUT STRETCHED LEGS, HE WILL
HAVE BAD LUCK UNLESS YOU STEP OVER THEM BACKWARDS.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated on 09-01-11
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; GALLATIN
Keyword(s): Backwards ; BAD LUCK ; BODY ; LEGS ; Limb ; LUCK ; Step
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Bad luck Activities BELIEF -- Conversions Activities |
Date learned: 08-20-1973
ONE OF RESPONDENT'S NEIGHBORS YELLED AT HER LITTLE
BOY WHILE SHE WAS PREGNANT. THE BOY FELL AND BROKE
HIS RIGHT FOOT AND LEG. WHEN THE BABY CAME, IT HAD
A TWISTED RIGHT FOOT AND LEG.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated on 09-01-11
Where learned: MISSISSIPPI ; BELZONI
Keyword(s): BELIEF ; Broken ; Fell ; Foot ; leg ; OMEN ; PREGNANCY ; Twisted
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Body part Senses BELIEF -- Birth BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
BABIES WHO WALK BEFORE THEY ARE A YEAR OLD WILL BE
BOWLEGGED.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): BABY ; BELIEF ; Bowlegged ; CHILD
James Callow Keyword(s): AGE
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Body part Senses Lower body, legs BELIEF -- Product or activity of man or animal BELIEF -- Means of Causing or Avoiding Illness |
Date learned: 10-14-1973
THE LEGEND OF POT GOLD
THE TORIES BEFORE FLEEING NEW YORK, TOOK ALL THEIR GOLD
AND PUT IT IN HUGE IRON POTS. THEY BURIED THESE POTS IN THE
MOUNTAINS AND TO THIS DAY THERE STILL REMAINS SOME
TO BE FOUND.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Legend ; MONEY ; Pot of Gold ; Tories ; TREASURE
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Mineral |
Date learned: 04-00-1972
LEGEND OF MONTE SANO
THE NAME OF A MOUNTAIN NEAR HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA IS DERIVED
FROM A TRGIC LOVE STORY. A WHITE SETTLER FELL IN LOVE WITH
A BEAUTIFUL INDIAN MAIDEN NAMED MONTE. HER (MONTE'S)
FATHER SAID SHE COULD NOT MARRy THE WHITE MAN, BUT MUST
MARRY THE INDIAN PRINCE. THE WHITE MAN DIED OF A BROKEN
HEART SAYING, "MONTE SAY NO TO THE PRINCE."
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Alabama ; INDIAN ; Legend ; Marry ; Native American ; Settler
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Explanation of a name |
Date learned: 04-00-1972
THE WELL HOUSE KISS
AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY IN BLOOMINGTON THERE IS A CERTAIN
WELL HOUSE SITUATED NEAR THE CAMPUS BELL TOWER. IN ORDER
TO BECOME AN OFFICIAL COED, A FRESHMAN MUST BE KISSED BY
AN UPPERCLASSMAN AT PRECISELY THE STROKE OF TWELVE
MIDNIGHT. THIS KISS MUST BE HELD THROUGHOUT THE TWELVE
STROKES OF THE CLOCK OR SHE WILL BE DOOMED TO OLD
MAIDSHIP.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Keyword(s): Co-ed ; COLLEGE ; KISS ; Legend ; SUPERSTITION
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- School |
Date learned: 09-00-1969
"WOODS' KIDS"
WHEN CERTAIN UNFAVORABLE HAPPENINGS OCCUR WITHIN THE
ROSSER HOME, THE WOODS' KIDS ALWAYS TAKE THE BLAME. THESE
SMALL CREATURES INHABIT THE WOODS BEHIND THE HOUSE.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Keyword(s): Blame ; FAMILY ; Fanciful ; Invisible ; Legend ; Tale ; TRICKSTER
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Legend |
Date learned: 02-00-1972
Custom
You should never say "good luck" to an actor or actress on opening night - you always say "break a leg"
Data entry tech comment:
Entered by TRD
Keyword(s): Actor ; ACTRESS ; Break a Leg ; CUSTOM ; GOOD LUCK ; LUCK ; OMEN ; Opening Night ; Play ; Saying ; THEATER
| Subject headings: | SPEECH -- Trade & commerce |
TO BECOME A WEREWOLF
TAKE AN IRON COOKING POT INTO WHICH MUST BE DUMPED WATER, PARSLEY,
OPIUM, AND SAFFRON. YOU DO NOT EAT IT, IT IS TO ATTACK THE DEVIL.
RUB YOUR BODY WITH FAT OF A FRESHLY KILLED CAT AND PUT ON A
WOLF'S SKIN.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; ANN ARBOR
Keyword(s): DEVIL ; Legend ; MYTH ; SUPERNATURAL ; Werewolf
James Callow Keyword(s): TRANSFORMATION
| Subject headings: | Food Drink -- Plant food Vegetable Food Drink -- Flavoring Spice BELIEF -- Devil Demon BELIEF -- Mammal |
Date learned: 10-00-1969
WEREWOLF AT A CERTAIN LOCATION
IF YOU PARK YOUR CAR AT THE END OF DIXIE HIGHWAY, TURN OFF
THE LIGHTS AND SIT QUIETLY, A MAN THAT HAS THE FEATURES
OF A WEREWOLF
WILL APPROACH THE CAR, LOOK IN, AND THEN RUN OFF.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): Lycan ; SUPERNATURAL ; SUPERSTITION ; Urban Legend ; Werewolf
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Werewolf Vampire |
Date learned: 10-18-1968