Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for AGE returned 437 results.
GETTING MARRIED
"CHANGE YOUR NAME AND NOT THE LETTER,
CHANGE FOR WORSE AND NOT FOR BETTER."
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED BY COLLECTOR ; WRITTEN IN A LETTER
Keyword(s): MARRIAGE
James Callow Keyword(s): ELLIPSIS
| Subject headings: | 860 Belief BELIEF -- Marriage SPEECH -- FamilyGroup |
Date learned: 01-30-1970
GRAFFITI
ANGELS WHO GUARD YOU WHILE YOU DRIVE
USUALLY RETIRE AT 65.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; LIBRARY ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT ; BASEMENT CARVEL 2
Keyword(s): AGES RHYME: AA
James Callow Keyword(s): GUARDIAN ANGELS ; HUMOR
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Art Craft Architecture Art, Craft, Architecture Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Belief C860.422 BELIEF -- Angel |
Date learned: 00-00-1972
I HAD A TEACHER SO OLD HER MOTHER SERVED THE LAST SUPPER.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED BY COLLECTOR
Keyword(s): HUMOR AGE
| Subject headings: | -- |
Date learned: 11-00-1968
SAYING
I DON'T WANT NOTHIN' OLD BUT AN OLD BANKROLL,
AND NOTHIN' BLACK BUT A CADILLAC.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Proverb PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim |
Date learned: DATE NOT RECORDED BY COLLECTOR
SAYING
I DON'T WANT NOTHIN' OLD BUT SOME OLD CROW
OR SOME OLD TAYLOR (LIQUORS).
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): AGE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim |
Date learned: DATE NOT RECORDED BY COLLECTOR
PROVERB
IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED TRY, TRY AGAIN.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): DISCOURAGEMENT
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim |
Date learned: DATE NOT RECORDED BY COLLECTOR
IF YOU'RE TOO SWEET A MAN, EVERYBODY WILL LICK YOU.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): LOLLIPOP NAIVETE
James Callow Keyword(s): GENTLE DISPOSITIONS TEMPT PEOPLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM ; OBSERVATION PREDICTION
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Date learned: 09-23-1971
Entry filtered.
AN INDUSTRIOUS WIFE IS THE BEST SAVINGS ACCOUNT.
Submitter comment: LEARNED FROM HER FATHER.
Where learned: INDIANA ; VEEDERSBURG
Keyword(s): MARRIAGE ; OBSERVATION
James Callow Keyword(s): BANKING
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Street Trip Relations between relatives, friends, host and guest Social class Rank BELIEF -- Marriage PROVERB -- Blason Populaire |
Date learned: 11-23-1967
POLISH PROVERB
IN THE OLD STOVE, THE DEVIL IS BURNING.
TRANSLATION OF
W STARYM PIECU DIABEL PALI. (POLISH)
Submitter comment:
THE CONTEXT IS INTERESTING. IT IS GENERALLY APPLIED TO AN OLDER MAN
WHO SHOWS INTEREST IN A YOUNGER GIRL OR GIRLS.
Where learned: LOCATION NOT RECORDED BY COLLECTOR
Keyword(s): ASSONANCE ; OBSERVATION
James Callow Keyword(s): OLD AGE DOES NOT RULE OUT AMOROUS INCLINATIONS. ; SYMBOL: FIERY DEVIL FOR SEXUAL INTEREST
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Devil Demon PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
I KNOW HOW MUCH I PAID FOR MY GRANDMOTHER BEFORE SHE WAS SOLD.
Submitter comment:
TOLD BY MY MOTHER THIS SUMMER INTERPRETATION, (I CAN GIVE YOU MORE
ADVICE BECAUSE I'VE LIVED LONGER.)
Where learned: UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; HOLDEN HALL
Keyword(s): ADVISING
James Callow Keyword(s): WISDOM ASSUMED TO RESULT FROM AGE
Date learned: 09-00-1967
AFRICAN PROVERB
I KNOW HOW MUCH YOUR GRANDMOTHER WAS BOUGHT FOR.
Submitter comment: I'VE BEEN LIVING LONGER THAN YOU HAVE.
Where learned: UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT
Keyword(s): ADVISING
James Callow Keyword(s): WISDOM ASSUMED TO RESULT FROM AGE
Date learned: 00001967 (FALL)
GREEK RETORT
THE MULE CALLS THE CHICKEN-FAT HEAD.
Submitter comment:
THIS IS USED TO TELL SOMEONE OFF WHEN THEY ARE YOU TO
DO OR SAY SOMETHING.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; ROYAL OAK
James Callow Keyword(s): GREEK LANGUAGE RETORT IS ON 5 X 8 CARD. ; TRANSLATION
| Subject headings: | SPEECH -- Formula |
Date learned: NOT GIVEN
MY DADDY AND HIS DADDY BEFORE HIM ALL LEARNED HOW
TO SWIM THE SAME WAY. WHEN I TURNED EIGHT MY DAD
TOOK ME DOWN TO THE CREEK AND TOLD ME "EITHER YOU
SWIM OR YOU DROWN" AND HE THREW ME IN THE CREEK.
WELL I DIDN'T WANT TO DROWN SO I LEARNED HOW TO
SWIM AND THAT'S ALSO HOW MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS
LEARNED AND HOW I TAUGHT MY KIDS.
Submitter comment:
I KNOW THAT THIS IS A TRADITION WHEN A CHILD IS
EIGHT BECAUSE MR. PHILLIPS IS MY FATHER AND THIS
IS HOW I LEARNED HOW TO SWIM WHEN I WAS EIGHT.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
James Callow Keyword(s): AGE
| Subject headings: | 686 Eighths / Eight Favorites CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Maturity |
Date learned: 04-00-1983
JOKE
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MAN WHO SAT IN FRONT OF AN ELECTRIC FAN
WITH A B-B GUN BECAUSE HE WANTED TO SHOOT THE BREEZE?
James Callow Keyword(s): SHOOT THE BREEZE: ENGAGE IN CONVERSATION
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Jest Anecdote |
Date learned: 00-00-1983
CADDIES HAVE A HIERARCHY OF RANK WHICH
WORKS BY SENIORITY. THE PERSON WITH THE
MOST SENIORITY, EVEN IF HE IS NOT OF THE
HIGHEST RANK, GETS TO GO FIRST, HAVE THE
BEST, OR WHATEVER IT MAY BE.
Submitter comment: THIS IS NOTED IN CALLOW'S FOLKLORE CLASS.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; BIRMINGHAM
James Callow Keyword(s): AGE
| Subject headings: | 686 Properties attributed to specific numbers or numerals individually. Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Special Object or Implement |
Date learned: 00-00-1975
Religious Verse
Men's book with heaps of chaff are stored
God's book doth "golden grains" afford.
Then leave the chaff and spend thy pains
In gathering up thy golden grains.
Submitter comment:
Found in an autograph book from 1880's
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Keyword(s): Chaff ; God ; Golden ; Grain ; Language ; Man ; RELIGION ; RHYME ; VERSE
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Lyrical Verse Lyrical Verse |
"SHINEYMAN"
THE SHINEYMAN WAS A JUNKMAN, NO, CAN'T SAY THAT CAUSE THEY'RE NOT THE SAME. HE WAS MORE OF A CELEBRITY. HE ALWAYS WORE A FUNNY OLD HAT. HE HAD LARGE TRINKETS AND USED BROOMS HANGING FROM HIS WAGON. HE ALWAYS TOOTED A FUNNY HORN. I THOUGHT HE WAS A KIDNAPPER BECAUSE HE WAS UGLY, DIRTY, AND SMELLY. HE WAS A REGULAR AND HAD HIS OWN ROUTE. EVERYDAY HE WOULD COME UP AND DOWN GRANDMA'S ALLEY AND PICK UP OLD CARPETS, AND OTHER USED OBJECTS WHICH PEOPLE HAD DISCARDED I DON'T KNOW HOW HE GOT HIS TITLE BUT WE JUST CALLED HIM THE SHINEYMAN, AND NEVER ASKED WHY.
APPARENTLY, EACH NEIGHBORHOOD HAD ITS OWN SHINEYMAN.
Submitter comment: PRONOUNCED "SHEE-NEE"
Where learned: DETROIT ; MOTHERS GRANDMOTHERS HOME
James Callow Keyword(s): SHEENY MAN
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Human Being BELIEF -- Outlaw Criminal Bandit Pirate |
Date learned: 00001940S
It was the custom of young Cuban boys who were trying
to prove their manhood to dive into the waters of Havana
Harbor,near the old prison, and ride the sharks. It was
said that the sharks frequented the harbor because political
prisoners were placed in an underwater dungeon to be eaten
by the sharks.
Submitter comment:
This need to confront death and danger in order to establish
"machismo" is also seen in such activities as bullfighting.
This story was told to Carmen by her father, Gustavo Sebastian
Albore', who was very proud that he had been brave enough to
ride the sharks. Gustavo was proud also of his Castillian
Spanish parents, since in his mind, to be "Cuban"
meant to be black. He always, therefore, referred to himself
as "Castillian" whenever someone asked him his nationality.
Where learned: NEW YORK ; NEW ROCHELLE
Keyword(s): Courage, test, Hispanic, rite-of-passage
| Subject headings: | Favorites CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Entertainment Diversion CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Maturity |
Date learned: 00001930S
"INCHY PINCHY"
This practical joke begins when one person convinces
another (usually a younger/naive) person that they are
going to be initiated into a special group. The "initiate"
is taken into a darkened room, with perhaps only a candle
for a light, and seated on the floor. Others come into the
room (quietly and reverentially) and seat themselves in
a circle, in which the "initiate" is included. (Everyone
but the person who is the target of the joke is a co-conspirator.)
After everyone is seated in a circle, the
leader (seated next to the victim) announces that the
ceremony is about to begin. He instructs the "initiate"
to copy his motions exactly, doing to his neighbor what
is done to him. The leader, then, reaches out and grabs
the victim's cheek and gently pulls on it, saying
solemnly, "Inchy Pinchy." This should be intoned slowly--
"In...chy Pin...chy." The victim pulls the cheek of
the person next to him and does likewise, and the motion is
passed around the circle. Again the leader reaches out
and grabs another part of the victim's face, perhaps the
forehead or nose, and says "Inchy Pinchy." Again the
motion is passed around the circle. This continues as
many times as the leader wants. When the "ritual" is
over, the victim is instructed to look in the mirror to
verify how the ceremony has transformed him. When he
does so, he realizes that each time the leader touched
his face, that he had been smeared with lipstick (or any
other substance that can be concealed in the hand). At the
moment of realization everyone shouts "INCHY PINCHY!"
Submitter comment:
This was a joke I learned at a slumber party when I was
in seventh grade. My older brother and I successfully
played it on my younger brother, Greg, who reminded me
of it when I asked for any possible folklore items,
especially children's songs/games. A copy of a story he
wrote about this experience has been submitted as
supplementary material.
Where learned: OHIO ; COLUMBUS
Keyword(s): Humor, trick, mock rite-of-passage
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Entertainment Diversion CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Initiation rite Hazing |
Date learned: 00001965CA