Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for Nation returned 121 results.
IT ISN'T THE DAY OF THE STORM YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO FIX
THE ROOF.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): PROCRASTINATION EMERGENCY
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim |
Date learned: 11-18-1970
"TOMORROW, TOMORROW, BUT NOT TODAY," EVERY LAZY MAN
WILL SAY.
Where learned: HUNGARY
Keyword(s): TIME PROCRASTINATION
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Proverb C880.400 |
Date learned: 00-00-1910
GERMAN PROVERB
TOMORROW, TOMORROW ONLY NOT TODAY,
SAY ALL THE LAZY PEOPLE.
Submitter comment:
{GERMAN:} MORGEN, MORGEN NUR NICHT HEUTE
SPRACHE ALLE FAULE LEUTE.
Where learned: SAINT LEONARD SCHOOL
Keyword(s): PROCRASTINATION SLOTH
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Proverb PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim |
Date learned: 09-21-1965
RIDDLE
HOW LONG IS A CHINA MAN?
-- SO LONG IS HIS BROTHER.
Submitter comment: THIS WAS TOLD TO KAREN BY HER FATHER.
Where learned: HOME ; MICHIGAN ; ROYAL OAK ; TOLD AT
Keyword(s): ORIENT NATIONALITY
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 10-18-1967
RIDDLE
"HOW LONG" IS A CHINAMAN'S NAME.
Submitter comment:
(THIS IS A DECLARATIVE SENTENCE STATING THE NAME OF
A PARTICULAR CHINAMAN. MOST PEOPLE INTERPRET IT AS
A QUESTION. THEY BECOME PUZZLED IN TRYING TO ANSWER IT.)
Where learned: HOME ; MICHIGAN ; DETROIT ; TOLD AT
Keyword(s): ORIENT NATIONALITY
| Subject headings: | RIDDLE -- Riddle Question |
Date learned: 02-25-1970
Ethnic: Irish/Scottish Superstition
Good Luck:
No man would ever leave Irelannd or Scotland without a bit of heather and a small bag of soil. Without these life in the new wold would be bitter.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN's [P880, F533, p880] crossed out and replaced with F533.
Where learned: HOME ; MICHIGAN ; WYANDOTTE
Keyword(s): BELIEF ; CUSTOM ; DIVINATION ; Earth ; ETHNIC ; Heather ; Herbal ; Irish ; LUCK ; NATURE ; New World ; SCOTTISH ; Soil ; SUPERSTITION ; TRAVEL
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Street Trip Relations between relatives, friends, host and guest Social class Rank |
Entertainment: Game
Variations of "one potato, two potato" method of choosing "it':
(Rhyme is chanted by one person as all the children stand in a circle with both fists in front, thums up. The person taps each fist in the circle of fists, not neglecting his own. I will indicate the words correcponding to the taps by partial underlining.)
One potato, two potao, three potato, four.
Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more.
The first hit on more is put behind the back and the rhyme continues until only one fist remains, this person being "it.")
Submitter comment:
My mother learned this rhyme in her grammar school days in Detroit.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [C570.560, C300.021] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): CHILDHOOD ; Elimination ; Entertainment ; GAME ; POTATO ; RHYME
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Verse Game Verse |
Entertainment: Game
A Chant for Picking the "IT":
To pick the "it" the people playing would gather together and someone would say: "Engine, Engine, number nine. Going down Chicago Line. If the train falls off the track, do you want your money back?"
The person who "back" was said to is out and the rhyme is started over.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [C570] is crossed out. Replaced with current classification.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): BASEBALL GAME. ; CHILDREN ; Elimination ; Entertainment ; Playground ; RHYME
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Verse Game Verse |
Superstition
How Many Children?
Thread a needle and hold it at the top, next to your left wrist. If you keep watching for awhile, the needle and thread will move all by itself. If it moves in circles, for example, three times, that means you will have three daughters someday. If it sways back and forth, that means you will have the respective number of sons. If the needle and thread don't move at all, you will be childless.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P542, P860] crossed out. Replaced with current Classification
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): BIRTH ; Childbirth, divination ; CHILDREN ; FUTURE ; GAME ; gender ; NUMBER ; Offspring ; Ordaining ; SUPERSTITION ; TRICK
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Entertainment: Game
Method of Choosing "IT":
To choose an "it," all of the players put both feet in a circle and let one person say; "engine, engine, number nine; going down Chicago Line; If the train falls off the track, do you want your money back?" The person could then respond Yes or No. The choice he picked is the number of feet more the count is advanced - (yes=3, no=no) and that person is excluded. This keeps up until only one is left.
Submitter comment:
The informant learned it from his buddies.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [C570] crossed out. Replaced with current classification.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): CHILDHOOD ; Diversion ; Elimination ; Entertainment ; GAME ; Play
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Verse Game Verse |
Custom/Belief
Tie a diamond ring to a piece of string with the diamond hanging at the lowest point. Hold the string at eye level. Hold it steady and place someone's hand palm down under the diamond. If the ring sways from left to right that is the sign that the expectant mother will have a baby boy. If it sways to and fro, the baby will be a girl.
Data entry tech comment:
motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Original BN [F500] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Keyword(s): BABY ; BELIEF ; BIRTH ; DIVINATION ; gender ; Old Wives Tale ; Ordaining ; SEX ; SUPERSTITION
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Superstition: Pregnancy
Birth Omen:
When you are pregnant, if you thread a needle and hold it over your left arm with your right hand, you can learn what the sex of the child is. If it swings across the arm, it is a boy. If it swings up and down the arm, it is a girl.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; BIRMINGHAM
Keyword(s): BIRTH ; CHILD ; DIVINATION ; gender ; Ordaining ; PREGNANCY ; SEX
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Ethnic: German
Superstition:
In German villages it is believed that if a boy has a dog and the dog runs away, then the boy must follow the dog in search of his fortune. If the dog returns without his master, then the boy is dead. If the dog does not return, the boy has found his fortune.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P800] crossed out. Replaced with current classification.
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): Boy ; DIVINATION ; DOG ; ETHNIC ; FATE ; fortune ; GERMAN ; Ordaining ; SUPERSTITION
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mammal |
Ethnic: Roman
Rome is the city of cats, stones and priests becasue all three of these are very plentiful. The cats can be found everywhere and are respected by the people and are feed [sic] by them. Cats are never killed and always cared for because it is said that the Roman spirit is reincarnated in them.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P752, B440] crossed out / replaced with current classification
Keyword(s): CAT ; DEATH ; ETHNIC ; Feline ; Priests ; REINCARNATION ; Roman ; Rome ; Soul ; STONES
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mammal |
Proverb
As goes Maine. so goes the nation.
Submitter comment:
This person clearly did not subscribe to this proverb as he followed up the comment by saying that there was never such a disproven one as this in political circles.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [P800, V200] crossed out. Replaced with current classifications.
Located in pile marked Duplicates and Other Rejects.
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): Maine ; Nation ; POLITICS ; STATE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim PROVERB -- Blason Populaire |
Proverb
Time and tide wait for no man.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [V300] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Located in pile marked Duplicates and Other Rejects
Keyword(s): PATIENCE ; PROCRASTINATION ; Tide ; TIME
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Proverb
Time waits for no man
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [V600] crossed out. Replaced with current classification.
Located in pile marked Duplicates and Other Rejects
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): PATIENCE ; PROCRASTINATION ; TIME
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Proverb
Irish Proverb:
A rolling Stone Gathers No Moss
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Located in pile marked Duplicates and Other Rejects
Where learned: HOME ; MICHIGAN ; GRAND RAPIDS
Keyword(s): Moss ; Movement ; Rolling ; Stagnant ; Stagnation ; STALE ; STONE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Proverb
Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Duplicate
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; FARMINGTON
Keyword(s): Aphorism ; Apothegm ; Maxim ; PROCRASTINATION ; PROVERB ; VERSE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim |
Proverb
Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.
Submitter comment:
Saying in High School (reverse of another done intentionally)
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Original BN [V303] crossed ot. Replaced with current classification.
Keyword(s): Aphorism ; Apothegm ; Maxim ; PROCRASTINATION ; PROVERB ; VERSE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Apothegm Maxim |