the
SPRING 1980
.
ren's
I
FOLKLORE NEWSLETTER
.
m@lY~~ ~ mQO~rn~~~
Volume III, Number 1
Any person wishing to subscribe to the Chiidren'sFolklore Newsletter should send a check for $5.00 to:
.
Re: Research on Children'sBooks
Basically we are trying to complete a list of both current
and completed research on children's books in the UK.
Initially we will prod uce a list of research and hope to go on
to include inf orma tion on collections, conferences, etc., to be
distributed in newsletter form. For further information, write:
.
Gary Alan Fine
Department of Sociology
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Although
plans have not yet been finalized,
it seems
that there will not be a special area for children's folklore at
this year's Festival of American Folklife in Washington,
DC. At this time, plans call for children's folklore to be
included in the other sections. For further information,
write:
.
Annie Morgan and Beth Humphries
57 Stanley Road
Brighton
Sussex
UK
.
Office of Folklife Programs
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20560
.
The Children's Folklore Section does not have current
addresses for the following people: Rim G. Danaitis, Linda
Hughes, Jean Kaplan, and Wendy Leeds. Any information
from or about them should be sent to Gary Alan Fine or to
C. W. Sullivan III.
The Fall 1980 issue of the Children's Folklore Newsletter will be sent out before the AFS meeting in October.
. Chairpersons of panels on Children's Folklore and independent readers of papers concerned with Children's Folklore are encouraged to send announcements and descriptions to the Newsletter.
c. W. Sullivan III
Editor
I
.
ffimm@QOmrem~~mlY~
I
The Winter
1980 issue of the Center For Southern
Folklore Magazine contains a special section on Children's
Folklore. It includes more than a dozen short articles on
various aspects of children's folklore as well as a bibliography of books and films. Inquiries should be addressed to:
.
Center for Southern Folklore
1216Peabody Avenue
P. O. Box 40105
Memphis,TN 38104
The Constitution Committee ofthe Children's Folklore
Section i.scurrently preparing a draft to be discussed at the
1980 meeting. Anyone wishing to make suggestions at this
time should address them to:
Thomas W. Johnson
Department of Anthropology
California State University, Chico
Chico, CA 95929
the
hildren's
FOLKLORE
NEWSLETTER
c. w. SullivanIII, Editor
English Department,
East Carolina
Greenville. North Carolina 27834
University
The Children's Folklore Newsletter, published three
times a year, is sent to all members of the Children's
Folklore Section. Special arrangements can also be
made with any folklore-related organization wishing to
receive copies. All materials to be considered for
publication should be sent to the editor.
Published by East Carolina University
Printed al ECU Print Shop
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The following membership list was current as of March 30, 1980, according to the membership list kept by the Steering
Committee of the Children s Folklore Section.
Jane Alexander
P.O. Box 24031
Washington, DC 20024
Andy Arleo
Laboratoire d'Anglais
Universite de Nantes
44036 Nantes Cedex
France
Shirley Arora
Dept Spanish & Portugese
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Norma Bagnall
English Department
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843
Mary Jo Barron
18 Turner Terrace
Newtonville, MA 02160
Carolina Feller Bauer
6535 SW Chelsea
Portland. OR 97223
Linda Baxter
Box 1264
Lusk. WY 82225
Beverly Boggs
8704 Cliff Top Road
Raleigh, NC 27612
Cooper Library
Serials Department
Clemson University
Clemson. SC 29631
Jim Couza
372 West Johnson St
Apt. C-I
Philadelphia. PA 19144
Carol L. Edwards
Redbud Hill Apts #206
Bloomington, IN 47401
Bill Ellis
Department of English
164 West 17th Ave
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210
Ase Enerstvedt
Hordamuseet
P.O. Box 10. N-5043
Stend. Norway
Gary Alan Fine
Department of Sociology
Univcrsity of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Edith Fowke
5 Notley Place
Toronto. Ontario
M4B 2M7
Canada
Edna Garrido Boggs
536 Altara Avenue
Coral Gables. FL 33146
Mrs. J. W. Gaither
1130 West Imhoff
Norman. OK 73089
Katherine Briggs
Southolme
Sea View Road
St Margaret's Bay
Kent CT 15 6EE
Engla nd
Kenneth Goldstein
Folklore & Folklife
Box 13, Logan Hall
University of Pennsylvania
Philadaphia, PA 19104
Marilyn Brownstein
Greenwood Press
51 Riverside Avenue
Westport, CT 06880
Ellin Greene
Graduate Library School
University of Chicago
Lloo East 57th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Lynda Burack
152 West 58th St
New York NY 10019
Arnold E. Burkart
Keeping Up With Music Ed
P.O. Box 2712
Muncie, IN 47302
Thomas E, Burns
Folklore & Folklife
Box 13, Logan Hall
Univ. of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Francelia Butler
Department of English
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06268
Carole H. Carpenter
Division of Humanities
York University
4700 Keele Street
Downsview, Ontario
M3J IP3
Canada
William J. Carter
5600 West 95th St
Overland Park, KS 66207
Christine Cartwright
4339 Prado Drive
Boulder, CO 80303
John Cech
English Department
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
Sue Chappel
3412 Elmhurst
Royal Oak, M 148073
Sylvia Grider
English Department
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843
Kay Hill
95 Olive Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Jennifer Mohr
2310 Harriet Ave S#102
Minneapolis, MN 55405
Kathleen Scholl
1519 Dorchester Dr
Bloomington, IN 47401
Dorothy Howard
2009 N Louisiana
Roswell, NM 88201
V. Monkhouse
Library. Bibliotheque
Natl Museums of Canada
Ottawa. Ontario
KIA QM8
Canada
Marcia Shafer
1038 Baldwin
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Valerie Ingram
16 State Street
Canton, NY 13617
Department of Anthropology
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett
231 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
Maria Herrera-Sobek
Dept of Spanish & Portuges<
University of California
Irvine, CA 92717
Diana Heyer
3208 West 147th Street
Gardena. CA 90247
Dr. Tunde Okanlawon
School of the Humanities
University of Port Harcourt
PM B 5323
Port Harcourt
Rivers State
Nigeria
Barbro Klein
301 East 47th. #21 M
New York, NY 10017
Bengt af Klintberg
Vendevagen 13
18131 Lidingo
Sweden
Peter Opie
Westerfield House
West Liss
Hampshire GU33 6JQ
Great Britain
Herbert &.Mary Knapp
Box 3292
Balboa, Canal Zone
Priscilla Ord
622A Morris Avenue
Bryn Mawr. PA 19010
Reimund Kvideland
Olaf Ryeson 19
5014 Bergen
Norway
Margaret Parish
1512-B Cameron Court
Wilmington, NC 28401
Robert McCann
17 S Everhart St
West Chester, PA 19380
Margaret MacDonald
11507 NE 104th
Kirkland, WA 98033
Jeanne Henry
Faculty of Library Science
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2J4
Canada
John Niles
English Department
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
Jean 0 Kelly
1018 Mariposa
Berkeley, CA 94707
Maryellen Hains
English Department
Western Michigan Universit~
Kalamazoo, M I 49002
Elissa Henken
728 East Hunter
Bloomington, IN 4740 I
Erik Kaas Nielsen
Rypevaenget 16
2600 Gelostrup
DK Denmark
Dorene Jorgensen
3400 Emigration Canyon
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
Marilyn Gustafson
8083 Caribbean Way
Sacramento, CA 95826
Alethea K. Helbig
3640 Eli Road
Ann Arbor, MI48104
Priscilla Moulton
10 Pinecliff Dr.
Marblehead, MA
01945
Tecwyn Vaughan Jones
Welsh Folk Museum
St. Fagans, Cardiff
CF5 6XB
United Kingdom
Barbara Mc Dermitt
Carnethy Cottage
Silverburio, Penicuik
Midlothian
Scotland
Karana Hattersley-Drayton
cj 0 Department of Folklore
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
Linda Morley
Liberal Studies Divison
New England College
Henniker. N H 03242
Thomas Johnson
Per Peterson
Jenny Linsvag 5
S-75250
Uppsala
Sweden
Beth Pa w
219 W Shotwell
Bainbridge, GA 31717
Jo Radner
3549 Quesada St, NW
Washington, DC 200 15
John H. McDowell
504 N Fess
Bloomington, IN 47401
Barbara L. Reed
Old Quarry
Guilford, CT 06437
Jean M. MacLaughlin
English Department
Ohio State University
421 Denney Hall
164 West 17th Avenue
Columbus. OH 43210
Jane Madsen
530 Hillside AYCIlUC
State College. PA 16801
Phyllis N. May
1827 Summit Place NW #G I
Washington. DC 20009
Bernadette Snider
Box 57
Smackover, AR 71762
Jeanne Soileau
2209 Licciardi Lane
Violet. LA 70092
Dr. Helga Stein
D34 Gottingen
Auf dem Golite 28
Germany
Mary Anne Spiller Stout
2094 N Santa Rosa Avenue
Altadena. CA 91001
Kay F. Stone
English Department
University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg. Manitoba
R3B 2E9
Canada
c. W. Sullivan III
English Department
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27834
Brian Sutton-Smith
Department of Educational
Psychology
School of Education
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19174
Lee-hsia Ting
Dpt of Learning Resources
Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL 61455
Alvin Schwartz
505 Prospect Avenue
Princeton, NJ 08540
2
Paul Smith
Department of Geography
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, SIO 2TN
United Kingdom
Beatrice Roeder
Ct for Folklore & Mythology
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Sue Samuelson
Ct for Folklore & Mythology
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Kathy Merlock
2094 Neil Avenue #37
Columbus, OH 43210
Georgina Smith
Dpt of English Literature
University of Sheffield
Sheffield S 10 2TN
United Kingdom
Kate Rinzler
19 9th Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Jan Rosenberg
4814 Cedar Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Jay Mechling
American Studies
822 Sproul
University of California
Davis. CA 95616
Amy Shuman
245 S Farragut Street
Philadelphia, P A 19139
Philip V, R. Tilney
Canadian Center for Folk
Cultural Studies
National Museum of Man
Ottawa, Ontario
KIA OM8
Canada
Danielle Roemer
English Department
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Priscilla Manwaring
4040 Grand Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47401
Alec M. Shearmen
Dpt of Modern Languages
University of Salford
Salford, Lancs,
England
Dr. S. Top
Seminarie Voor Volkskunde
Blyde-Inkomitstzaat 21
B-3OO0Leuven
Belgium
Elizabeth Tucker
English Department
SUNY-Binghamton
Binghamton, NY 1390 I
Ray Turner
485 Bob-o-link
Lexington, KY 40503
Jean Ure
Department of English Studies
25 Buccleuch PI
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Scotland
Jenny Vincent
P.O. Box 214
San Cristobal, NM 87564
Leea Virtanen
E. Hesperiank
36A5
Helsinki 10
Finland
Barbara Walker
Archive of Turkish Oral
Narrative
Texas Tech University
P.O. Box 4185
Lubbock, TX 79409
Jeff Warner
365 Cedar Swamp Road
Old Brookville. NY 11545
Rainer Wehse
Groner Landstr. 37
3400 Gottingen
Germany
Wheelock College Library
132 Riverway
Boston. MA 02215
William A. Wilson
English Department
Utah State University
Logan. UT 84322
Virginia Witucke
6821 East Broadway
Apt 261
Tucson, AZ 85710
Marcia Wolter
10 Fernleigh Dr, 8A
Cooperstown. NY 13326
Bernice O. Zelditch
Department of English
Foothill College
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
Jack Zipes
German Department
Uni of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI 5320 I
Exchange copies are currently being sent
to: The Center for Southern Folklore
Magazine, Association of Folklorists in
the South Newsletter, and Children's Literature Newsletter.
File copies are currently being sent to:
Joseph C. Hickerson
Library of Congress
Washington. DC
Gift & Exchange Division
Library of Congress
Washington. DC
urnJrn@rnJ~~mJrnrn~~@
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In each issue we hope to publish a list of items offolk speech used by children in the course of their informal speech. Words
should be defined according to their definition in use. Also, where possible, part of speech, age of users, location in which the
words were heard and collected, and other background injormation available should be noted. Contributors should use the
glossary form in the journal, American Speech. Hopefully, if this section of the newsletter proves to be a success, after several
years we can consider a full compilation of all terms collected in a published glossary. Contributors should attempt not to
contribute words or phrases used by both children and adults with smiliar meanings, although this distinction is never a clear one.
Pre-Adolescent
Male Slang III
Gary Alan Fine
University of Minnesota
The following examples of folk speech are derived from
participant observation research in five American communities during the period 1975-1977: (I) Beanville, an uppermiddle class professional suburb of Boston, Massachusetts;
(2) Hopewell, an exurban township outside the Providence,
Rhode Island, metropolitan area, consisting of a string of
small towns, beach-front land, farms and a campus of the
state university; (3) Bolton Park, an upper-middle class
professional
suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, similar to
Beanville except for geogra phical areas; (4) Sanford Heights,
a middle-to-Iower-middle
class suburb of Minneapolis,
Minnesota, consisting of a large number of modern massproduced hones, and (5) Maple Bluff, studied by Harold
Pontiff, an urban, upper-middle class, professional area of
St. Paul, Minnesota. Boys were between the ages of ten and
twelve.
Terms included in the glossary were all part of the active
vocabulary of male pre-adolescents
during the years studied. However, it is probably true that several of these terms
are also used by females and those of other ages. The most
obvious examples of adult folk speech have been eliminated
from this list.
Terms included herein are defined through their usage in
context. Abbreviations employed in this report include: BY
- Beanville (research conducted 1975-1976); HW - Hopewell
(research conducted 1976); BP - Bolton Park (research con-
ducted 1977);MB - Maple Bluff(researchconducted 1977).
.
I. Earlobe
2. Eat a fart
3. Eat out
4. Eat my goober
5. Egg
6. Ends
7. F-word
8. Face
9. Fag fight
10. Faggot
II.
Fairy
12. Far out
13. Farm out
14. . Fat hunk
15. Fathead
16. Feather
n Boy with large ears (BP)
Leaye; go away (usually said hostilely)
(BP)
Indicates disgust with or dislike of
another, as in "eat me out;" homsexual imagery (SH)
Indicates disgust with or dislike of
another; homosexual imagery (SH)
vt Throw eggs at an object as a prank
(usually a house or car) (H E, BP, SH)
n Last of a quantity. When boys are
drinking a cola a boy may say "Give
me ends"to indicate he wants the last
drink (MB)
n "Fuck"(i.e., "fuck"is the "f-word");
not used in place of"fuck" in natural
interaction (SH)
n Act which gets another boy in trouble
(e.g., "that was a face on you") (BP)
Play fight with participants using limp
wrists; homosexual imagery (BY)
n Disliked boy; homosexual imagery
(also "fag") (BY, HW, MB, BP, SH)
n Effeminate or disliked boy; homosexual imagery (HW, BP, SH)
adj. Excellent, good, "groovy" (MB,
BP, SH)
17. Fed
18. Fem
19. Fettin slit
20. Fig newton
21. Finger bang
22. Finger
wink
23. Firecracker
ditch
24. First base
25. Flat tire
.
26. Flood
adj. Excellent, good, "groovy" (see
"far out") (MB)
n Overweight person (often said with
dislike) (BY)
skid
27. Four eyes
n Stupid person (SH)
n Effeminate or disliked boy; homosexual imagery (BY)
n Policeman (SH)
n Effeminate or disliked boy; homosexual imagery (BP, SH)
n Disliked girl (presumably derived
from "fucking slut") (SH)
n Effeminate or disliked boy; homosexual imagery ("fag") (HW)
vt, vi Sexually stimulate girl or woman manually (e.g., fingerfuck) (SH)
vt, vi Sexually stimulate a girl or woman manually (e.g., fingerfuck) (Yariant term: finger wing) (SH)
Prank involving throwing a firecracker
and running away (see Ding Dong
Ditch) (BP)
I. Kissing (as in "getting to first
base")
2. Lips (HW, BP, SH)
Prank involving stepping on the heel
of someone's sneaker, causing the
sneaker to come off (HW)
Stopping a bike in soft dirt in such a
way that the dirt makes a wave. This
is done by turning the bicycle sharply
while stopping suddenly (S H)
n Boy wearing eye glasses (BY, WH,
BP)
(ml/lil/Lled
,.,
on page 4)
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tf8LZ ';:r N ';)II!AU;);)J9
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UUnOJuJ Jsu3
qsn8u3 JO Ju;)wpud;)O
.liJUiJlSMiJNiJ.lop/l°j[ s,UiJ.lP1!I{:J
JOHP3 'III UUA!II"S'M 'J
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(G LOSSA R Y, continued from page 3)
28. Freak
29. Freep
30. French
31. Fried mind
32. Fuckhead
33. Funky
34. Fuzz
35. Fuzzball
36. Gas
37. Gaywad
38. Geek
39. Get on
your horse
40. Gil
41. Give him
a cookie
n Boy who is defined as rowdy or
wild (often implying smoking, drinking, or drug use) (BP, SH)
n Loud, ordorous flatus (SH)
vt, vi French kiss, kiss passionately
so the tongue of one person touches
the tongue ofthe other (phrase "French
me" or "french my hole"is used as an
insulting challenge from one boy to
another, similar to "suck me" or "kiss
me ass") (BP, SH)
n Boy who smokes, drinks or uses
drugs; rowdy boy (BP)
n Disliked boy (SH)
adj. Excellent, good, "groovy" (MB,
BP, SH)
n Policeman (singular or plural) (M B)
n Crew cut or short haircut generally
(SH)
vi Be flatulent, fart (SH)
n Disliked boy; homosexual imagery
(BP, SH)
n 1. Old person (often woman) (BP);
2. Homosexual (not used as general
insult) (SH)
Run fast (BP, SH)
42. Glob
43. Glom
44. Go blow, Joe
45. Go suck a cow
46. Go suck an egg
47. Golf stain
48. Goober
49. Goody-goody
50. Goof around
51. Goshay
52. Grad
53. Greenie
54. Gremtight
55. Gumby
n Prank in which a boy stabs his finger
into the soft skin belowanother'sjawbone (Short for "guillotine") (SH)
4
Phrase indicating that another's concern is trivial (as in "Big deal", when
said sarcastically) (SH)
n Awkward boy (often said playfully)
(BV)
n Awkward boy (often said playfully)
(BV)
Leave, go away; homosexual imagery
(SH)
Leave, go away; homosexual imagery
(BP)
Leave, go away; homosexual imagery
(BP)
Brown stain on one's underware from
excrement (BV)
vi Drool (BP, SH)
n Boy who never gets in trouble;
Teacher's pet (negative implicatons)
(BP, SH)
Not take things seriously (MB, SH)
n Disliked boy (apparently term is
based on a real name) (BP)
adj. Glad (based on Japanese pronunciation) (SH)
n Thick mucus (often green in color)
(SH)
adj. Gross, disgusting (BP)
n Stupid or silly person (usually a
playful insult) (BP)