The paucity of real news during holiday season is evident in the lists of best of, worst of, expectations for the new year. We think we’ll avoid that, but use the situation to advantage. First, by promoting EST 210H a Baltic folklore course offered under the auspices of the Estonian Studies Programme at at U of T, taught by Dr. Tiina Kirss. Lectures commence in the new year. See article elsewhere in this issue.
Second, by taking the opportunity to crack wise. A smile, guffaw, no matter how gained — even by a telling a groaner — is much more beneficial to mental health than griping, kvetching, reflecting on the truly negative issues that dominate the news most days.
Folklore is a field of study that encompasses much more than meets the eye. Or the ear. It is based on the oral tradition, and as many Estonian folk tales prove, humour is the one constant that ensures the tale is heard, listened to again — for different interpretations, and passed on, to future generations.
Jokes are only one genre of folklore. Myth, riddle, legend, superstition, and the always didactic proverbs are also part of the field of study. Many folkloric jokes are truly international, differing only in what part of the tale is significant for say, the Swede or the American. One is certain that Dr. Kirss will do a wonderful job in explaining the Baltic particulars; I will refrain here from trotting out my favourite Latvian jokes.
Rather, I’ll try to interest those who visit libraries, use the internet to follow up on the sources that have provided me with humour — and understanding of peoples — over the years.
The adolescent usuallly focuses on the ribald, bawdy and lewd — areas of life that are still new, uncharted territory. One reason why sexual jokes — once known as “dirty jokes” are so popular, is because sexual attraction, desires, cannot always be acted upon; hence they get acted out in the form of wink-wink, nudge, nudge jokes. Those with an interest in this type of humour are advised to read folklorist Gershon Legman’s scholarly treatment, “Rationale of dirty jokes: an analysis of sexual humour”. Guaranteed to keep you out of University residence toilet stalls!
The king of folklore and the study of jokes, is Alan Dundes, since 1963 professor of Folklore and Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. A prolific author, his interests range from the Bible and the blood myth to sick jokes. Indeed, his 1987 seminal study “Cracking jokes: Studies of Sick Humor Cycles and Stereotypes” should be any student’s starting point. Dundes admits to loving jokes since childhood, explaining his interest as key to leading him to the study of folklore. (As an aside for our Estonian readers, Dundes has been translated into Estonian, his classic folklore book “Kes on rahvas” is available through www.raamatukoi.ee)
We should be aware at the outset that stereotypes are a critical component of most such jokes. And stereotypes tend to cramp thinking. But on the other hand, stereotypes do exist — we all know the crafty fox, the smart tortoise, the dense hare, the wicked witch (source for many mother-in-law jokes, incidentally) — all used in ancient tales and fables to describe common human behaviour that are part of our shared folklore.
Today’s media means that most jokes go through cycles. The internet and e-mail allow a particular joke to travel almost at the speed of light. Why are they sent on? Because they are either funny, or have deeper meaning — even if neither sender nor recipient knows what the real meaning might be.
Consider the dead baby jokes . Stereotypically American, a form of gallows humour, popular as a response to the Vietnam war with its endless reporting — visual as a first — of carnage and death. We are becoming more immune to the media portraying death, but still the humour is used as a defense against anxiety about dying ourselves. Dead baby jokes were also popular as a response to the abortion debate publicized by Roe vs Wade. Legalized abortion meant a boom in dead baby jokes.
Anti-Semitic jokes are given careful study by Dundes. Auschwitz jokes were told because most people simply did not know how to come to terms with such cruelty. But the sterotypical Jew, present in every joke as a conniving money making devil exists because of the alleged characteristics of the race. The staying power of these ethnic jokes exists because there is some truth in the sterotype. Slurs indeed, but for a reason.
Scientists explore the “modal personality”, or fundamental character of different groups because there is little doubt that different peoples manifest different personality traits. Political correctness be damned, Italians react differently than Norwegians or Maoris to events.
Folklore provides the principal means of transmitting and disseminating national character stereotypes. Slurs take into account humour, prejudice, ethnocentrism, in essence concisely reflect a perception of people different from that of the teller of the joke.
Patterns of immigration explain joke cycles. Polish jokes were replaced by Italian, then Somalian. The famine in Biafra brought a slew of Ethiopian cuisine jokes. The response to the American space shuttle tragedies came quickly — the jokes were a means of not having to deal with reality. (Sample: Why do they drink Coke at NASA? Because they couldn’t get 7-Up.)
There really is no-one immune from the folkloric joke. What makes the study so interesting are the common threads. In one of Dundes’ ethnic studies, that of German folklore ( The book is titled “Life is Like a Chicken Coop Ladder” — i.e., short and dirty, although dirty is not the word used...) an Estonian finds much in common with the expressed humour.
Living in America, with the sound bites and short attention spans, the study of folklore is hardly a popular one. No, Americans are more into the “Jeopardy” type shows, play Trivial Pursuit, seem to be interested in arcane sports statistics. They have no idea what they are missing.
I could go on — but let’s leave that to the professors. However, if you wish to find out what is really on a people’s collective mind, then as Dundes affirms, there is no more direct and accurate way of finding out than by paying attention to precisely what is making the people laugh. Best of all, by gaining that insight you can have a belly laugh of your own, as you explore the fertile ground of humour in folklore. And figure out why Latvians are the way they are in the process...
Leader: The meaning behind folklore
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