ANTH 2423 Chapter : Occupational Folklore
Document Summary
Material, custom, verbal folklore generated from occupational settings. Can grow out of the work situation with specific experiences. Funny picture or jokes put up around the workplace. Decorating the office or arranging office furniture. Initiation rituals: seeing if people have a sense of humor, to see how people react to each other, to bring everyone closer as a team. Icu nurses: going to chicago euphemism for dying, quick references for certain kinds of patients, crannies, chronics, hearts, bleeders, drawing stick figures on sheets to show where the head and foot of the bed are. When folklorists first started to study occupational folklore they looked mainly at masculine, outdoor occupations. Cowboys spent long times separated from other people and were always around each other. Railroad gandy dancers african american men that laid the track in place with each man hammering at the same time (on beat or on a specific word in the song)
