Favorable review of Whispers on the Color Line by Gary Alan Fine and Patricia A. Turner (U of Cal... more Favorable review of Whispers on the Color Line by Gary Alan Fine and Patricia A. Turner (U of Calif. Pr., 2001). A welcome book that will encourage reasoned discussion of the beliefs and behaviors that inform racial issues, and a valuable resource for communities trying to provide mediated dialogue among previously divided groups.
Condensed version of "Legend-Tripping in Ohio: A Behavioral Survey." Papers in Comparative Studi... more Condensed version of "Legend-Tripping in Ohio: A Behavioral Survey." Papers in Comparative Studies 2 (1983):52-69. Legend-trips, widespread in the United States, do not reflect passive belief in superstitions but in fact reflect a ritual rejection of adult standards. Combined with alcohol, drug, sex, and at times vandalism, it feeds on the excitement of breaking laws, both civil and social. It constitutes an escape from a rational world governed by moral custodians and generates an altered state of being where everyday rules do not operate. They are also means of playing with adolescents’ anxieties about death and the irrational. Perhaps the first non-academic discussion of the legend trip in American popular culture.
My original essay “Death by Folklore” was written soon after the 1982 murders of teenagers Annett... more My original essay “Death by Folklore” was written soon after the 1982 murders of teenagers Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz in an area of Southeastern Ohio plagued by rumors of Satanic cults. I argued that the killings and the local reaction to them could be understood as acts of ostension, possibly criminal acts or, more likely, acts of interpreting ambiguous events in terms of familiar legends about Satanism. Since then, the original defendant has been exonerated, and a convict has confessed to being the actual murderer, which he says was the result of an unmeditated impulse with no folklore relevance. So, was my article irrelevant to the crime? The essay surveys new information uncovered through investigative journalism and criminal justice research, and concludes that ostension, in its current sense, remains the best theoretical tool for understanding the murders’ cultural significance.
Folk Culture in the Digital Age: The Emergent Dynamics of Human Interaction, 2012
While traditional folklorists have often assumed that a "community" consists of people ... more While traditional folklorists have often assumed that a "community" consists of people who interact in face-to-face settings, the emergence of high-context groups on the Internet challenges this idea. This article presents an ethnography of a close-knit and persistent "virtual community" of persons who have rarely, if ever, met each other face-to-face. The common factor that binds them is an intense, often obsessive involvement in collecting original art from recent Japanese animated productions ("anime"). Animation art, like most fine art, is not just rare but unique, and so possession of an item is absolute: no one else can own it or even see it, except by the owner's permission. And so the quest for an especially desirable anime art object is often characterized as warfare, with any means of winning or obtaining the prize justified by the end. The article describes how this dynamic is counterbalanced by "restitution," a powerful cultural tool, one that allows individuals a carnivalesque license to be competitive and self-centered in building a collection, while at the same time remaining on courteous terms with other enthusiasts who share their passion for the art.
Why Is a Lucky Rabbit's Foot Lucky? ... If asked to name common superstitious practices in t... more Why Is a Lucky Rabbit's Foot Lucky? ... If asked to name common superstitious practices in the United States, many people are likely to mention the "lucky rabbit's foot." Far fewer, however, could explain why such an object is considered ... Journal of Folklore Research, Vo\. 39, ...
L'A. analyse la maniere dont ont ete construits de toutes pieces les premiers cas d'abus ... more L'A. analyse la maniere dont ont ete construits de toutes pieces les premiers cas d'abus satanique en Amerique du Nord. Il s'agissait de patients adultes chez qui leurs psychotherapeutes provoquaient des transes en les encourageant a se rememorer des evenements terribles de leur enfance au cours desquels ils avaient ete entraines par leurs proches dans un culte demoniaque. D'une facon generale, la tradition a l'origine de cette forme de therapie derivait d'une methode d'exorcisme pratiquee par des reseaux charismatiques dans les annees soixante et soixante-dix. Par ailleurs, Lawrence Pazder, auteur du premier livre influent sur l'abus rituel satanique, faisait partie d'une communaute catholique conservatrice dont les membres etaient convaincus que les courants liberaux dans l'Eglise etaient inspires par le demon. Il introduisait aussi dans son livre des elements de religions africaines traditionnelles que des missionnaires avaient interpretes comme des rituels demoniaques. Quant aux souvenirs de sa patiente, Michelle Smith, il est possible qu'ils aient comporte des details d'un cas reel de mort d'enfant par torture qui s'etait produit dans la region au cours d'un exorcisme chretien. La combinaison de tous ces elements impliquait a la fois l'utilisation et la demonisation de traditions populaires.
A summary of the life of Linda Dégh-Vázsonyi and her contribution to folklore studies in Europe a... more A summary of the life of Linda Dégh-Vázsonyi and her contribution to folklore studies in Europe and, later in her career, in the United States. She was an early advocate for studing the role of individual tellers and their communities in preserving traditional folktales. Her observation of narratives in their natural contexts moved the study of Märchen from analysis of texts alone to a fuller understanding of tales in social context. Her ethnographic approach also informed the early study of legends, both in Hungary and then in her adopted homeland of the US. Establishing legendry as a folk process of debate, she challenged older approaches that saw them as informed by quaint old-fashioned beliefs. Legends, she argued persuasively, involved not only making texts, but using mass media to spread them and ostension, or belief-motivated actions, to enact them in everyday life. The explosive growth of legend scholarship, both among folklorists and related fields, resulted from her innovative work.
"Scary stories"-those horror-filled legends related by camp counselors to their adolesc... more "Scary stories"-those horror-filled legends related by camp counselors to their adolescent charges-compose an important body of folk narrative active in the midwest. Recounting the mayhem wrought by spooks, maniacs, mutants, or uncanny animals, these stories may run as short ...
Tongue got me here. ("Skallbone" [Motif K 1162.1]) Robert A. Georges led off the recent... more Tongue got me here. ("Skallbone" [Motif K 1162.1]) Robert A. Georges led off the recent special issue of Western Folklore on "Prospects in American Folklore Studies" with a conspicuous example of a problem the discipline faces: the scholar who "appropriates" the identity of folklorist ...
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and the media co... more In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and the media coverage of the aftermath, Americans began moving through a grieving process helped by coping strategies. Some of these, such as political speeches and organized vigils, were ...
The Folkloresque: Reframing Folklore in a Popular Culture World, 2016
A distinctive form of fairy-tale adaptations are narratives in which the characters become aware ... more A distinctive form of fairy-tale adaptations are narratives in which the characters become aware that they are being used as puppets in the hands of a master storyteller. They rebel, but to change their fates, they must themselves become competent narrators, or "fairy-tellers," who can produce a proper ending with the genre of their creation. This essay examines the role of self-conscious "fairy-telling" within the Japanese anime Princess Tutu (2002-03), the core plot of which is loosely based on that of Tchaikovsky's classic ballet Swan Lake. The manic undead narrator Drosselmeyer insists on a tragic ending, while the characters struggle against the plot toward a conventional happy ending. A key figure is Ahiru ("Duck"), who by turn appears as an awkward girl in a boarding school, a magical ballet princess, and a real little duck. Who or what she is remains ambiguous, even within her own mind, and her nature connects not to the Western fairy-tale tradition used by Tchaikovsky but to folk and media traditions indigenous to Japan. The essay argues that her liminal status is central to her ability to thwart the tale's nominal fairyteller and replace his cruel designs with a plot that makes perfect sense in Japanese tradition
My original essay “Death by Folklore” was written soon after the 1982 murders of teenagers Annett... more My original essay “Death by Folklore” was written soon after the 1982 murders of teenagers Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz in an area of Southeastern Ohio plagued by rumors of Satanic cults. I argued that the killings and the local reaction to them could be understood as acts of ostension, possibly criminal acts or, more likely, acts of interpreting ambiguous events in terms of familiar legends about Satanism. Since then, the original defendant has been exonerated, and a convict has confessed to being the actual murderer, which he says was the result of an unmeditated impulse with no folklore relevance.So, was my article irrelevant to the crime? The essay surveys new information uncovered through investigative journalism and criminal justice research, and concludes that ostension, in its current sense, remains the best theoretical tool for understanding the murders’ cultural significance.
LEGEND-TRIPS AND SATANISM: ADOLESCENTS'OSTENSIVE TRADITIONS AS" CULT" ACTIVITY BIL... more LEGEND-TRIPS AND SATANISM: ADOLESCENTS'OSTENSIVE TRADITIONS AS" CULT" ACTIVITY BILL ELLIS 77ii. s essay brings together two aspects of contemporary legend research which have recently become important. The first is folklorists' growing involvement in the ...
Favorable review of Whispers on the Color Line by Gary Alan Fine and Patricia A. Turner (U of Cal... more Favorable review of Whispers on the Color Line by Gary Alan Fine and Patricia A. Turner (U of Calif. Pr., 2001). A welcome book that will encourage reasoned discussion of the beliefs and behaviors that inform racial issues, and a valuable resource for communities trying to provide mediated dialogue among previously divided groups.
Condensed version of "Legend-Tripping in Ohio: A Behavioral Survey." Papers in Comparative Studi... more Condensed version of "Legend-Tripping in Ohio: A Behavioral Survey." Papers in Comparative Studies 2 (1983):52-69. Legend-trips, widespread in the United States, do not reflect passive belief in superstitions but in fact reflect a ritual rejection of adult standards. Combined with alcohol, drug, sex, and at times vandalism, it feeds on the excitement of breaking laws, both civil and social. It constitutes an escape from a rational world governed by moral custodians and generates an altered state of being where everyday rules do not operate. They are also means of playing with adolescents’ anxieties about death and the irrational. Perhaps the first non-academic discussion of the legend trip in American popular culture.
My original essay “Death by Folklore” was written soon after the 1982 murders of teenagers Annett... more My original essay “Death by Folklore” was written soon after the 1982 murders of teenagers Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz in an area of Southeastern Ohio plagued by rumors of Satanic cults. I argued that the killings and the local reaction to them could be understood as acts of ostension, possibly criminal acts or, more likely, acts of interpreting ambiguous events in terms of familiar legends about Satanism. Since then, the original defendant has been exonerated, and a convict has confessed to being the actual murderer, which he says was the result of an unmeditated impulse with no folklore relevance. So, was my article irrelevant to the crime? The essay surveys new information uncovered through investigative journalism and criminal justice research, and concludes that ostension, in its current sense, remains the best theoretical tool for understanding the murders’ cultural significance.
Folk Culture in the Digital Age: The Emergent Dynamics of Human Interaction, 2012
While traditional folklorists have often assumed that a "community" consists of people ... more While traditional folklorists have often assumed that a "community" consists of people who interact in face-to-face settings, the emergence of high-context groups on the Internet challenges this idea. This article presents an ethnography of a close-knit and persistent "virtual community" of persons who have rarely, if ever, met each other face-to-face. The common factor that binds them is an intense, often obsessive involvement in collecting original art from recent Japanese animated productions ("anime"). Animation art, like most fine art, is not just rare but unique, and so possession of an item is absolute: no one else can own it or even see it, except by the owner's permission. And so the quest for an especially desirable anime art object is often characterized as warfare, with any means of winning or obtaining the prize justified by the end. The article describes how this dynamic is counterbalanced by "restitution," a powerful cultural tool, one that allows individuals a carnivalesque license to be competitive and self-centered in building a collection, while at the same time remaining on courteous terms with other enthusiasts who share their passion for the art.
Why Is a Lucky Rabbit's Foot Lucky? ... If asked to name common superstitious practices in t... more Why Is a Lucky Rabbit's Foot Lucky? ... If asked to name common superstitious practices in the United States, many people are likely to mention the "lucky rabbit's foot." Far fewer, however, could explain why such an object is considered ... Journal of Folklore Research, Vo\. 39, ...
L'A. analyse la maniere dont ont ete construits de toutes pieces les premiers cas d'abus ... more L'A. analyse la maniere dont ont ete construits de toutes pieces les premiers cas d'abus satanique en Amerique du Nord. Il s'agissait de patients adultes chez qui leurs psychotherapeutes provoquaient des transes en les encourageant a se rememorer des evenements terribles de leur enfance au cours desquels ils avaient ete entraines par leurs proches dans un culte demoniaque. D'une facon generale, la tradition a l'origine de cette forme de therapie derivait d'une methode d'exorcisme pratiquee par des reseaux charismatiques dans les annees soixante et soixante-dix. Par ailleurs, Lawrence Pazder, auteur du premier livre influent sur l'abus rituel satanique, faisait partie d'une communaute catholique conservatrice dont les membres etaient convaincus que les courants liberaux dans l'Eglise etaient inspires par le demon. Il introduisait aussi dans son livre des elements de religions africaines traditionnelles que des missionnaires avaient interpretes comme des rituels demoniaques. Quant aux souvenirs de sa patiente, Michelle Smith, il est possible qu'ils aient comporte des details d'un cas reel de mort d'enfant par torture qui s'etait produit dans la region au cours d'un exorcisme chretien. La combinaison de tous ces elements impliquait a la fois l'utilisation et la demonisation de traditions populaires.
A summary of the life of Linda Dégh-Vázsonyi and her contribution to folklore studies in Europe a... more A summary of the life of Linda Dégh-Vázsonyi and her contribution to folklore studies in Europe and, later in her career, in the United States. She was an early advocate for studing the role of individual tellers and their communities in preserving traditional folktales. Her observation of narratives in their natural contexts moved the study of Märchen from analysis of texts alone to a fuller understanding of tales in social context. Her ethnographic approach also informed the early study of legends, both in Hungary and then in her adopted homeland of the US. Establishing legendry as a folk process of debate, she challenged older approaches that saw them as informed by quaint old-fashioned beliefs. Legends, she argued persuasively, involved not only making texts, but using mass media to spread them and ostension, or belief-motivated actions, to enact them in everyday life. The explosive growth of legend scholarship, both among folklorists and related fields, resulted from her innovative work.
"Scary stories"-those horror-filled legends related by camp counselors to their adolesc... more "Scary stories"-those horror-filled legends related by camp counselors to their adolescent charges-compose an important body of folk narrative active in the midwest. Recounting the mayhem wrought by spooks, maniacs, mutants, or uncanny animals, these stories may run as short ...
Tongue got me here. ("Skallbone" [Motif K 1162.1]) Robert A. Georges led off the recent... more Tongue got me here. ("Skallbone" [Motif K 1162.1]) Robert A. Georges led off the recent special issue of Western Folklore on "Prospects in American Folklore Studies" with a conspicuous example of a problem the discipline faces: the scholar who "appropriates" the identity of folklorist ...
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and the media co... more In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and the media coverage of the aftermath, Americans began moving through a grieving process helped by coping strategies. Some of these, such as political speeches and organized vigils, were ...
The Folkloresque: Reframing Folklore in a Popular Culture World, 2016
A distinctive form of fairy-tale adaptations are narratives in which the characters become aware ... more A distinctive form of fairy-tale adaptations are narratives in which the characters become aware that they are being used as puppets in the hands of a master storyteller. They rebel, but to change their fates, they must themselves become competent narrators, or "fairy-tellers," who can produce a proper ending with the genre of their creation. This essay examines the role of self-conscious "fairy-telling" within the Japanese anime Princess Tutu (2002-03), the core plot of which is loosely based on that of Tchaikovsky's classic ballet Swan Lake. The manic undead narrator Drosselmeyer insists on a tragic ending, while the characters struggle against the plot toward a conventional happy ending. A key figure is Ahiru ("Duck"), who by turn appears as an awkward girl in a boarding school, a magical ballet princess, and a real little duck. Who or what she is remains ambiguous, even within her own mind, and her nature connects not to the Western fairy-tale tradition used by Tchaikovsky but to folk and media traditions indigenous to Japan. The essay argues that her liminal status is central to her ability to thwart the tale's nominal fairyteller and replace his cruel designs with a plot that makes perfect sense in Japanese tradition
My original essay “Death by Folklore” was written soon after the 1982 murders of teenagers Annett... more My original essay “Death by Folklore” was written soon after the 1982 murders of teenagers Annette Cooper and Todd Schultz in an area of Southeastern Ohio plagued by rumors of Satanic cults. I argued that the killings and the local reaction to them could be understood as acts of ostension, possibly criminal acts or, more likely, acts of interpreting ambiguous events in terms of familiar legends about Satanism. Since then, the original defendant has been exonerated, and a convict has confessed to being the actual murderer, which he says was the result of an unmeditated impulse with no folklore relevance.So, was my article irrelevant to the crime? The essay surveys new information uncovered through investigative journalism and criminal justice research, and concludes that ostension, in its current sense, remains the best theoretical tool for understanding the murders’ cultural significance.
LEGEND-TRIPS AND SATANISM: ADOLESCENTS'OSTENSIVE TRADITIONS AS" CULT" ACTIVITY BIL... more LEGEND-TRIPS AND SATANISM: ADOLESCENTS'OSTENSIVE TRADITIONS AS" CULT" ACTIVITY BILL ELLIS 77ii. s essay brings together two aspects of contemporary legend research which have recently become important. The first is folklorists' growing involvement in the ...
Kripal argues that participation in the sacred is central to religion and to human consciousness,... more Kripal argues that participation in the sacred is central to religion and to human consciousness, and so claims of the supernatural should given more attention in religious studies. The book discusses four authors, Fredrick Myers, Charles Fort, Jacques Vallee, and Bertrand Meheust, who have taken paranormal claims seriously and constructed complex theories of existence based on them. The book is valuable for bringing into precise focus the intellectual challenge such theories present to Western rationality.
Some research has been done on how and why rumors and legends fade out of circulation. In some c... more Some research has been done on how and why rumors and legends fade out of circulation. In some cases, this is no more than loss of novelty, but some cycles of rumor/legend are surprisingly durable and difficult to control. This essay discusses the role of “anti-legends,” deliberate parodies of serious, active legends that call attention to narrative structures and distort them into satire. One example is “The Grateful Terrorist,” which in its serious form shows a person doing some petty kindness to a stranger, who in return tells them in confidence when (or where) the next terrorist attack will occur. On October 15, 2001, Andrew Porter of Kingston Hospital Radio, annoyed by this “hoax email,” posted a parody on an e-mail list, in which he told how he had returned a lost bag to an “Arab looking man,” who replied, “Stay away from Aberdeen Steak Houses.” When the narrator asked if that was going to be site of a terrorist attack, the Arab replied, “No, Sir, I went there and the food was shit.” Porter’s parody proved popular and produced many variants that named other restaurants and/or localities that one should avoid, because “it’s a shit hole.” The emergence of this satire deflated the popularity of the serious version because the surprise ending is funny and also because the switch, as in other humorous legends, makes the audience aware of stereotypes we too often impose on events we witness.
Hawthorne was a keen observer of folk narrative, not only of tales of past history but also of co... more Hawthorne was a keen observer of folk narrative, not only of tales of past history but also of contemporary legends about the culture in which he lived. They provided emblematic ways of addressing public concerns that could not be addressed openly in formal literature. Among these was the legend that folklorists have since labeled “The Bosom Serpent” in Hawthorne’s honor: it involves the invasion of the human body by an animal that lives, grows, and often reproduces within. Traditionally, this legend speculated on the female power to conceive and grow a human fetus, at the time a medical secret hidden from view. However, the contemporary legend that circulated actively in Hawthorne’s region was distinctive in making the victim of the indwelling creature a male rather than female. I suggest that this shift marks a period in which social rules governing sexuality became much more restrictive, and sexual urges were seen as polluting and contributing to madness. This “autophobic” tendency encouraged males to restrain their sex drive until mated with a spiritually superior female. “The Bosom Serpent” is a comment on the politics of male-dominany sexuality, which Hawthorne saw as a form of “egotism” (hence the story’s subtitle). By trying to exercise moral control over the essentially human sex drive, it argues, the protagonist loses the energy of the libido in sterile, self-serving activities. And by denying females’ sexual nature, as Hawthorne argues in other tales written during this period, males destroy women’s purpose for existence.
Abstract: In July 2006, the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, enacted an “Illegal Immigration Reli... more Abstract: In July 2006, the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, enacted an “Illegal Immigration Relief Act,” aimed at correcting concerns raised by a sudden influx of Latinos into the area. The statute would have punished businesses hiring illegal immigrants and made English the city’s sole legal language. This essay discusses this political action in the context of the region’s history of rumor-panics, in which vague fears were projected out from the community onto a shadowy group of Evil Others. In the 1980s, these were “Satanic cults,” and lately motifs from these events resurfaced and attached to “Latino gangs.” However, the essay argues, the rumor panic had little to do with Spanish-speaking newcomers; they in fact held similar attitudes about crime, and their arrival actually led to a significant drop in the local crime rate. Rather, it expressed a long-standing insecurity and anger over the region’s slow economic decline, combined with suspicions about the influence of local business leaders. Rumors held that the local “Mafia” was keeping salaries and standards of living depressed by discouraging outside businesses from investing in the area and advertising out of state to entice ethnics to come to the area in return for steady but low-paying jobs. The city’s statute did nothing to handle the problems caused by its new residents, but it did deflect growing anger from within the established community out to a handy target.
Folklorists began discussing contemporary legends as if there were some implied “core text” refle... more Folklorists began discussing contemporary legends as if there were some implied “core text” reflected in all (or most) collected variants. However, closer examination of archived texts show that legend texts are far too idiosyncratic to discuss in terms of a “typical” or “standard” version. Individual narratives reflect the concerns and priorities of individual narrators and their audiences. This essay discusses this issue with regard to “The Hook,” a relatively stable legend type that has often been discussed as reflecting female fears of sexuality. It focuses on a set of archived texts that were collected from male informants who claimed that they had learned them from male friends. One would expect these to be sharply divergent from previous corpuses predominantly offered by female informants, but in fact male texts are no more (or less) idiosyncratic. A deep comparative analysis, however, finds some broad similarities, notably in the ways in which informants began their versions.
This observation is discussed in the light of literary theorist E. D. Hirsch, who argues that all narratives (spoken and written) are understood in terms of “intrinsic genres,” that is, as shared understanding of the rules by which a given kind of story is expected to operate. The analysis also finds broad similarities in the contexts in which the stories are told, which likewise implies expectations from audiences that narrators are expected to fulfill.
A concluding section discusses the moment, commonly included in the story, in which the couple parking quarrel and the boyfriend drives off in anger. The wording of this, that he “pulled out real quick,” has been taken as a sign that the story is about the symbolic castration of the boyfriend by his date’s refusal to comply; however, this specific wording never appears in the UC Berkeley Archive texts. More commonly offered phrases say that the couple “took off,” “got going,” or “left rubber,” all phrases that explain how the hook hand was pulled off the maniac’s hand, but also imply an accelerated sexual event, not its abrupt termination.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is discussed as an especially influential text in the history... more The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is discussed as an especially influential text in the history of conspiracy theories or subversion myths. The essay reviews the essential characteristics of conspiracy theories, summarizes the argument of The Protocols, and reviews their origins in the political context of the Dreyfuss Affair and the Taxil "Palladian Masonry" hoax of the 1890s. It suggests several reasons why this theory, and not others floated at the same time, proved adaptable to the politics of other cultures in the following century and notes that it embodies a general movement in the West in which "evil elites" (rather than "evil outsiders") are seen as the most dangerous cultural threat.
Unpublished encyclopedia article, written ca. 1989 for the "Encyclopedia of American Popular Beli... more Unpublished encyclopedia article, written ca. 1989 for the "Encyclopedia of American Popular Beliefs and Superstitions," a project that was later abandoned short of publication. The article summarizes historical references to the carbuncle, a mysterious self-luminous stone, in European, Latin American, and North American tradition. Strongly linked to dragon traditions, it was often said to be carried by snakes or gigantic snake-like creatures and often was a fabulous treasure or signaled the presence of one buried nearby. Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Great Carbuncle" (1836) synthesizes several variants of this tradition, one connected to the White Mountains of New Hampshire (where the story is set), and others localized in other parts of New England that the author probably read or encountered in oral tradition.
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This observation is discussed in the light of literary theorist E. D. Hirsch, who argues that all narratives (spoken and written) are understood in terms of “intrinsic genres,” that is, as shared understanding of the rules by which a given kind of story is expected to operate. The analysis also finds broad similarities in the contexts in which the stories are told, which likewise implies expectations from audiences that narrators are expected to fulfill.
A concluding section discusses the moment, commonly included in the story, in which the couple parking quarrel and the boyfriend drives off in anger. The wording of this, that he “pulled out real quick,” has been taken as a sign that the story is about the symbolic castration of the boyfriend by his date’s refusal to comply; however, this specific wording never appears in the UC Berkeley Archive texts. More commonly offered phrases say that the couple “took off,” “got going,” or “left rubber,” all phrases that explain how the hook hand was pulled off the maniac’s hand, but also imply an accelerated sexual event, not its abrupt termination.