"Folklore of Student Life" holds the accumulated wisdom and wit of several IU undergraduate classes and of a good many IU undergraduates, all focused upon the folklore -- those shared avenues of creativity and expression -- that is part of the college experience at Indiana University. This website is a joint production of Prof John McDowell and his students in a number of undergraduate classes
Game 2: Flip Cup Date Collected: April 10, 2008 Flip Cup is another non-official game/sport played among college students. This particular game I only observed, but was informed that there is pretty much one standard set of rules. From watching Continue Reading …
Item 4: Pizza Box Drawings at Baked Location: Baked on 7th street. Context: This was a really cool piece of folklore art. When walking into Baked on 7th street, you can’t help but notice the wall-to-wall covering of pizza boxes Continue Reading …
Interview with IU Student 2 Interview was collected from IU Senior Taryn, age 22. Taryn is an out-of-state student attending IU, and she has attended IU for her entire undergraduate career. Interview was conducted in living room of apartment, with Continue Reading …
Interview with IU Student 1 Interview was collected from IU Senior AJ Boyd, 22. AJ is a tour guide for IU and has been involved in IU’s Intensive Freshman Seminar (IFS) program all four years of her undergraduate experience. She Continue Reading …
Text 7 A social worker asks a colleague: “What time is it?” The other one answers: “Sorry, don’t know, I have no watch.” The first one: “Never mind! The main thing is that we talked about it.” Context: From David Continue Reading …
Texts 8-11 Doctor jokes “Doctor, doctor, will I be able to play the violin after the operation?” ”Yes, of course…” ”Great! I never could before!” “Doctor, Doctor, You’ve got to help me – I just can’t stop my hands shaking!” Continue Reading …
Text 4 What’s the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers? Mechanical engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets. Context: From David Shay’s “Workjoke.com”. URL: http://www.workjoke.com/
Text 5 A mathematician, a physicist, and an engineer were all given a red rubber ball and told to find the volume. The mathematician carefully measured the diameter and evaluated a triple integral. The physicist filled a beaker with water, Continue Reading …
Text 6 *This one is really funny. About computers’ support staff: Caller: Hello, is this the Help Line? HelpLine: Yes, it is. How may I help you? Caller: The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within Continue Reading …
You enter the laboratory and see an experiment. How will you know which class it is? If it’s green and wiggles, it’s biology. If it stinks, it’s chemistry. If it doesn’t work, it’s physics. Context: David Shay collected jokes circulating Continue Reading …