ren's FOLKLORE NEWSLETTER the . I Volume II, Number 2 t:llere We Go, 'Round Again" The Children's Folklore Section has changed the subscription rate policy; subscription rates will now be assessed for the calendar year instead of the academic year. Because of this change, the Children's Folklore Newsletter will readjust its volume and number desig- nations. Starting this calendar year, the Spring issue will be Volume III, Number 1;the Fall issue will be Number 2; and the Winter issue will be Number 3. Tentative deadlines for submission of materials to be published in the Newsletter: Spring issue - March 30 Fall issue - September 30 Winter issue- December30 c. W. SullivanIII Editor lill~~@OD~@rn~rn~lJ~1 SUBSCRIPTION DUES NOTICE . At the October 1979 meeting of the Children's Folklore Section in Los Angeles, the annual subscrip- tion ra te for the Newsletter was set at $5.00/ year. Subscription notices for 1980 have already gone out. Any person wishing to subscribe to the Newsletter should send a check for $5.00 to: Gary Alan Fine, Chair Children's Folklore Section Department of Sociology Universityof Minnesota Minneapolis,Minnesota55455 CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE SECTION CONSTITUTION . The Constitution Committee of the Children's Folklore Section is currently 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, California 95929 -l WINTER 1979 Minutes, Children's Folklore Section Meeting, 1979 The Children's Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society met on Friday, October 26, at the Los Angeles Hilton. Before the election of officers, we dis- cussed the question of annufll dues: should the present amount of $5.00 be changed? We decided, in view of the newsletter expenses and the possibility of other publica- tions, to retain the same amount. One possible publica- tion, a journal of the Children's Folklore Section, was discussed at some length. We agreed that it would be premature to found such a journal at this time, though it might be a worthwhile project for the future. A vote was taken to reappoint the present steering committee for one year, in the following positions: Gary Alan Fine, Chair Elizabeth Tucker, Secretary- Treasurer Sylvia Grider, Archivist C. W. Sullivan III, Editor In the future, the terms of officers' service will be staggered. Gary Alan Fine, who had served as treasurer during the past year, presented a financial report. The balance of the Children's Folklore Section, as of October, 1979, is 253.94. Several members suggested that the time had come to draft a constitution for the Children's Folklore Section. With the approval of all present, a four-person constitu- tion committee was formed. Sue Samuelson, Karana Drayton, and Tom Johnson will work together on the constitution, with another participant ex officio (to be. decided by the Section officers). Maryellen Hains made a motion to have a draft of the constitution in the hands of the membership thirty days before the next meeting. This motion was approved. Linda Morley then suggested that the newsletter call for members to contribute to the efforts of the constitution committee. Gary Alan Fine told of his meeting with Marilyn Braunstein of Greenwood Press, who had contacted him after seeing the newsletter's first issue. As a result of their discussion, three possibilities have emerged: a children's folklore handbook, an annotated bibliography, and a motif index of children's games, stories, or other mate- rial. Another editor, from the Garland publishing house, has expressed interest in a children's glossary. Barbara Walker suggested tbe Shoestring Press as another alternative. Several questions were raised about (conlin~d on page Z) Minutes. cOnTinl/ed. . . the handbook: should it come first, before other publica- tion possibilities? Would it be a handbook along the lines of Dorson's Folklore and Folkl(fe?Would royalties come to the Children's Folklore Section? Kenny Goldstein reminded us that no publication can be published by a section without approval of the AFS editorial board. Publications of the AFS now go through the University of Pennsylvania Press. Elizabeth Tucker suggested that all of these logistics be carefully considered before mak- ing any commitment. It was suggested, and unanimously approved, that an ad hoc publications committee be established. The members nominated for this committee were: Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Tom Burns Priscilla Ord Linda Morley Barbara Walker Kenny Goldstein Carol Carpenter A motion was made that all of these members be elected (plus one member ex officio) subject to the approval of the two absent members. This motion was accepted by acclamation. Under new business, Linda Morley brought up the need for librarians and teachers to be informed what folklore is. Could the Children's Folklore Section spon- sor a one-day conference in Pittsburgh prior to the next AFS meeting? The library association would be likely to cooperate. If one year would not be enough for prepara- tion, then the conference could be held in 1981. Sylvia Grider said that one year would not be enough to prepare such a conference, which must be brought to the attention of the Executive Board. Priscilla Ord sug- gested that members of the School of Library Science could be invited to join us; Linda Morley replied that it would be better to have a workshop. Maryellen Hains proposed looking into the possibility of a summer insti- tute. Barbara Walker said that cooperation from the ACLS and ALA would be likely for such a project. Kenny Goldstein suggested another possibility: to go and do panels at librarians' meetings. The Section could pick its best spokesman to attend meetings ofIibrarians. Gary Alan Fine concluded that it was probably too late to prepare a conference for the Pittsburgh meeting, and that Kenny Goldstein's idea was more immediately feasible. A committee should be formed to discuss feasibility, with a tentative goal of the San Antonio meeting. Maryellen Hains proposed the formation of a speaker's bureau; the lack of payment for possible speakers was brought up to counter this proposal. Tom Johnson suggested that Linda Morley investigate what might be done. Katharine Briggs stated that there were good ideas, but the constitution should be formulated first. The Eli- zabeth Gaskell Room should be formally suggested for the Pittsburgh meeting. Gary Fine nominated Sylvia Grider, Linda Morley, and Priscilla Ord to look into the possibility of meeting with librarians. This is not yet a formally constituded committee. Priscilla Ord announced that the Children's Litera- ture Association was accepting paper proposals until Nov. 15 for its March meeting in Waco, Texas. The Popular Culture Association was also accepting calls for papers until Nov. 15 for its spring meeting in Detroit. Chip Sullivan and Gary Alan Fine were commended by the Section members for their fine work with the newsletter and publicati°!l i~quiries, respectively. - Elizabeth Tucker Secretary-Treasurer lJ[}{]~ @ [}{]~~[ID 00~ [K]9~ @j~@~~ffiOOV 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 information 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 afull 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 similar meanings, although this distinction is never a clear one. Pre-Adolescent Male Slang II Gary Alan Fine Universityof Minnesota The following examples of folk speech are derived middle class suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesot~, consist- from participant observation research in five American ing of a large number of modern mass-produced homes, communities during the period 1975-1977: (I) Beanville, and (5) Maple Bluff, studied by Harold Pontiff, an urban, an upper-middle class professional suburb of Boston, upper-middle class, professional area ofSt. Paul, Minne- Massachusetts; (2) Hopewell, an exurban township out- sota. Boys were between the ages of ten and twelve. side the Providence, Rhode Island, metropolitan area, Terms included in the glossary were all part of the consisting of a string of small towns, beach-front land, active vocabulary of male pre-adolescents during the farms and a campus of the state university; (3) Bolton years studied. However, it is probably true that several of Park, an upper-middle class professional suburb of St. these terms are also used by females and those of other Paul, Minnesota,-similar to Beanville except for geogra- ages. The most obvious examples of adult folk speech phical areas; (4) Sanford Heights, a middle-to-Iower- have been eliminated from this list. 2 Winter79_Vol2No2_Part1 Winter79_Vol2No2_Part2