And there are people who, surrounded by others wearing "normal" 'urban office' clothes to work, will persistently wear boots and knee-length shorts to the office in an attempt to display the metaphoric hair on their chests.

Now I've got that little effort away, it seems clear to me that Azizi's research has concentrated on African American contexts and that her tracing of examples across time and space (in the African American context) will be a valuable contribution. Although centred in the US it fits into the genre of endeavours "started" by the Opies in Britain and with many similarities to Ian Turner's researches in Australia that were published in 1969 as "Cinderella dressed in yella"

It's a long time now since I read the Opies' book (and cannot now remember its title) but I know that Ian Turner was quite clear about the need to record and analyse playground and schoolyard folklore that was ignored or disapproved of by the arbiters of taste and propriety. He demonstrated that there was a different society operating out of the hearing of most adults and its mores, while sharing attributes of adult mores, used words quite differently to the 'more informed' adult meanings. An earlier posting about potty humour put it very nicely.

While I am well aware of the difficulty of removing one's personal values from fields of rational thought I think it would be helpful if posters could separate the anthropological intent of collecting and analysing folklore from hindsight-focussed and narrowly constructed political agendas, no matter how worthwhile those agendas are. A rigourous analysis of such material can better inform how we deal with our agendas.

I suspect Azizi has some knowledge of both the Opies' work and of Ian Turner's and I hope, when she publishes her own collections and analyses she sees fit to indicate the similarities and differences of African American examples to those from other times and places. Azizi should be encouraged.

Cheers, Rowan