Folklore in 'Miss Congeniality'?

Subject: Folklore in 'Miss Congeniality'?
From: Bob Coltman
Date: 09 Aug 06 - 09:11 PM

In the film Miss Congeniality Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) half-sings a comical (and unforgettable) taunt:

"You think I'm gorgeous... You want to kiss me... You want to hug me... You want to love me... You want to smooch me..."

Sure, maybe this was just written for the script, but it has the sound of a kids' street jibe.

Question: could it be traditional? Anyone ever encounter anything like it in childhood?

Bob

Subject: RE: Folklore in 'Miss Congeniality'?
From: Azizi
Date: 09 Aug 06 - 10:15 PM

"Miss Congeniality". I love that movie!!

As to your question, Bob, I agree that the character said these words in a taunting sing songy voice.

I don't recall hearing or reading any chant with those exact words. But I've heard girls chant in a taunting way [spontaneously as part of a tag you're it chasing game]

"Miss me. Miss me/Wouldn't wanna kiss me." [African American girls, around 5-12 years old; Pittsburgh, PA area, 1980s-to date, and probably earlier]

That's the closest rhyme I can think of to those the character in the film said.

However, I would suggest that those words which in effect tease a potential boyfriend don't have the same spirit as the tough girl braggadocio lyrics of many contemporary girl handclap rhymes & foot stomping cheers. In those rhymes & cheers that I have heard and collected [from the 1980s to date], girls in that same age range that I cited above brag about their sexiness and their toughness, but their words are given as though they are talking in general and not to a specific male. Also, none of the contemporary rhymes or cheers that I heard or collected say anything about the girl looking gorgeous. {looking sexy? yes, looking good? yes. other girls being u.g.l.y. yes....but a description of what looking good means? no {except one cheer fragment that I have in which the girl says something about "I got hips on me..."

And also, hugging is not what most of these types of rhymes and chants talk about... That's so....well, I'll say "juvenile".

For instance there's one foot stomping cheer from the 1980s, Pittsburgh, PA called "L.O.V.E" in which the soloist in the groups says "I was sittin by the fire/watchin it get higher/with my man/you know I can"...

And here's a brief story:
In 1999, during an after school session on game songs that I facilitated in Pittsburgh, a 5 year old girl ended her recitation of the "I Love Coffee/I Love Tea" handclap rhyme with this verse:

"See that house on the top of the hill
That's where me and my boyfriend live
Do a little dance
Take a little drink
Come on baby, let's go to bed."

-snip-

As was often part of the experience, other girls & boys had joined in the girl's recitation of that rhyme. But they appeared not to know that end verse. The kids sniggered, and the 5 year old stood in the front of the group with this bewildered "why are they laughing" look on her face. And my middle-classism/adult-in chargism kicked in and I remembered saying something like "T'm sure they were married"...

Btw, it definitely seemed as though the rest of the group didn't know that verse. In the eight years that I've been formally conducting these game song sessions and other rhyme collecting activities, I've actually only heard that "see that house on the hill..." verse recited one other time by any other child. Both times the girls were five years old...and these were in widely separated African American neighborhoods of Pittsburgh...and when I asked them where they got those words from, both times the girls said that their mothers taught it to them.

Anyway Bob, all that to say, if I were a betting person {which I'm not} I'd bet the farm {that I don't own} that those words you got from the movie were made for that movie and did not come directly from a children's rhyme.

But I'd love to be proven wrong.

Best wishes,
Azizi

Subject: RE: Folklore in 'Miss Congeniality'?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Aug 06 - 02:16 AM

I loved that scene, Bob, and yes, I wondered the same thing.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Folklore in 'Miss Congeniality'?
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Aug 06 - 05:50 AM

"Miss me. Miss me/Wouldn't wanna kiss me." This was quite common in the Rocky Mountain West among mostly white and Hispanic girls from the early 1960's on.

Love the movie, too!

Subject: RE: Folklore in 'Miss Congeniality'?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Sep 22 - 04:10 PM

In my day (1970s) we used to sing-
Missed me, missed me
Now you've gotta kiss me