You Dropped Your Pocket

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Nikki Redman, and I am in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Well, welcome to the show, Nikki. What can we do for you?

Well, I have heard a story over many years from my mom, and it involves a joke that has perplexed me for a long time.

My mom worked at the state hospital in Rochester, Minnesota in the 70s. And it had various halls, some for people with mental illnesses, some for people who are battling addiction.

And so one day she was walking down the hall and there was a man leaning up casually against the wall. And she saw a couple of people pass by him before she went past. And each person paused for a second and then kept on walking. And it looked kind of odd.

She kept going. And right when she got up to him, right as she was passing him, he very casually said, you dropped your pocket. And of course, it caused my mom to stop and immediately like pat her pockets and then take a second and have her brain sort of catch up. And then she looked over at him and he had this half smile and she just kept on walking.

And she has told me about this for years. And a few years ago, I was here in Charlotte at a local bar, and I heard somebody mention this joke. And I stopped them, and I said, oh, my gosh, my mom has told me about this up in Minnesota. This happened to her, and I’ve never heard it until this day with you saying it.

And the person said that they had lived in New Orleans, somewhere in Louisiana, somewhere around there, and that they were a musician, and that buskers and things would say this joke to get people to stop.

I was listening to your show and thought, I wonder where this joke comes from, you know, because it’s just such a funny little thing, and I’ve only heard it from two people in my life in two very different areas of the United States.

So just to recap, you’re cracking me up, by the way, Nikki. You dropped your pocket is what this person said to your mom, which is ridiculous because unless your pocket’s torn, you don’t drop a pocket, right? It’s sewn in. It’s stuck. It’s not dropping.

Correct. And so it’s just a ridiculous thing to say.

Yeah. I love it. But you know, there’s a, so I don’t know if folklorists have a fixed name for these kinds of pranks. But in books of folklore, these kinds of pranks are often under the heading of made you look.

Made you look. Because there are other types of pranks just like this. And this particular one is often found. But I haven’t found it in any books of folklore. But you know where I find it? In high school yearbooks going back at least 30 years.

What? Yes. Including being used to distract opponents on the basketball court.

Wow. Yes. Where somebody’s trying to make the free throw that’s going to clinch the game. And somebody says, you dropped your pocket.

Yeah, it reminds me of when I would play pool. And one of the tactics that you would use if you wanted to get in someone else’s head right before they take a shot is to just ask, hey, do you breathe in or out when you take your shot?

Yes. Or it’s, I mean, hey, batter, batter in softball is kind of formalized now. But I bet there was a time when hey, batter, batter was that kind of distracting chant, right? And there were others of these.

A famous one, which is far more established, is, hey, your sock is untied. I like it. And you can find that back, too. An even more famous one, which many people have heard of. You probably know this. Your epidermis is showing.

Oh, yes. Right? So it’s in that same class of made-you-look prank.

Yeah. I mean, it’s not as silly as your shoelaces untied, but it’s in there. And even more well-known, and again, also not as silly, but is you have a spot on your shirt. And they don’t. And then they look down. And when they look down, you flick their nose, right?

Right. But of course, you know, the better ones are ones that you don’t even have to really interact beyond saying those words.

Yeah, yeah. Moving on. But this has been around for so long.

So long. So do look up your epidermis is showing folklore. Do look up your socks are untied or your sock is untied folklore. And you’ll get somewhere closer to this.

And I highly recommend The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren by Iona and Peter Opie. That’s O-P-I-E. Even though it doesn’t specifically have your drop to your pocket, it really hits very closely to exactly the same kind of humor and made you look kind of feeling that you’re talking about.

Yeah, well, Nikki, you made us look at this phenomenon, so thank you.

Well, thank you. This will add another line to the conversation when my mom tells this story next, so it won’t just be a repeated story.

Let us know how it goes. Nikki, thanks so much for calling. Take care now.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

All righty. Bye. Bye.

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