Folk literature (oral literature, "orature") comprises the verbal forms of folklore, and includes larger narratives such as folktales, and smaller forms such as proverbs, riddles, and rhymes.
Although usually transmitted by word of mouth, some forms are transmitted in writing, such as graffiti on walls, or urban legends in emails.
Essential to folk literature is its existence in multiple variants.
This category is for jokelore, the study of jokes and anecdotes. Sites that contain collections of jokes should be submitted to Recreation/Humor/Jokes/.
Jokes are short, funny, fictional tales, usually ending in a punchline. Common types of jokes are numskull jokes (about naivete and foolishness), political jokes, sexual jokes, moron jokes, and immigrant jokes.
Anecdotes are short, humoristic legends told about famous people or local characters.
This category is for jokelore, the study of jokes and anecdotes. Sites that contain collections of jokes should be submitted to Recreation/Humor/Jokes/.
This category is for rhymes such as ball-bouncing rhymes, jump-rope rhymes, finger and toe rhymes, dandling rhymes (to bounce children on the knee), counting-out rhymes (to determine who will be "it" in games), and nursery rhymes.
Rhyme is a basic stylistic device of verbal folklore, found in such genres as folk poetry, rhyming proverbs and riddles, games, and tales.
Sites focussing on non-traditional rhymes should be submitted to Arts/Literature/Poetry/Genres/Children%27s/,
and sites that focus on Mother Goose rhymes to Society/Folklore/Literature/Tales/Fairy_Tales/Mother_Goose.
A riddle is a traditional verbal expression which contains one or more descriptive elements, the referent of which is to be guessed. The answer is often unexpected, albeit traditional. Riddles aim to demonstrate the knowledge or cleverness of the questioner and to challenge the knowledge or wit of the audience.
Riddles may have originated from the repertory of cult ceremonials; apart from this religious significance, they served as a means of making a trial of wisdom. Currently riddles are mostly a means of amusement and education for children.
A prolific modern form of the riddle is the riddle-joke.
This category is for traditional riddles. Sites that contain collections of brain teasers and puzzles should be submitted to Games/Puzzles/Brain_Teasers/Riddles/.
Superstitions involve beliefs, practices, and procedures based upon conscious or unconscious assumptions, usually concerned with the nature of cause and effect. Superstitions often take the form of "If A, then B, unless C".
Folktales are prose narratives, often transmitted orally and used as cultural entertainment or as a way of passing on traditions. The principal kinds of folktales are fairy tales or wonder tales (Märchen), which are fictitious, legends, which are allegedly true, and myths, which are concerned with the sacred.
Urban legends are realistic stories concerning recent events or alleged events with an ironic or supernatural twist; urban beliefs or rumours are reports of such events that lack the storyline of the urban legend.
Urban legends and beliefs spread not only through word of mouth, but also through the internet in the form of e-rumours, chain letters, and e-mail and computer virus hoaxes.
Submit non-traditional accounts of your personal experiences to e.g. Arts/Online_Writing/, or Recreation/Humor/Pranks/.