Internet humour flourishes on social network sites, special humour-dedicated sites and on web pages focusing on edutainment or infotainment. Its increasing pervasiveness has to do

Abstract:The article discusses the nature of abbreviation jokes, the possible formulation principles, relations to humour and slang and the way their interpretation depends on the socio-cultural context. The abbreviated riddle corpus, (ca 3,000 texts of about 330 types) stored in the Folklore Archives of the Estonian Literary Museum, constitutes the source material for the study. The material has been systematised and presented in the database Eesti lühendmõis-tatused or Estonian Abbreviation Riddles (Voolaid 2004). The database provides a fine overview of alternative folkloric interpretations of abbreviations and acronyms in different periods and allows us to diachronically observe and describe the transformation of the genre in the socio-cultural context.The article introduces the possible ways of systematisation and formulation principles of the alternative interpretations of Estonian abbreviations (abbreviation parodies) bordering folklore and language. Folklorists have approached the phenomenon as a subgenre of riddles: the question part consists of a conventional abbreviation, whereas the explanation provided in the answer part is radically different from the conventional one; it is witty and humorous, often with a political or sexual undertone. A single abbreviation may produce several alternative interpretations, including the conventional and the folkloric explanation. Alternative (often witty) interpretation of abbreviations can be considered an important source of the slang lexicon of group languages (e.g., exclusive subcultures, professional parlance) or secret language. 1Key words: abbreviations, abbreviation parodies, abbreviation riddles, acronyms, folk humour, group lore, quasi-acronyms, slang Folklore texts are no longer the research domain of folklorists only: interdisciplinary approach often enriches the study of the material. Folklore has entered the research focus of literary theorists, historians, sociologists, psychologists, and since language is the foundation building block of folklore, these texts have also been the research focus of linguists. The boundary between folklore and language is less clearly defined in some folklore genres (e.g., idiomatic expressions, phraseologisms, phrases) than it is in others. Among such phenomena with blurred boundaries are various riddles, which have so far been neglected in Estonian linguistic and humour research.

The objective of the article is to give an overview of the vernacular reactions to the corona crisis in Estonia, based on COVID-19-related folklore collected from written, oral, and online sources from March to June 2020, i.e., during the emergency situation established due to the coronavirus. The methodological approach of the article was a context-dependent comparative content analysis studying the functioning of thematic texts in the wider trans- and multi-media communicative process. The similarities and modifications in the content, structure, format, and function of the subject matter as well as people’s attitudes, expressions, ways of information synthesis and narrative generation in the respective social context were placed under the microscope. By giving examples of thematic religious lore, memes, and proverbs, we point out how certain core motifs and core texts become actualised whenever a new epidemic occurs. We presume that the recycling of known and tested motifs in order to give meaning to the situation helps mitigate the unpredictability arising from the epidemic and determine the borders of danger and safety with the help of narrative, thereby increasing the sense of coping, although some folk motifs may also create or deepen fears and irrational behaviour.

The article discusses the paremic (proverbial-phraseological) element in the public space in Tartu. I concentrate in particular on dynamic spaces which are freely accessible to all without any limitations (incl. important elements of urban space, such as shopping centres, cultural and leisure time centres, stations). They involve the values, symbols and signs of urban life.The aim of my paper is to analyse the nature, proportion and meanings of the paremic matter in the following sources: 1) street graffiti, i.e. the (anonymous) drawings, scribblings and writings; 2) specific poster texts, generated by the Tartu group of the international Loesje movement, which have been glued on the walls of buildings, electrical switchboards, lamp posts, etc. in Tartu since 2004 (the poster collection is available in Estonian, English and Russian at http://www.loesje.ee).Analysis of multi-modal texts focuses on the proportion of traditional and improvisational, local and global in paremia. The aim of the article is to explain what kind of social status, mentality and expressiveness is contained in the texts of this specific cultural phenomenon, and what are the identities, platforms, ideas, and the social reality (particular events) that these utterances are helping to reflect.

Abstract:The article analyses, from folkloristic and humour theoretical aspects, humorous material of children's remarks collected during the all-Estonian kindergarten folklore collection campaign held from October 2010 to January 2011.The main focus is on this subtype of jokes as they appear in kindergarten environment and from the point of view of kindergarten teachers. The material is divided into two groups: 1) spontaneous sayings, recorded during daily activities and interaction; 2) answers to the teacher's questions, guided by her interest (the teacher may have recorded discussions on a given topic). The article aims to investigate the utterances that teachers have perceived as funny or worth recording and to analyse the theoretical mechanisms of humour they are based on.