Joke – Fun V

Title: Fun V

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal
    • Subgenre:   Joke
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Will Kaufman ’20 is a 19-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Boulder, CO. He is the middle child between two sisters. He started rowing his freshman fall upon entering Dartmouth. As a walk-on rower, he came in knowing nothing about the sport.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: Like any folk, the D150’s have a unique series of unifying experiences. One of these is racing against other school teams. This joke nickname for the third varsity boat comes from other rowers noticing now much fun they’re having and consequently giving the name “Fun V”.

Cultural Context: This joke name is contextualized by the underlying competitiveness of racing against other schools’ teams. Because the third varsity boats don’t have to race against the most competitive boats, they can have more fun and be more “playful” as Will describes it – hence the nickname “Fun V”.

Item: This item is a verbal piece of folklore, specifically a joke. It relies on recognizing competitiveness in racing and comparing the first and second varsity boats to the less pressured third varsity boat. It is folklore because it is recognized and preserved by all the members of this folkgroup and is taught to new rowers when they join the team, like Will.

Associated media:

Transcript (10:36 – 11:03):

WK: “We have like a First Varsity boat, which is the 1V, 2V, and 3V. Um… and typically the 3V is also known as the Fun V, just because, like, there’s much less pressure to perform. Uh, and you’re not competing against the best boats at Princeton or Harvard, and so it’s a lot more relaxed, and typically the guys are much more playful and seem to have more fun on the water. So typically it’s like the 1V, 2V, and then the Fun V.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This internal joke is interesting because it shows that not all folklore is dependent on serious topics like motivation or competition. In this case, this small joke is understood only by light-weight rowers and taught to new rowers. New rowers who are incorporated, like in the three stages of liminality, learn to recognize this joke.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal

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