Title: Off-Season Weight

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Verbal Folklore
  • Subgenre: Joke

• Language: English

• Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Sam Lee ’18 is a 21-year-old male from Turlock, California. He has been rowing since joining light-weight crew in college as a walk-on.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This joke is said between teammates during the off-season, such as the summer or winter, when weight doesn’t matter. It can be told by anyone on the team to anyone on the team who has gained weight during the off-season. It is told to someone who appears to have has surpassed the weight cut-off for light-weight rowing. There is no formal or specific location to tell it. It is taken light-heartedly and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Cultural Context: This joke reiterates the significance of weight for light-weight rowers, as it is based on the weight cut-off to be on the team. During the on-season, the goal weight for each member of the team is 150 lbs for light-weight rowers. However, during the off-season, people don’t follow the weight guideline as strictly, and therefore can gain weight. This joke encourages team bonding as people poke fun at the weight requirement together.

Item: This item is a verbal piece of folklore, specifically a joke. Teammates will call each other or themselves D-180 rather than D-150 in a humorous manner. It is poking fun at the idea of gaining weight and being on the heavy-weight rowing team rather than the light-weight rowing team.

Associated Media: N/A

Collector’s Name: Yeonjae Park

Tags/Keywords: Light-weight rowing, crew, D150, D180, Joke