General Information about Item:

• Genre: Verbal Folklore

• Language: English

• Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Kyle Clampitt is a member of the Class of 2020. He is a 19-year-old male and member of the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Kyle is from Bloomsbury, New Jersey and has played both lacrosse and soccer since his youth. His leadership made him a captain of both the soccer team and lacrosse teams during his high school career. Kyle is a current defenseman for the Big Green wearing the number 38.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Clam’s Clammy Situation, while funny, represents the social guidelines for Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Since a big part of the college is balancing commitments with classes, social life and the team, sticking together as a unit on the weekends away from the field, helps to keep social situations in control. Sometimes unexpected situations happen and the social rule book helps to make them less stressful by remembering these simple guidelines

Cultural Context: Clam’s Clammy Situation has become the guideline for how to handle any sticky situation the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team or player may find themselves in over the course of the year.  Clam’s Clammy Situations has claimed the verbal mantra of “focus, have fun, stick together, and if you have a sticky situation, remain as a team.  If you need help, look to an upper classman for help and suggestions.” While written by Clampitt himself, he took his own personal experiences as well as past experiences from other teammates on the team and created a book to help future teammates avoid troubling situations. The book is kept in Clampitt’s locker and is referenced to a player if he experiences a problem with social life away from the lacrosse field so he can read the book and then learn from the situation.

Item: This image of Clam’s Clammy situation is a customary guideline to assist Men’s Lacrosse players in how to handle unexpected or sticky situations that may arise on weekends. The goal is to avoid them at every cost. If the team cannot, this guideline has become the customary guide to resolve the sticky situation the player may find himself in. The informant relays these terms verbally from the book to members of the team on weekends when we are away from the lacrosse field for a night. Lastly, it is a ritual that every season a player on the team writes a book and shares his past experiences to the team from problematic situations he learned from. 

Associated media

Informant’s Comments: The informant shared that Clam’s Clammy situation is especially helpful for incoming freshman who have not yet experienced Dartmouth’s social culture and weekend events like Winter Carnival.

 Collector’s Comments:

• Clam’s Clammy Situations has become a new verbal folklore for Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team over the last year. These verbal folklore rules help to set social expectations starting in the Fall and should be maintained always. They are a good reminder of what you do not want to happen while at Dartmouth
• The informant noted that Clam’s Clammy has been helpful to know the social rules and expectation at Dartmouth and not put yourself or any teammate in a bad situation. Getting yourself or the team in trouble is not worth it. The simple rule is, avoid trouble at all times and stick together on weekends as a team.
• Before Clam’s Clammy Situation the book was called Key’s Keys to Success which was written by a senior at the time who now is a graduate. This book also showed past experiences that Key was in and then learned from them.
• Overall, these books are written each season and shared to the team over the summer going into the next season so students on the team can learn about how to respond from situations whether it be socially, in the classroom, or the lacrosse field.

Collector’s Name: Parker/Westy

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Avoid Trouble, Clam’s Clammy Situations, Verbal