Monthly Archives: May 2019

Akkad Bakkad – Indian/Pakistani Children Hand Game

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Title: Akkad Bakkad

General Information About Item:

  • Customary Lore, Children Hand Games
  • Language: Hindi
  • Country of Origin: India/Pakistan
  • Informant: Shiza Jeewa
  • Date Collected: May 10, 2019

Informant Data:

Shiza Jeewa was born in Pakistan on September 13, 1996. Her mother can claim both Indian and Pakistani origins while her father is Pakistani. Shiza relocated to the United States at the tender age of four, where she now resides with her mother, brother, and sister.

Rules:

Please refer to “Contextual Data” section for this example to learn more about the rules.

Text:

NATIVE

अक्कड़ बक्कड़ बम्बे बो

असि नाबे गरीब सउ सउ

मैं चोर के पास जाना चाहता हूं

निकटतम रेलवे स्टेशन आयी है

चोक एक चोक डूड डबल

रोटी बिस्किट

PHOENETICS

Akkad bakkad bambe bo

Assi nabe poore sau

Sau mein nikla dhaaga

Chor nikal ke bhaaga train Ayee

Chuk a chuk doodh double

Roti biscuit

TRANSLATION (WORD-FOR-WORD)

Akkad Bakkad Bombay bo

80 90 100

Thread in a hundred

Thief out of run

Train came chuk chuk  

Milk double bread biscuit

TRANSLATION

Akkad and Bakkad were two friends.

They want to go to Bombay so they gather one hundred rupees to reach Bombay.

After they gathered a hundred rupees, they pinned every note with a thread.

A thief stole and ran away with the hundred rupees.

The train came making a chuk chuk sound.

Milk bread and biscuits.

Contextual Data:

The hypothetical context the respondent gave for this folklore item is a family gathering with extended family present. The children would gather together in a circle, away from the adults and play this game. Each child would place both their hands on the floor, fingers spread out, and one child, could be thought of as the “moderator” of the game, would start the game off by singing the melody and pointing at each participant’s fingers until the tune runs out. The finger that would meet the end of the song would be “eliminated” and folded in, leaving that particular player the child with one less finger in the game. The game would then pick up where it left off, with the tune starting afresh. In the end, the player who gets all their fingers “eliminated” first wins the game. The moderator would keep one of their hands in the game while using the other to select/point at each participant’s fingers with the song.

The game was largely played by a younger audience for entertainment purpose or to keep them occupied. Since it was played by children and was free of adult influence, children would normally learn how to play this game from each other.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

Akkad bakkad bambe bo

Assi nabe poore sau

Sau mein nikla dhaaga

Chor nikal ke bhaaga train Ayee

Chuk a chuk doodh double

Roti biscuit

Additional Notes:

The original song is in Hindi. However, due to the proximity of India and Pakistan and their cultural closeness, the respondent, whose mother tongue is Urdu, could be able to understand and discern the text.

Collector’s Name:

Wendy Kangethe ’19

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Folklore
  • Children Hand Games
  • Akkad Bakkad

Concentration – American Children Hand Game

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Title: Concentration

General Information About Item:

  • Customary Lore, Children Hand Games
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informants: Kaitlyn Kelley and Irene Lam
  • Date Collected: May 9, 2019

Informant Data:

Kaitlyn Kelley has lived in Lakeland, Florida for the majority of her life. She had attended Lakeland Christian School from Kindergarten up until the second grade. Then, she was homeschools during fourth and fifth grade, having skipped third grade altogether. Currently, she studies biological chemical and global health at Dartmouth College.

Irene Lam is of Chinese-American descent. She has lived in Brooklyn, New York for the majority of her life. As a young child, she attend P.S.230 Doris L. Cohen Elementary School in Brooklyn. Currently, she studies computer science and Chinese at Dartmouth College.

Rules:

At the start of the game, the performers will agree on a category of their choosing. These categories may range from fruits, to brand names, and even destinations across the world. The performers will then clap and say the verbal aspect of the game – provided in the next section of this example. Performers cannot repeat items that already have been said in this round of the game. They may also not say anything that does not fit within the category. In addition, the performers must respond within the given time and cannot pause too long to think about a response. The first to violate the rule(s) will have lost the game.

Text:

During the time that performer’s are clapping the other performer’s hands, they will say the following:

Concentration

– break –

Sixty-four

– break –

no-repeats

– break –

or hesitation

– break –

you go first (choose one of the performer’s to go first)

– break –

and I go second

– break –

starting with

– break –

(choose a category that you want to play with)

Some variations may have “category is” rather than “starting with.” Also note that this game is in English, thus we did not apply the four-step text analysis.

Contextual Data:

Title might be that way due to the nature of the game. It requires the performers to concentrate on the game and really focus on what they and the other performers have said. Making sure to memorize all the information that has been said. This game was taught to the performers around elementary schools while the performers were in the U.S. The group of people that would learn this folklore would be young children, attending elementary school in the U.S. This folklore not only helps pass time, but is also a good game that helps with memorizing and keeping concentration, thus the name. Performers may use this game to study the U.S. states or something similar. However, this game isn’t generally used in class. It’s learned in school, but outside of the classroom setting.

When this game is translated in to a different language, the meaning may not necessarily be lost. However, the rhythm might feel off and not work well with the clapping.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

Interviewer: “So what’s the hand-clapping game you are introducing to us today?”

Performer 1: “Concentration.”

Interviewer: “Can you explain the rules of this game?”

Performer 1: “So we start with doing the hand motions.

[Shows hand motions]

Performers: “Concentration…64…no repeats…or hesitation…you go first…I go second…starting with…fruits…”

[Performers proceeds by taking turns listing off fruits.]

Performers (switching off listing items in the category): “apple…banana…grape…orange…tomato…blackberry…(indistinguishable)…blueberry…raspberry…strawberry…cantaloupe…melon…(indistinguishable)…papaya…mango…no idea…”

Interviewer: “So what are the words to this? How does it start?”

Performer 2: “Concentration, 64, no repeats, or hesitation, someone goes first, someone goes second, starting, your category.”

Interviewer: “Starting with…your category?”

Performer 2: “Or some people have a different variation where it’s like ‘category is’.”

Interviewer: “And then after that it’s whatever your category is? And then it has to fit with the…”

Performers: “Yeah…the categories.”

Interviewer: “Can you repeat the same item?”

Performer 2: “No you can’t. So, part of the game is memorizing.”

Collector’s Name:

Jennifer He ’20

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Folklore
  • Children Hand Games
  • Concentration

Split – American Children Hand Game

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Title: Split

General Information About Item:

  • Customary Lore, Children Hand Games
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informants: Kaitlyn Kelley and Irene Lam
  • Date Collected: May 9, 2019

Informant Data:

Kaitlyn Kelley has lived in Lakeland, Florida for the majority of her life. She had attended Lakeland Christian School from Kindergarten up until the second grade. Then, she was homeschools during fourth and fifth grade, having skipped third grade altogether. Currently, she studies biological chemical and global health at Dartmouth College.

Irene Lam is of Chinese-American descent. She has lived in Brooklyn, New York for the majority of her life. As a young child, she attend P.S.230 Doris L. Cohen Elementary School in Brooklyn. Currently, she studies computer science and Chinese at Dartmouth College.

Rules:

Performers will start out with the first cycle, which is one round of all the motions. When the performers repeat the motions, this will be the start of the second round. Each cycle will get  progressively faster than the cycle preceding it. The performer that messes up, in this case the performers uses the wrong moves, is too slow, etc, will lose the game.

Text:

There is no text for this hand-game.

Contextual Data:

The performers learned this game around the time they were in Kindergarten or in elementary school. The games were not necessarily taught in class, but were learned from other friends they would hang out with during recess or spare time. When the performers were little, they would generally play this game with their friends when they were standing in lines or when they were bored and needed something to pass their time. Since this hand game does not have any verbal elements to it, it would not loss its meaning when applied to another group. The group of people that may generally know or learn these hand games would be young American children attending schools in the U.S. It might be harder for homeschooled children to learn these games since they may not necessarily be around many other peers their age. These games may have been used for something musical a long time ago, but now is generally more for passing time and boredom.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

Interviewer: “So what’s the first hand-clapping game that you guys are performing?”

Performer 1: “I think it’s like Spit…Split?”

Interviewer: “Split?”

Performer 2: “The name’s Split. We’re going to call it Split.”

Performer 1: “It’s like numbers.”

Interviewer: “Split, numbers. Okay. Can you explain the rules of the game?”

Performer 1: “If you mess up the hand motions, then you lose.”

Interviewer: “So what are the hand motions?”

[Shows the hand motions to the game.]

Performer 2: “And that’s like a cycle.”

Performer 1: “That’s one and then you count up. The higher up the number, the faster it goes.”

Interviewer: “And then what’s after that?”

Performer 1: “We do 2, so 1, 2…”

[Proceeds to show the hand motions with the other performer.]

Interviewer: “When do you stop?”

Performer 1: “When one of them, one of us messes up.”

Interviewer: “Can you just do a round until whenever you have to stop?”

[Proceeds to attempt a rounds, but messes up and bursts into laughter.]

Performer 2: “One! We start with one!”

Interviewer: “You can restart again.”

Performers: “One more time.”

[Performs the hand-clapping game.]

Collector’s Name:

Jennifer He ’20

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Folklore
  • Children Hand Games
  • Split

Men’s Swimming Pre-Game Rituals

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Men’s Swimming (Henry Goodwyn)

Title: Men’s Swimming Pre-Game Rituals

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Customary Lore, Ritual, Verbal Lore
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: John Hall
  • Date Collected: May 22nd, 2019

Informant Data: John Hall is in the class of 2019 at Dartmouth where he competes on the Men’s Swimming and Diving Team. His event consist of mid-distance freestyle races, which he has competed in for almost his entire life. This gives him a unique perspective in terms of the lore and rituals that he has seen and participated in both here at Dartmouth and on his high school/travel swim teams. He is currently in his junior year and has spent his entire time at this school on the Men’s Swimming and Diving Team.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Dartmouth Men’s Swimming and Diving is unique because it is a team sport that consists of multiple individual events. The team has a had a shaky record since John has been a student at this school. This team has a very unique presence on Dartmouth’s campus and are all very close with one another.
  • Social Context: Men’s Swimming and Diving is unique because of the nature of their competitions. The sport has different distances which require different mindsets in order for athletes to perform to the best of their individual abilities. A spectator might think that because the events are individually oriented that the team doesn’t have much unity, but there are both individual and team aspects to the Pre-Game rituals that John performs.

Item: John described his own individual Pre-Game rituals as well as the team component of his pre-game ritual. He explained that he has had the same individual warm-up since his early high school career and that because it is so ingrained in his routine, he would not feel comfortable competing without doing every stretch/practice start the same way. He then explained that right before the race starts, the team sings a chant together. This brings the team together in a sense of unity before they split up and compete in their respective races.

Athlete’s Photo:

Transcript: “Initially its started for me as my club and high school coaches telling me and my team, ‘This is how you should warm up’, but as you get older you tinker with that because it’s not a one-size-fits-all. For the team rituals it’s important because its always the exact same thing so when I first got here they taught it to us and now it’s my job as a member to help pass that along to new members of the team when they join”

Informant’s Comments: John said that the team chant component of his warm up was very important to him because of the history of the chant. He said that he was never handed a written version of the chant but was expected to learn it as he progressed with the team which took him some time. He explains that now that he knows the chant he is proud of the history behind the chant and enjoys passing down the tradition and history that the chant has to new members.

Collector’s Comments: John was very adamant in the fact that he do the same warm-up routine every time he competes or else he would not feel mentally prepared. The rituals that he described made sense in terms of practicality seeing as he swims in different events than other members of the team. It was also interesting to note that he was insistent that the team performs their group chant right before the competition started (after the team members did their individual routines).

Collector’s Name: Henry Goodwyn

Tags/Keywords:

  • Dartmouth Swimming
  • Pre-Game Rituals
  • Ritual
  • Verbal Lore

Women’s Sailing Pre-Game Rituals

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Women’s Sailing (Alexa Limb)

Title: Pre-Competition Rituals of the Dartmouth Sailing Team

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Customary Lore, Verbal Lore, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: South Korea
  • Informant: Kasey Rhee
  • Date Collected: May 21st, 2019

Informant Data: Kasey Rhee is currently a sophomore on the varsity sailing team. Her position on the team is a crew. She is a Quantitative Social Sciences (QSS) major and was born in Seoul, South Korea. Her first time sailing was at the age of 7 with her father and at 10 years old, she began sailing on her own. Kasey decided to join the Dartmouth sailing team because her father sailed throughout college, which was very inspiring to her and gave her a more personal connection with the sport. She has been on the team since her freshman year.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Sailing, while a team sport, also is highly individualized. The regatta, which is the sporting competition where the sailing team participates in boat races, usually involves less time with the team as a whole. Some of the Dartmouth sailing athletes will travel to one regatta, while others will go to a different competition. Moreover, during the race, the sailor is only with one other person in the boat, not the entire team. With this context of the sport’s culture in mind, the pre-game rituals are highly important and meaningful because they are an opportunity for the team to come together and be united before their individual races. It instills team bonding and spirit that is more difficult to sustain in a very individualized sport. 
  • Social Context: Kasey first learned about the pre-competition ritual of the sailing team when she first joined the sailing team her freshman year at Dartmouth. The “clap out” and reciting of the acronym “TMB’s” is performed during the fall and spring athletic seasons. While Kasey doesn’t know the origin, it is an ongoing tradition that alumni know as well. Every friday, the team will perform this ritual in preparation for the Saturday regatta. It is typically performed at the boathouse or the erg room, which is where sailors can use various rowing or exercise machines. While there is no set time for the ritual, it is usually done right after team practice every friday of competition weekends, when everyone is together. According to Kasey, this is a ritual that you “learn by doing” when you first join as a freshman, since no one really explains it to the new team members. Eventually, it comes naturally. It is performed with the entire team and is led by the captains. The shouting of the phrase “TMB’s” is an acronym that stands for different words that only the sailing team understands. At first, no one is allowed to tell the freshmen athletes what it means. Kasey only learned what “TMB’s” meant after she won her first three sailing races during freshman year. Each time she won a race, she would get to choose one letter of the acronym to learn about.

The “clap out” and chanting of “TMB’s” is meaningful to Kasey because of the exclusivity of this ritual and its ability to effectively rally team spirit. It is something that only the sailing team and its alumni know about and participate in, and not even the coach understands its meaning. The team as a whole is impacted by this ritual because it makes everyone feel good and excited for their race. It also reminds them that they are part of a greater team that supports them.

Item: One of the sailing team’s pre-competition rituals includes a “clap out,” in which the team stands in a circle and starts clapping together, first slowly and then gradually speed up. As they clap, the team will come close together in a huddle and the captains will crouch at the center of the huddle. They will make a “little fire” motion with their fingers, say something to the team to rally spirit, and then everyone on the team will collectively say the phrase “TMB’s.” After saying this acronym, the huddle will break.

 

Athlete’s Photo:

Transcript: “Before we leave on that Friday, we do a clap out where we start clapping slow and speed up and come together in a huddle. The captains will crouch in the center of the huddle, make a little fire with their fingers, say something to the team, and we all say “TMB’s.”

Informant’s Comments: “Its something that has been around forever, it’s just a little thing. It’s kind of like a habit, it makes you feel good. People are sad if they have to leave practice early, since it is this habit they have.”

Collector’s Comments: I think that this is a particularly meaningful ritual because of its exclusivity and secrecy. No one knows what the phrase “TMB’s” means except for the sailing team, which gives them a very special and unique bond. It also is such a simple act to say this phrase, yet it carries a deeper significance for the team and functions to rally emotional response in a way that is really fascinating.

Collector’s Name: Alexa Limb

Tags/Keywords:

  • Dartmouth Sailing Team
  • Customary Lore
  • Verbal Lore
  • Pre-Competition Ritual

Men’s Lacrosse Pre-Game Rituals

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Men’s Lacrosse (Sumner Erbe)

Title: Men’s Lacrosse Pre-Game

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Video Interview
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Austin Meacham
  • Date Collected: May 20th, 2019

Informant Data: Austin Meacham is the class of 2019 at Dartmouth College. He is the current Varsity Men’s Lacrosse captain. Hailing from Connecticut, Austin has played lacrosse for his entire life and was a top recruit after high school. In this way, he is a veteran of the sport and has played on the Varsity team for four years.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Men’s lacrosse team is a Varsity team at the College. They play about fifteen games this year and have struggled of late to find success on the field. With these struggles, the team has had to look inward for motivation as external success has been very limited.
  • Social Context: In Lacrosse, the team dynamic is important. Many players run on and off the field in “shifts” throughout the game, which delivers and interesting dynamic between the overall team and the players on each shift. The team must be cohesive and have strong communication as the field is quite large and everyone on it must be on the same page and executing the same game plan to find success.

Item: Austin describes a ritual in which the captain gathers the other players in a huddle. The captain is in charge of getting the rest of the team mentally prepared for the game.  The captain tends to focus on talking about the other team’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the Dartmouth team’s game plan.

Photo of Athlete:

Transcript: Austin described the ritual as being essential for getting the team to be cohesive and together. While players are getting ready, a reminder about who the other team is, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as Dartmouth’s gameplan can serve pivotal in executing well as a team.

Informant’s Comments: Austin mentioned that because of this, the ritual does impact the team’s performance on the field. While the impact is “minimal,” Austin did assure that it provides an important time for the team to come together and get on the same page before the game. The ritual does change over time, though, which each captain using the timing of the ritual as a way to leverage its impacts. Some captains may perform the ritual closer to the game, while some may perform it in the middle of warm ups, for example.

Collector’s Comments: The ritual described by Austin seemed to be quite practical at first. The team needs to meet before games in order to discuss their game plan and the other team’s weaknesses. But, upon further analysis, i think the underlying sense of togetherness that this rituals allows is even more important than the logistics of the meeting itself. If the players, led by the captain, can come together as one unit, the team’s performance will likely be enhanced. It brings the team together in a way that would not occur organically. I think the flexibility of the ritual speaks to this, as well. Because captains can change the timing of this ritual, each captain can adjust the timing based on what he thinks will be most impactful for the team at that time. In this way, the ritual’s customization is an important part of its effectiveness.

Collector’s Name: Sumner Erbe

Tags/Keywords:

  • Dartmouth Pre game Rituals
  • Men’s Lacrosse
  • Performance

Shotgunning

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Title: Shotgunning

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Drinking Game
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America
  • Informant: Anonymous
  • Date Collected: May 5, 2019

Informant Data:

  • The anonymous informant was born and raised in Michigan in the 1950’s. He says that he had a mid-west upbringing. No association with the military. Origins from northern Europe (British/German). Growing up he was a practicing Lutheran but not currently. Lived in the mid-west and now in New Hampshire. Currently married with children. Education includes a PHD and a BA.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Informant declined to share much contextual information, but narrows the time-span of when he learned this game to when he was in college. He also describes that there were relatively few drinking games when he was younger and believes that drinking games only became relevant after his generation.

 

Item:

  • One pierces a hole in bottom of a beer can and places it to one’s mouth so it shoots into the mouth with lots of foam spraying. The item used to pierce the can was usually a key because a lot of people didn’t carry pocketknives. The way to fail the challenge is to not drink the entirety of the can. If the drinker was successful in drinking the entire can, onlookers would cheer.
  • Drinking was more social rather than competitive. Shotgunning happened at parties. The informant indicated that a variation would be drinking directly from the tap of a keg of beer. This keg would usually be cheap beer.

 

Informant’s Comments:

  • The professor said that Dartmouth is the place where beer pong originated from (this was later verified). He also indicated that the school’s unofficial mascot is Keggy the keg. “A joyful character”.
  • He thinks shotgunning is done for youthful exuberance, to relieve boredom, and as a social challenge.
  • When the Professor was asked how he interpreted the experience, he responded with, “People have no respect for beer because they want to get drunk quick, so they buy cheap stuff”

Collector’s Comments:

  • Note that there is a large degree of data gaps because the information that the informant was willing to give was limited (so as to preserve their anonymity).

Collector’s Name: Kyle Carlos

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual. Drinking Game.

Booting & Rallying

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Title: Booting & Rallying

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Drinking Game
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America
  • Informant: Steve Swain
  • Date Collected: May 20, 2019

Informant Data:

  • Professor Steve Swain was born in California in 1957 and had a west coast upbringing. His father was in the military but he indicated that it had no influence on his upbringing. He has also lived in Vermont and Washington State. His origins are from South Texas and identifies himself as African-American. He is a Dartmouth professor in the music department.

Contextual Data:

  • Professor Swain indicates that he has not had a lot of association with alcohol, saying that “there wasn’t a lot of alcohol in my house”. Also, that he didn’t really drink in college or high school. He says he has never been drunk. The drinking games and rituals that he knows of come from the conversations that he has with some of his students who are fraternity members.

Item:

  • This is a drinking game/ritual in which a individual drinks so much, at such a rapid rate that they naturally and/or forcefully puke – which allows them to continue to drink.
  • When asked why he thinks the students do this Professor Swain responded with, “why climb Everest? Because its there.” Meaning that, because the students see the opportunity to drink, they will.

Informant’s comments:

  • When Professor Swain was asked for any additional comments, he responded by saying that drinking is stupid and questioned what the point of drinking alcohol in a group is? He believes that the law for the specific drinking age is too high considering the age group of students in college where alcohol is rampant. He said that he remembered when age was 18 and that there were compelling reason why the age limit was raised but doesn’t think those causes exist anymore. He expressed an ideal scenario, where students and faculty can drink together in a professional setting.
  • When asked how he interpreted this ritual he responded with the following items:
    • It encourages other people to drink
    • The competitive element makes it enjoyable
    • Alcohol is a social lubricant
    • Structured way to encourage drinking
    • It relieves boredom

Collector’s Comments:

This ritual is dangerous and should not encouraged. If one were to look it look it up online, one can see that it is a popular thing, which to me defies all logic. But, I can see the connection between this illogical ritual and seemingly illogical folklore rituals such as stabbing corpses and human sacrifice. Due to me being able to see this relationship (because both rituals involve illogical components), I feel that it gives this collected folklore greater depth.

Collector’s Name: Kyle Carlos

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual. Drinking Game.

Beer Pong 1

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Title: Beer Pong

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Drinking Game
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America
  • Informant: Anonymous
  • Date Collected: May 9, 2019

Informant Data:

  • (Note: Some information was not recorded in order to maintain anonymity)
  • The anonymous informant was born in 1978, grew up in Connecticut, and received her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth. She has lived in the Czech Republic, Boston, and now lives in Hanover, NH. Her Grandparents were in the military which she felt had a large influence on her due to the stories she heard from them growing up. She had an East Coast upbringing and indicates that her family origins are European countries, likely England and France.

Contextual Data:

  • This drinking game was observed between 1996 and 2000, during the informant’s undergraduate years at Dartmouth. The game was observed in one of the college’s fraternities.

Item:

  • Ping pong with plastic cups filled with beer. You hit (volley) the ball back and forth and if you get the ball into your opponents cup they have to drink it. You use regular regular ping pong paddles, but with the handles removed. In stead of  a ping pong table, you use a 4×8 plywood that’s painted – sometimes with frat symbols. The cups are lined up in a V-shape, with the wide end closest to each player. One would win once the opponents sides cups were filled.

Informant’s Comments:

  • The game was played for fun, to pass time, and get drunk. The game was played this particular way to maintain tradition. When asked for her interpretation of the experience the informant explains that back then, it was harmless fun and a way to socialize in a loud basement without talking. The informant also says that drinking games now create problems such as sexual assault and alcohol abuse which is very concerning.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Informant does not drink a lot nor does she play a lot of drinking games now or in her undergraduate years.

Collector’s Name: Kyle Carlos

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual. Drinking Game.

 

 

 

Quarters

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Title: Quarters

General Information about Item:

  • Type of Lore: Drinking Game
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: America
  • Informant: Cynthia Monroe
  • Date Collected: May 9, 2019

Informant Data:

  • Professor Cynthia Monroe was born on April 29th, 1966. In the early years of her youth she lived with her parents in Los Angeles, California. From there she move to Anchorage Alaska, where she lived for a majority of her life. Her father was in the military but Professor Monroe cannot recall if he was in the service during the time that she was alive. She would describe her family origins coming from a melting pot of European nations. Although she does not currently practice it, she identifies as a Quaker. She is currently divorced with two male children. She received her Undergraduate from Dartmouth and a MFA from British Columbia.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Professor Monroe was a undergrad at Dartmouth and occasionally went to frat parties, Specifically, she frequented Sigep, an all-male fraternity. She felt comfortable there because when she attended their parties (between the years of 1984 and 1986), they didn’t care if you were someone who didn’t like to drink.

Item:

  • One would try to bounce a quarter off the table into a plastic drinking cup. If you got the coin into the cup you wouldn’t have to drink it but if you missed it, you had to drink it – and then it would be refilled for another round
  • At Sigep, students were in sometimes in athletic training so people made a personal limit on how much alcohol they could drink, once they hit that limit the alcohol was switched with water. Professor Monroe always started the game with water in her cups.

Informant’s Comments:

  • Professor Monroe’s interpretation was that for a campus that was largely fraternity focused, Sig Ep both incorporated drinking while also providing a safe space where one could have fun and drink without being afraid.
  • Because of the option to substitute water for beer in Quarters, she said, “Its like the undrinking game.”
  • When asked why she thinks the game was played, Professor Monroe indicated that the game was “a way for way for people who wanted to get intoxicated quickly, to get intoxicated quickly with a point”. She further explained that Sig Ep expanded the bounds of that by including people who did not want to get drunk at all. There was a greater element of choice for what you drank.

Collector’s Comments:

Collector’s Name: Kyle Carlos

Tags/Keywords:

  • Ritual. Drinking Game.