General Information:
Verbal Lore, Slang
Language: English
Country of Origin: United States
Informant: GG
Date Collected: 10/19/2021
Location Collected: Dorm Room
Informant Data: GG is a graduate of Dartmouth College in the Class of 2017. She majored in Chemistry and was pre-med. She is from Bethesda, Maryland, and she is working as an assistant at a medical facility before going to medical school next year.
Contextual Data:
Social Context: This word developed around a friend group that GG was a part of during her later years at Dartmouth. The group used the word among themselves, and occassionally would mention it to others outside the group, even though those people sometimes did not understand the meaning. Scenarios under which the word might be used are over text message or in person.
Cultural Context: Dartmouth students frequently try to shorten longer phrases or expressions using shortened words. This is a common practice, and it can be applied to almost any existing word. She believes most people on campus have not heard of this slang, but may understand it if they hear it. The term is neutral.
Item: Colly P; Pasta from Collis Student Center. Example: You want to grab some Colly P after class?
Quotes from Informant: GG said “Colly P stands for Collis Pasta. I think only like three people say it,” she said, adding that “it’s very niche. I think one of my friend groups made it up.” She believes that “it encapsulates that Dartmouth loves creating shortcuts for things that don’t even need them. It’s like people just make them for fun and to add twists to normally mundane things.”
Informant’s Comments: GG said this was one of her favorite words that she used at Dartmouth. GG really like this word and still enjoys saying it after Dartmouth, even though no one knows what she is talking about.
Collector’s Comments: I had never heard of this word despite the fact that the informant is my sister. It seems a little unnecessary to shorten the already short “Collis Pasta,” but this slang shows how Dartmouth students will stop at nothing to save time.
Collector’s Name: Harry Grigorian