Title: Dark Side/ Light Side

General Information:

         Verbal Lore, Slang

         Language: English

         Country of Origin: United States

         Informant: JS

         Date Collected: 11/2/2021

         Location Collected: Dorm Room

Informant Data: JS is a member of the Class of 2023 at Dartmouth. He is from Providence, Rhode Island and rows on the Varsity Men’s Lightweight Crew Team. JS is a Government major and enjoys spending time with his dog and riding his bike.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: These are among the two most commonly used phrases at Dartmouth. Student can use them in person or over text, and they are ubiquitous in all class years and across campus. Its usage certainly spikes around meal times as student plan where to meet friends.

Cultural Context: As there is only one dining hall, students are very familiar with it. It does have two separate eating areas, and one is lighter with white paint and tables while one is darker with brown paint and tables. Students coordinate where they want to sit by texting their friends before a meal asking if they are going light or dark side. It has a neutral connotation.

Item: Dark and Light Side; the two eating areas at Foco, one of which is darker and one of which is lighter. Example: I was sitting at Dark Side, but it was too depressing today so I moved to Light Side.

Quotes from Informant: “In foco,” these two terms describe “two places you can at in Foco on opposite sides of the building.” In a phrase, he could say “I would prefer to eat on dark side over light side today.” He learned this phrase “freshman fall, right at the start of school from a person who had already been here.” “All of Dartmouth knows dark side vs light side.” This slang came to be “because it’s a description of a place and dark side is a lot darker. It’s much easier to describe.”

Informant’s Comments: Everyone on campus knows this word and uses it frequently. Sports teams eat on Dark Side usually, especially JS’s crew team. “It’s nice because whole teams can sit together at the longer tables and not have to split up,” JS said.

Collector’s Comments: This slang feels very unique to Dartmouth. As we are all so familiar with Foco, it is cool that we can create slang (Dark and Light Side) within other slang (Foco). That’s pretty cool!

Collector’s Name: Harry Grigorian