General Information:

• Type: Verbal Lore
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: V.L. ’23
• Date Collected: 11/07/2021
• Location Collected: Dartmouth

Informant Data:

V.L. is a 19-year-old male from New England. He was born and raised in New Hampshire and is at Dartmouth pursuing a major in Biology and is on the pre-med track. At Dartmouth, V. enjoys spending is on the club baseball team and lifting at Zimmerman Gym

Contextual Data

• Cultural Context: Dartmouth is an extemely isolated school. The social events that Dartmouth students go to are exclusively Dartmouth students, occur in Dartmouth or student owned spaces, and are hosted by Dartmouth organizations. This enables themes such as flair to gain popularity as they fit in with the exclusive nature.
• Social Context: Nearly, if not all, students at Dartmouth know the term flair. Additionally, most students have gone to a flair themed event and have some flair of their own that they have aquired from upperclassmen. Flair is an idea that bring Dartmouth students together, allowing them to have this shared idea that everyone can easily participate in.

Item:

Flair stands for flashy, exciting, colorful clothing typically worn to Dartmouth parties and events, generally, those at greek houses

Associate File:

Transcript: “Flair is both a theme and a way to describe how someone dresses. It means to wear flashy, exciting, colorful clothing to Dartmouth parties and events. While the term is used universally on campus, its use seems to be concentrated around greek houses. Freshman fall I was invited to a club baseball event at a fraternity and was told the theme and informed of its meaning. Throughout your freshman fall, you learn the term. It’s a universal word at Dartmouth. Everyone knows it even if they don’t use it. Some groups use it more than others. It helps people express themselves the way they want. It’s a very loose word that people can interpret how they want and wear what they want. Everyone has a different flair. It is easy to dress in theme and feel included”

Informants Comments:

Often when students graduate they will pass on their flair to underclassmen. This usually occurs during an end-of-the-year dinner/banquet for most organizations on campus and is a unique opportunity for individuals and communities to build connections with one another.

Collector’s Name: Dylan Bienstock

Tags/Keywords

• Verbal Folklore
• Slang
• Students
• Dartmouth
• Social