Trippie

Title: Trippe

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal lore, slang
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Sam Ohno
  • Date Collected: 2/26/18

Informant Data:

  • Sam Ohno is a freshman at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. He is intending on majoring in Economics, with a projected graduation date of June 2021. He is from Jacksonville, Florida. He is a member of the varsity golf team at Dartmouth, which takes up most of his time along with school. He is the first person in his family to attend Dartmouth.

Item:

  • “Trippie” is an abbreviated term that refers to a fellow student who was on the same First-Year-Trip as the speaker.  First-Year-Trips, also known as “trips”, are overnight excursions that take place before the commencement of Freshman year.

Contextual Data:

  • Social/Cultural Context: Here at Dartmouth, First-Year-Trips are of great importance as they act as a rite of passage from high school/ home life to the college experience.  These trips offer a chance for students to meet fellow students before the commencement of classes.  Therefore, many students make their first college friends on these trips, which are referred to as “trippies.”  During these trips, students learn a lot about each other and about Dartmouth culture from their trip leaders.  Because of this, each group member shares a special bond with their fellow trippies.  Even if students among these groups do not remain best friends throughout the rest of their college careers, typically they will remain in contact.  Many groups will have periodical trippie reunions in which trip groups meet and discuss their individual college experiences.

Trippies enjoying breakfast

 

Informant’s Comments:

  • “Since I did not participate in the First-Year-Trips, I was a bit behind on most slang, especially the term ‘trippie.’  I constantly heard my fellow classmates saying: ‘I’m having dinner with my trippies tonight’ or ‘sorry I can’t hang with you tonight, I’m having a trippie reunion.’  This sort of made me feel left out, but I got over it.  Now that I understand the special bond that is created among trippies, I wish I went on trips.”  As Sam mentioned, he was a bit behind on Dartmouth slang in general because he did not go on trips.  This makes sense as we found that many of our informants learned the slang terms on trips from their trip leaders.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I personally share a special bond with my trippes as they were some of the first people I met at Dartmouth.  We spent three straight days together in the wilderness so we became very comfortable with each other.  During Freshman fall, we organized a few trippie reunions and dinners, but since then, we have gradually grown apart as we have all become involved with other social groups.  However, I will always remember those several days that we spent together and hold my fellow trippies dear to my heart.  Below is a picture of myself along with my trippies.

Picture taken on top of Mt. Moosilauke

Collector’s Name: 

  • Will Bednarz

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal folklore, slang, Dartmouth, First-Year-Trips, orientation