Title: Privies

General Information about Item:

• Material Lore, Privy Types, Jokes, Potty Humor
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant:  John T. Brady ’19
• Date Collected: 10-31-17

Informant Data:

• John Brady is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2019.  John was born in the suburbs of Chicago, IL.  He grew up just north of the city in a nice suburban town.   John was part of a boy scout group growing up.  Every summer, John and his fellow boy scouts went backpacking.  They backpacked all over the United States.  His scout troop went to various places such as New Mexico, California, Wyoming, and Wisconsin. One of his earliest backpacking trips was a section of the Appalachian Trail around North Carolina and Tennessee.  The trail started out of Hot Springs, NC.  John’s early experience with the Appalachian Trail sparked an interest and has had him continuing to hike when he so desires.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Backpackers often travel long distances along the trail.  People who hike for extended periods of time are bound to need to use the restroom at some point.  These restrooms on the trail are known as privies.
• Social Context: This specific term came about when talking about jokes and similar topics.  Often backpackers need to go to the bathroom for daily functions.  Even at places that have shelter for people to stay, privies or bathrooms are an essential part of a hiker’s hiking experience.

Item:

• Privies on the trail often have interesting markings written within them.  Not only are they shared with all the hikers that pass through but they also can be named depending on what is written within them.  For instance there is a penta privy which is well-known for its 5 sides (which is odd for any bathroom), further because it is located in the Hexacuba Shelter there is a lot of Satanic style writing within it.  The Lorax shelter is dedicated to Dr. Seuss’ story The Lorax as the book is written out on the walls of the privy.

The Penta Privy

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

Transcript:

• “One of my favorite things in the privy was just reading stuff on the walls.  One stupid thing that made me laugh was written in sharpie on the wall that says, “Look right.” so I look right and it says, “Look left.”  And I just found myself laughing while I was going to the bathroom.  It was so simple, but just entertaining.  We also have the Penta Privy next to Hexacuba Shelter which is a tough place to sleep in.  The Penta Privy has all these Satanic things written in it and it even has a pentagram on the door.  And then there is another privy where the Lorax Privy where the entirety of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is written in the privy which is kinda funny.”

Collector’s Comments:

• I found this to be interesting and slightly disturbing at the same time.  But potty humor is apparently a thing and can actually be the reputation of a privy.  Privies (bathrooms) I think is a hiking name for a bathroom as I have never heard it be called such a name outside of a hiking context.

Collector’s Name: Justin Fowler

Tags/Keywords:

• Material Lore
• Potty Humor
• Privies

Title: Bob Peoples

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Legend
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant:  John T. Brady ’19
• Date Collected: 10-31-17

Informant Data:

• John Brady is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2019.  John was born in the suburbs of Chicago, IL.  He grew up just north of the city in a nice suburban town.   John was part of a boy scout group growing up.  Every summer, John and his fellow boy scouts went backpacking.  They backpacked all over the United States.  His scout troop went to various places such as New Mexico, California, Wyoming, and Wisconsin. One of his earliest backpacking trips was a section of the Appalachian Trail around North Carolina and Tennessee.  The trail started out of Hot Springs, NC.  John’s early experience with the Appalachian Trail sparked an interest and has had him continuing to hike when he so desires.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Backpackers often travel with one another and share stories along the trail.  Often there are various experts within the hiking community.  Backpackers need to sleep and on occasion they will stay at hostiles or other types of shelter to stay warm and recharge for the next day’s hike.
• Social Context: This specific name came about when talking about well-known members or people within the hiking community.  Often when backpackers decide to stay in hostiles, hikers occasionally engrave words or phrases in the walls (frowned upon).

Item:

• Bob Peoples was a long time trail angel (someone who provides necessities for hikers and are on the trail exclusively to help hikers.  Peoples is a very well respected member of the hiking community and to some extent a “Hall of Famer”.  In fact, he is considered the Chuck Norris of Backpacking.  This is significant because children compare Chuck Norris to a miracle worker- some go as far as comparing him to Jesus or a God-like figure.

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

(replace Chuck Norris with Bob Peoples)

Transcript:

• “There are some very famous trail people.  There is a whole shelter dedicated to him.  You know those Chuck Norris jokes?  Where Chuck Norris’ tears could cure cancer.  And you would just have his name replaced with Bob Peoples.  Bob Peoples is a long time trail angel. A trail angel is somebody who provides trail magic.  He runs a hostile, he runs a trail building crew, somewhere in the South.”

Collector’s Comments:

• I found this super amusing.  As a kid growing, up Chuck Norris jokes are one of the most basic types of children folklore.  So, hearing that there is a similar type of folklore within hiking was delightful and kind of a nostalgic experience.

Collector’s Name: Justin Fowler

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Legend
• Bismarck
• Hero

Title: Singing

General Information about Item:

• Genre: Verbal/Customary Lore
  • Subgenre: Ritual, Tradition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: John T. Brady ’19
• Date Collected: 10-31-17

Informant Data:

• John Brady is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2019.  John was born in the suburbs of Chicago, IL.  He grew up just north of the city in a nice suburban town.   John was part of a boy scout group growing up.  Every summer, John and his fellow boy scouts went backpacking.  They backpacked all over the United States.  His scout troop went to various places such as New Mexico, California, Wyoming, and Wisconsin. One of his earliest backpacking trips was a section of the Appalachian Trail around North Carolina and Tennessee.  The trail started out of Hot Springs, NC.  John’s early experience with the Appalachian Trail sparked an interest and has had him continuing to hike when he so desires.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Backpackers spend a lot of time walking or hiking whether they do it with other hikers or by themselves.  In order to keep motivated for coming up with things to do together, and activities to pass the time, get to know each other, and have fun.
• Social Context: This tradition, or ritual, would be performed during hiking.  Backpackers often need to keep their mind off of just the monotony of hiking.  Otherwise it is difficult to continue one’s journey hiking.

Item:

• Backpackers and hikers sing in order to keep themselves numb from the pain of consistently hiking PUDs (pointless ups and downs) and the need to keep moving.  By singing songs it allows hikers to stay in a positive mindset and sane especially when one is hiking by themselves.  It is difficult to stay motivated when not being pushed or motivated by a fellow hiker.  Therefore, uplifting, tempo upbeat songs are idea that are simple in tune and melody (easy to remember).

Transcript of Associated file:

• “I would sing to myself.  I don’t know a lot of songs off the top of my head.  I don’t have a great memory for that kind of stuff…  But I would sing I think it’s 500 miles (I’m Gonna Be) by that British band (The Proclaimers).  It was great to walk 1000 miles and be singing that song.  It felt like I actually owned that song at that point.”

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

Collector’s Comments:

• I thought it was humorous to hear the comparison of a long hiking ride to one of a car ride but overall the ideas within this folk lore make good sense.  One does not want to lose motivation hiking a trail and staying positive and happy is a great way to keep up the pace and hike on.

Collector’s Name: Justin Fowler

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Singing
• Music

Title: Hiking Nicknames

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Legend
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Kyu Kim
• Date Collected: 10-10-17

Informant Data:

• Kyu Kim is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2018.  He was born in Korea and raised in the northern Virginia/ Washington DC area.  During his time at Dartmouth, Kyu enjoys playing the bassoon in the orchestra.  In his time away from Dartmouth, Kyu has hiked part of the Appalachian Trail (AT).  His plans after Dartmouth include working as a consultant.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Hiker nicknames are a tradition within the hiking community.  Every hiker is given (generally by another person) a nickname to avoid using their real name and giving people a sense of a new start and sense of self.  It is the name that you can use for the remainder of your hike on the trail and how you will be addressed by fellow hikers.

• Social Context:  This specific term came after some prodding about how people addressed each other on the trail.  It became more obvious that hikers not only try to stay anonymous from one another to enjoy their hike to the fullest but also to try to have a fresh start.   When hiking with others, nicknames are a fun way to bring the hiking community come together and create a sense of self on the trail.

Item:

• Hiker nicknames are generally individualized from person to person.  This allows each person to know the person of whom they are referring as well as give some hint or idea of the person or maybe their character.  The custom of giving each other nicknames is interesting because it generally is something that other hiker’s perceive about one person which is different from one who makes their own nickname and doesn’t “earn it”.  For instance Kyu- who’s nickname is Chai came about in a very interesting way and often it is found that funny events transpire leading to hiker nicknames.  These nicknames allow for hikers to poke fun at one another and get to better know one another along the trail.

Transcript of Associated File:

• “So, nicknames are a common thing to have.  Obviously, names are important and on the trail a lot of people hike for different reasons- one being people want to escape from their old life, so entrusting each other with new nicknames is good for them and a fun way for the hiking community to kind of come together.”
• How did your nickname come about?
• “My nickname is Chai which comes actually from my liking the band the Chainsmokers.  So, for a long time my nickname was Chainsmokers.  At one point, I went with some other fellow hikers to a bowling alley.  The scoreboards could only put up four characters and the first four letters of the word Chainsmoker is “C-H-A-I” so as you can imagine from then on out, my nickname was Chai.”

Collector’s Comments:

• Enjoyed the background of how Kyu got his nickname and interesting to note that one reason people like nicknames is that they go hiking to avoid their everyday lives or to put the past behind them.

Collector’s Name: Justin Fowler

Tags/Keywords:

•  Nicknames
• Chai
• Chainsmokers

Title: Bismarck

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Legend
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant:  John T. Brady ’19
• Date Collected: 10-31-17

Informant Data:

• John Brady is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2019.  John was born in the suburbs of Chicago, IL.  He grew up just north of the city in a nice suburban town.   John was part of a boy scout group growing up.  Every summer, John and his fellow boy scouts went backpacking.  They backpacked all over the United States.  His scout troop went to various places such as New Mexico, California, Wyoming, and Wisconsin. One of his earliest backpacking trips was a section of the Appalachian Trail around North Carolina and Tennessee.  The trail started out of Hot Springs, NC.  John’s early experience with the Appalachian Trail sparked an interest and has had him continuing to hike when he so desires.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Backpackers often travel with one another and share stories along the trail.  Often there are various experts within the hiking community.  There are people who have hiked many trails or continue to hike the same trails for seemingly forever.  They have been hiking for so long seemingly everyone in the hiking community knows them.
• Social Context: This specific term came about when talking about trail magic as well as common things that came up when talking with fellow hikers.  Often, with the sharing of information and knowledge on trails, people who are more experience and have been in more pressing situations are leaned upon in order to maximize success within the hiking community and builds community within the people hiking.  Within the hiking community certain people help others and are so well-known either as triple crowners, practicers of trail magic or simply legends who hike because they want to and can their names never die.

Item:

• Bismarck was a hiker who thoroughly hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT).  He was very well-known throughout the hiking community as a legend because of his dedication to hiking.  Known as a hiking giant very few who have ever hiked the Appalachian Trail have never heard this legend’s nickname.

(man on the right is Bismarck)

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

Transcript:

• “So I actually got super lucky on my hiking trip, met a legend named Bismarck.  Like actually a hiking legend.  The guy hiked the Appalachian Trail essentially for a living and was always hiking with this guy, forget his name but want to say it was like Hopper and they were super chill guys.  Surprisingly, I later heard actually that he was charged of embezzlement and was under FBI investigation.  It was a whole big thing.  Another sketchy thing about him that we (the hiking community) found out later was that he was also being investigated for possibly burning down his own home with his wife inside.”

Collector’s Comments:

• I found this legend to be extremely intriguing.  Not only because people who dedicate themselves to hiking become well-known within the hiking community but also because of the crazy twist within the story of the Legend that is Bismarck.

Collector’s Name: Justin Fowler

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Legend
• Bismarck

Title: Triple Crowner

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Lore, Legend
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Kyu Kim
• Date Collected: 10-10-17

Informant Data:

• Kyu Kim is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2018.  He was born in Korea and raised in the northern Virginia/ Washington DC area.  During his time at Dartmouth, Kyu enjoys playing the bassoon in the orchestra.  In his time away from Dartmouth, Kyu has hiked part of the Appalachian Trail (AT).  His plans after Dartmouth include working as a consultant.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Backpackers often travel with one another and share stories along the trail.  Often there are various levels of experience within the hiking community.  There are people who have hiked many trails or few trails.  Further, they may travel the same trails or various trails.  The people with more experience tend to be more depended on as a result of their experience and seen as “veterans” so to speak.
• Social Context: This specific term came about when talking about the different trails people can take and hike.  Often, with the sharing of information and knowledge on trails, people who are more experience and have been in more pressing situations are leaned upon in order to maximize success within the hiking community and builds community within the people hiking.

Item:

• The triple crowner is a term used by hikers to refer to backpackers who have accomplished a lot in the hiking world.  There are three main long distance backpacking trails in the US.  They are the Appalachian Trail (AT), the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT).  Any backpacker who has completed all three is considered a dedicated backpacker.  These backpackers are significantly looked up to within the hiking community.  It is considered an accomplishment just to finish one of the trails.

(Map from OC Register Newspaper)

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

Transcript:

• “So, the triple crowner are people who are definitely looked up to within the hiking community.  They are sort of hiking legends.  There are three main long distance backpacking trails in the US; the AT, PCT, and CDT.  Anyone who has completed all three of these is looked up to in the hiking community.  These guys are seriously dedicated backpackers.  Anyone who has accomplished even one of the trails is a big deal.  But to do all three… yeah… definitely dedicated.  It’s a common saying that they have (with hand air quotes) “done a lot of stuff*, seen a lot of stuff*.”

Collector’s Comments:

• One thing I found extremely interesting was the term Triple Crowner.  In baseball there is a phrase known as the Triple Crown.  This is a very prestigious honor to receive indicating you had hit the most home runs, rbis and highest batting average.  Due to the rarity of this ever occurring (much less frequent than a hiker hiking all three paths) I thought it was a very interesting term in that the term had a “loaded” context.  Further, the time needed to be dedicated to complete all 3 trails is significant.
• P.S. in the transcript the * mark indicates a different word was used but for the PG13 of the assignment the word was changed to one with interchangeable meaning.

Collector’s Name: Justin Fowler

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Lore
• Legend
• Triple Crowner