Category Archives: Verbal Lore

Clam’s Clammy Situations

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal Folklore
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Kyle Clampitt is a member of the Class of 2020. He is a 19-year-old male and member of the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Kyle is from Bloomsbury, New Jersey and has played both lacrosse and soccer since his youth. His leadership made him a captain of both the soccer team and lacrosse teams during his high school career. Kyle is a current defenseman for the Big Green wearing the number 38.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Clam’s Clammy Situation, while funny, represents the social guidelines for Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team. Since a big part of the college is balancing commitments with classes, social life and the team, sticking together as a unit on the weekends away from the field, helps to keep social situations in control. Sometimes unexpected situations happen and the social rule book helps to make them less stressful by remembering these simple guidelines

Cultural Context: Clam’s Clammy Situation has become the guideline for how to handle any sticky situation the Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse Team or player may find themselves in over the course of the year.  Clam’s Clammy Situations has claimed the verbal mantra of “focus, have fun, stick together, and if you have a sticky situation, remain as a team.  If you need help, look to an upper classman for help and suggestions.” While written by Clampitt himself, he took his own personal experiences as well as past experiences from other teammates on the team and created a book to help future teammates avoid troubling situations. The book is kept in Clampitt’s locker and is referenced to a player if he experiences a problem with social life away from the lacrosse field so he can read the book and then learn from the situation.

Item: This image of Clam’s Clammy situation is a customary guideline to assist Men’s Lacrosse players in how to handle unexpected or sticky situations that may arise on weekends. The goal is to avoid them at every cost. If the team cannot, this guideline has become the customary guide to resolve the sticky situation the player may find himself in. The informant relays these terms verbally from the book to members of the team on weekends when we are away from the lacrosse field for a night. Lastly, it is a ritual that every season a player on the team writes a book and shares his past experiences to the team from problematic situations he learned from. 

Associated media

Informant’s Comments: The informant shared that Clam’s Clammy situation is especially helpful for incoming freshman who have not yet experienced Dartmouth’s social culture and weekend events like Winter Carnival.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • Clam’s Clammy Situations has become a new verbal folklore for Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team over the last year. These verbal folklore rules help to set social expectations starting in the Fall and should be maintained always. They are a good reminder of what you do not want to happen while at Dartmouth
  • The informant noted that Clam’s Clammy has been helpful to know the social rules and expectation at Dartmouth and not put yourself or any teammate in a bad situation. Getting yourself or the team in trouble is not worth it. The simple rule is, avoid trouble at all times and stick together on weekends as a team.
  • Before Clam’s Clammy Situation the book was called Key’s Keys to Success which was written by a senior at the time who now is a graduate. This book also showed past experiences that Key was in and then learned from them.
  • Overall, these books are written each season and shared to the team over the summer going into the next season so students on the team can learn about how to respond from situations whether it be socially, in the classroom, or the lacrosse field.

Collector’s Name: Parker/Westy

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Avoid Trouble, Clam’s Clammy Situations, Verbal

New Gear

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Material Folklore and Customary Folklore (rituals and superstition)
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Kellen Paradine is 19 years old and is a member of the 2021 class from Greenlawn, New York. He is in his first season and plays defense.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: New Gear-Pumped Day is a material folklore that throughout Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse history is a time that socially excites the team with cool gear. It is tradition that the team in the locker room goes crazy as it not only makes freshman now feel part of the team but their team number also makes them feel as if they now are a part of this special bond of brotherhood.

Cultural Context: New Gear-Pumped Day is a time that unites the team as they are proud of their new gear, such as helmets, cleats, gloves, sticks, uniforms and pads. The culture of the team is also one of a thankful environment for all of the gear sponsorship. Companies like Cascade, Nike and @ 14 Graphics play a big part in bonding this team with their gear and logos. Each team number that is placed on the gear has its own history of bonding as well as sayings. Example could be “Hey #10, do it again. Hey #2 I am watching you.” As each piece of gear is numbered, the significance of that number on a helmet or jersey is shared from past generations to futures generations. A special bond created by a numbered uniformed that after each game takes its prominent spot in each players wooden locker and is hung and worn with pride.

Item: This images and videos of New Gear-Pumped day represents how each player looks at their new gear as a deep-rooted part of their play and performance. Everything has to be molded and formed just right by each player as it becomes a superstition towards their performance. If A then B, if the player doesn’t feel right in his gear, then he won’t play well. Our informant stated his ritual of placing his new jersey on game days on his middle hook in his locker for good luck. This ritual and superstition he does every game, has been going on for years and he believes it helps him play well.    

Associated media:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfTgSGiBZej/?taken-by=dartmouthmlax

Informant’s Comments: The informant shared that Gear Day-Pumped day was the day when it all feels like the team is unified and the freshman are now official. It’s a great day, it feels as good as win and the freshman are brought into a new environment with different colors and gear.

 Collector’s Comments:

  • New Gear- Pumped Day is a material folklore for Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team since throughout history. Dartmouth logo gear represents to all other teams that we are a team and we share a special bond that can only be experienced by being a team member. It is a constant reminder for many players, of how they were able to attend Dartmouth.

Collector’s Name: Westy McLaughlin

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Gear Day, New Gear- Pumped Day. Material and Verbal

Green vs White Game

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore (rituals)
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Jack Forest is a member of the 2020 class and from Purcellville, Virginia. He is a member of the lacrosse team and playing in his second season as a midfielder.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Green vs White Game is a competitive preseason ritual where Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse Team is divided into two teams Green or White for a fun, very competitive game of inter-team lacrosse.  While great sportsmanship is expected throughout the game, humor is shared amongst team’s members and coaches. It is with great pride to hold the bragging rights at the end of game when a winner is crowned.

Cultural Context: The Men’s lacrosse team can divide themselves in inter-team such as Green vs White competition but tradition and folklore know they are united as one team. The game reinforces the team culture that we are all here to compete, earn our green and white Dartmouth colors, and to be our best each day since the first team did in 1926. This customary example brings out a ground like any other Dartmouth game but it is much more spirited because while taken very seriously during game time, each player is open to a little bit of humor and letting their guard down.

Item: This image represents Men’s Lacrosse for the customary Green vs White Inter-Team scrimmage to kick-off the new season. Ritual of competition amongst own team members builds spirit and excitement for the upcoming season. This is seen as a Customary example through ritual because it is something the team does every season and helps build a structure for the upcoming season.

 

 

 

 

Associated media:

Informant’s Comments: The informant’s experience of Green vs White was one of great team building and fun competition. The inter-team game took the everyday practice to the next level and it was fun knowing each player had been selected to play on a team by a draft.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The in season, Green vs White inter-team game is a tradition that allows and represents the start of a new Season.
  • The informant found this season kick-off game to be a Dartmouth’s Men’s Lacrosse tradition that set the stage for the season to come. It represented fun, bonding and real competition against guys we are close with.

Collector’s Name: Parker Joyce

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Green vs White Game, Customary.

Kipsalana Chant

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General Information about Item:

  • Text/Music Folklore – Chant
  • Children’s Folklore – Draznilka
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Henry Senkfor
  • Date Collected: 02-19-2018

Informant Data:

  • Henry Senkfor was born in Cleveland, Ohio on May 15, 1996. Henry lived in Cleveland his whole life and has never moved. Henry started swimming when he was 7 years old because his parents made him do it. He is a senior at Dartmouth. He was captain of the swim team but just finished his swimming career a day ago.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context of this folklore represents something that many teams do before games or races; a cheer. A cheer/chant is preformed across almost every sport, whether it be saying the team name, or a bunch of random words put together and cheered before the games.
  • Social Context: The data was collected during a one on one interview in Andres Hall. Henry described a ritual of folklore that was passed down to him when he entered Dartmouth as a freshman. The ritual has been passed down from members of the team since before 1976. The ritual gets the team excited and ready.

Item:

  • Henry talked about the men’s team cheer, Kipsalana, which the team chants before every meet. This chant has been passed down for as long as people can remember.
  • Kipsalana Cheer: “Kipsalana,Kapsalana Squish Squa. Tie hi Silicon Sku Cum Wa. Mojo Mummik. Muka Muka Zip. Dartmouth Dartmouth Rip Rip Rip. Tie Hi Sis Boom Ba. Dartmouth Dartmouth Rah Rah Rah.”

Video of the Men’s Swim Team Performing Kipsalana:

IMG_4315

(Download to Play)

Transcript:

  • “The folklore that came to my mind is our team cheer, ‘Kipsalana’. This cheer is something that we do before every meet, exclusive to the Dartmouth men’s swim and dive program. The tradition was started way back before any of us were even born, and maybe before our parents were born as well. No one knows where the cheer comes from or what it means, as it is a bunch of random words. But since it was created, Dartmouth men’s swim and dive will, and has done this chant before every meet.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • The nonsensical lyrics and sing-song rhyming of this chant seems to mirror the Draznilkas of Slavic folklore. This similarity to children’s folklore may be explained by the fact that many young college swimmers are going through a liminal stage, transitioning from home and childhood, into an adult competitive environment, and so rely on these childhood tools to better explore their situation. Furthermore, Kipsalana reflects the initiation ritual purpose of children’s folklore, with the repetition and silly lyrics being an important tool for new members to join the team’s culture.

Collector’s Name: Matthew Luciano

Tags/Keywords: Music Folklore, Children’s Folklore, Draznilka, Swimming

Last Man Standing

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General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Customary Folklore (superstition)
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Mike Connolly is a member of the 2021 class from Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is a 19-year-old male on the Men’s Lacrosse team. Mike is a midfielder on the team and brother to two older boys who played lacrosse and football here at Dartmouth.

Contextual Data:

Social Context:  The Last Man Standing is a paintball game activity Men’s lacrosse team partakes in each preseason. This offsite bonding is central to be to expanding enhancing team bonds in an area that does not involve field play but still involves great agility and endurance.  This ritual of rugged, toughness and secret attacks is a social ice breaker especially for freshman players as they begin to bond within their new team.

Cultural Context: The Last Man Standing paintball competition allows for all players to place themselves in an equal and level setting without lacrosse gear or a field involved. It received its coined name from social media posts. This woods ritual represents we are one unit in all we do, but it also allows for individual quickness and mobility without being tested on performance. The culture is one hiding your best inner hunting and warrior talents. The Last Man Standing signifies the last man to not be hit with a paintball remains the ultimate winner, and is honored by the team for perhaps thirty seconds. When the fame is over, the laughter, back slapping in congratulatory manner brings the team to a new level of bonding that they may not had experienced in preseason. The added cultural experiences become an ice breaker for the season. The lacrosse team is a group that takes pride in rising to challenges wherever they may find themselves. The Last Man Standing paintball game experience it one that players form memories that stands out from the daily routine of field practice and weight room training.

Item: This image represents Men’s Lacrosse after team bonding ritual of paint ball competition at AG paint. It depicts camaraderie of the team off the field. The informant stated that he loves going paintballing and early on he would not be able to hit many people because his hands would be too sweaty from nerves. He then proceeded to rub dirt in his hands before every single time he went paintballing. This is a superstition that our informant has and he stated he does it before every single paintball game to help him have better control of his gun. If A then B, if our informant rubs dirt in his hands, the gun doesn’t slip and he shoots well.

Associated media:

Informant’s Comments: The informant’s experience in the paintball game coined, Last Man Standing was a great fall preseason bonding experience. It allowed new players to form a bond with all the members on the team, including the coaches at an off-campus environment and away from the lacrosse field.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The paint ball game that has been given the name, Last Man Standing is customary in that each fall preseason it provides for new bonding experiences especially for the new players on the team to find inclusion.
  • The informant found that this team bonding experience with players and coaches offered a form of performance that allowed for different skills sets to be displayed that was not measured by a unique skill set not found on a field.

Collector’s Name: Parker Joyce

Tags/Keywords: Dartmouth Men’s Lacrosse, Paintball Game, Last Man Standing. Customary

Keystone Thursdays

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Title: Keystone Thursdays

General Information about Item:

  • Type: Verbal Lore (Joke)
  • Language: English
  • Origin: United States
  • Informant: FO&M Waste Management Worker (#10 informant consent form)
  • Date Collected: 3/8/18

Informant Data:

  • The informant has been working for the recycling and waste department in FO&M at Dartmouth for several years now. He has lived in New Hampshire his whole life and has no plans to leave.

Contextual Data:

  • Responsible for collecting trash and recycling all across Dartmouth’s campus, the FO&M workers understand the waste patterns that occur day to day. Because Wednesdays are typically a night out for students, FO&M workers are left with heaps of trash bags full of Keystone Light cans on Thursdays.

Item:

  • Within the folk group comprised of the informant and the other waste collectors, they joke that they need to “pack a big lunch” on Thursdays because they have to pick up overflowing dumpsters full of beer cans and other remnants from fraternity basements.

Informant’s Comments:

  • “I’m glad you guys are having so much fun during the week. ”

Collector’s Comments:

  • While I voiced my apologies to the informant in regards to the influx of trash during the middle of the week, the informant claims that those days make him feel young again.

Collector’s Name: Harlan Smart

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Keystone

Cello Humor #2

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore, tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Dominik Smith
  • Date Collected: 2-28-18

Informant Data:

  • Dominik Smith was born in San Diego, California on October 28, 1996.  According to Dominik, he has been playing the cello from a very young age, 6 to be specific. He said he fell in love with idea of cellos and being a cellist at the age of 6 after watching Yo-Yo Ma playing the Cello with such passion on television. Currently, Dominik is a junior at Dartmouth College. At school, Dominik is a member of the Dartmouth Symphonic Orchestra (DSO) as a cellist. He is majoring in physics and math.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Within any group of students/peers/friends, there is always some sort of “humor.” Going off of this idea, there is definitely a a lot of humor related to instruments and practices in any orchestra. And like any type of humor, mostly everyone in the orchestra becomes aware of it at some point in their life. Since there are many sections within an orchestra, each section being its own instrument, they would probably have their own range of humor.
  • Social Context: This item was mentioned when I asked Dominik about any instances of humor within the cello section. He knew immediately of a joke that he had laughed so hard to when he had first heard it, and knew it be the perfect item for this project topic. He said the joke was told to him by his cello teacher a few years after he had begun playing the cello and was thinking about switching to the viola. He said that his cello teacher had actually heard this joke from one of his previous students, who had apparently come up with it.

Items:

  • The item of folklore that Dominik mentioned during the interview was related to children’s folklore, since he had learned of it as a child and the joke was created by another child of her age. The joke goes along the lines of, “After finishing rehearsals, the orchestra group leaves for lunch and the instruments are left in the room. After a while, the conductor realizes the room wasn’t locked, so he rushes back and finds that all the instruments were stolen except one – the viola.” The explanation for such a joke is that violas (and mostly all wind instruments) are considered the worst instruments in the orchestra, and for most pieces their existence isn’t even required. So the violas weren’t stolen because they were deemed worthless compared to the rest of the instruments.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file): Where the violas are situated and how it relates to the joke (even though they are closest to the conductor, they were still left behind by the robbers).

Image result for orchestra map viola

Transcript:

  • “My cello teacher told me this joke, in order to dissuade me from switching to the viola after having trouble learning some harder techniques on the cello.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • This is Dominiks’s third year at Dartmouth, and he says that being part of the DSO has been a great experience so far.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Dominik was very easy to interview, and actually remembered the whole joke which was very helpful.

Collector’s Name: Aditya Srivastava

Tags/Keywords:

  • Children’s folklore
  • Humor
  • Violas
  • Cello
  • Cello Teacher
  • Orchestra

Origin of Kipsalana Chant

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General Information about Item:

  • Text/Music Folklore – Chant
  • Etiological Myth
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Asst. Coach Eliot Scymanski
  • Date Collected: 02-25-2018

Informant Data:

  • Eliot Scymanski was born in Hamden, Connecticut. He attended Franklin and Marshall, where he swam there and graduated in 2012 with a degree in environmental studies. Eliot began assistant coaching at Dartmouth in 2015, and has just completed his third year of coaching. Eliot is taking a break from coaching to pursue his dream of being a professional tri-athlete.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: This chant is one of the oldest, most binding traditions of the Dartmouth Swim & Dive Team. It has been lead by coaches and team leaders for a long time, and has helped the team bond, not only with its immediate teammates, but across generations.
  • Social Context: Eliot reported on rumors that he has heard while coaching the Dartmouth Swim Team, especially about the supposed origin of the team’s famous chant, in a one-on-one interview.

Item:

  • The Dartmouth men’s team cheer – “Kipsalana” – and its mysterious origins and creation.
  • Kipsalana Cheer: “Kipsalana,Kapsalana Squish Squa. Tie hi Silicon Sku Cum Wa. Mojo Mummik. Muka Muka Zip. Dartmouth Dartmouth Rip Rip Rip. Tie Hi Sis Boom Ba. Dartmouth Dartmouth Rah Rah Rah.”

Video of the Men’s Swim Team Performing Kipsalana:

IMG_4315

(Download to Play)

Transcript:

  • “I heard that the Men’s Team cheer, ‘Kipsalana’, was created the first year that the program was created, passed down all these years. Whether this is true or not, no one alive knows, it is just rumors I have heard. There is also supposedly a secret meaning to the cheer, however no one knows for sure.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • I haven’t been here quite long enough to totally understand some of this team history.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Kipsalana is so old, no one really knows the origin of the chant, yet everyone seems so committed to preserving it.

Collector’s Name: Matthew Luciano

Tags/Keywords: Music Folklore, Etiological Myth, William Bascom, Swimming

Custodial Joke

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Title: Custodial Joke

General Information about Item:

  • Type: Verbal Lore (Joke)
  • Language: English
  • Origin: United States
  • Informant: FO&M Custodial Worker (#11 informant consent form)
  • Date Collected: 3/9/18

Informant Data:

  • The informant has been working as a custodian for Dartmouth for over 20 years. He is in charge of keeping the interior of buildings on campus clean including one dorm building and one fraternity.

Contextual Data:

  • While the informant enjoys connecting with students as they come and go from their dorm buildings, some days make for worse cleaning than others. After weekends, the informant explained, the bathrooms tend to take a little longer to deal with.

Item:

  • The joke that the informant and other custodians make on Mondays after a fun weekend on campus goes like this: “Hey, I’ll give you five bucks if you clean the bathroom!” While he has never had a student take him up on the offer, the joke still serves to brighten a student’s mood on a Monday morning.

Informant’s Comments:

  • “You would be amazed by what students are able to do to a bathroom on a Saturday night.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • The more informants I interview from FO&M, the more I realize that the folklore within their departments are based on their valued interactions with Dartmouth students. This joke was another example of such an interaction.

Collector’s Name: Harlan Smart

Tags/Keywords:

  • Verbal Lore
  • Joke
  • Custodian

Cello Humor #1

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore, tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Amy Tsai
  • Date Collected: 2-27-18

Informant Data:

  • Amy Tsai was born in China on October 13, 1999.  But then her family relocated to Orlando, Florida when she was a child. According to Amy, she has been playing the cello from a very young age, 8 to be specific. Currently, Amy is a freshmen at Dartmouth College. At school, Amy is a member of the Dartmouth Symphonic Orchestra (DSO) as a cellist. She does not yet know what she will major in, but she is attracted towards biology.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Within any group of students/peers/friends, there is always some sort of “humor.” Going off of this idea, there is definitely a a lot of humor related to instruments and practices in any orchestra. And like any type of humor, mostly everyone in the orchestra becomes aware of it at some point in their life. Since there are many sections within an orchestra, each section being its own instrument, they would probably have their own range of humor.
  • Social Context: This item was mentioned when I asked Amy about any instances of humor within the cello section. At first, she had a hard time coming up with this item, as she was unsure whether the item she had in mind was actually an item that could be used for this project. Finally during the interview, Amy noted that there was one joke that she head from her best friend in middle school, who played the oboe.

Items:

  • The item of folklore that Amy mentioned during the interview was related to children’s folklore, since she had learned of it as a child and the joke was created by another child of her age. The joke goes along the lines of, “How do you make a violin sound like a viola?”. The punchline is, “Sit in the back and don’t play.” The explanation for such a joke is that violas (and mostly all wind instruments) are considered the worst instruments in the orchestra, and for most pieces their existence isn’t even required.

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

Image result for violas

Transcript:

  • “My best-friend told me this joke, and ever since I’ve always remembered it whenever someone brings up the viola or the wind-instruments during practice or concerts.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • This is Amy’s first year at Dartmouth, and she says that so far DSO has been her home away from home.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Amy was very easy to interview, and actually remembered the whole joke which was very helpful.

Collector’s Name: Aditya Srivastava

Tags/Keywords:

  • Children’s folklore
  • Humor
  • Violas
  • Cello
  • Orchestra