Glasses | Dartmouth Folklore Archive

Title: Glasses

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Informant calls Ohio home, although he moved around a lot as a child. He lived in places like Arizona, California, and Virginia. He currently lives in rural Ohio with his two parents and older sister. Prior to studying at Dartmouth, the informant was in the Air Force for several years until leaving the Air Force to pursue further education at a college in Illinois. He then transferred to Dartmouth and is currently majoring in Chinese.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Growing up, the informant went to several different schools because of all the moving. He was a good student and achieved excellent grades. Like many people his age, he was exposed to social media growing up and so picked up on certain stereotypes associated with certain fashion trends. TV shows often depicted intelligent people as characters that wore glasses, so there is an association between wearing glasses and your intelligence level. Wearing glasses makes the informant feel more confident and intelligent when faced with a problem.
Cultural Context: Often times wearing glasses is seen as “nerdy” or associated with the idea that the person is higher on the intellectual scale than those that do not wear glasses.

Item:

The informant’s superstition is that he has to wear glasses when taking an exam at Dartmouth. This was an association made from watching television shows where the smart kid would wear glasses. It increases his confidence when taking the exam and makes him feel more intelligent. He did this throughout his childhood as well from when he first got glasses.

Informant’s Comments:

Collector’s Comments:

I found this superstition to be very funny. I could see how the association would be made as a child and how that belief could continue on into adulthood.

Collector’s Name: Bridget Douglas

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