Fall Camp

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General Information:
Informant: AG
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: November 5, 2021
Genre/Form of folklore: Ritual/Customary
Title: “Fall Camp”

Informant Data: AG is a 19-year-old member of the class of 2025 at Dartmouth College. He is from New Jersey but spends most of the year on the college’s campus in Hanover, NH. He is a student-athlete, a part of the college’s football team as a tight end, and he is interested in studying economics.

Contextual Data: Football teams across the country, whether it is high school, college, or professional teams, spend at least a few weeks before the first game to get prepared with a series of intense practicing. This is referred to as “camp” by almost everyone involved in the sport. At Dartmouth, it is a time when the team is on before most of the campus has arrived and they are all housed in the same building as a group and forced to do everything together.

Social Data: Football players across the country show up to campuses early to prepare for their upcoming season with a few weeks of intense practicing referred to as “camp”.

Item: Each fall, the football team at Dartmouth spends about 25 days before the rest of the student body arrives on campus doing a fall camp. During this camp, players spend roughly 14 hours per day in meetings, lifts, practices, and team meals. It is a major bonding opportunity for the team, as well as a chance to get prepared for a competitive football season.

Transcript:

Collector: “Why did you (or didn’t) participate in the DOC Freshman year trips?”

Informant: “I play on the football team and we had to be at camp, so we missed out on the DOC freshman trips that the rest of our class participated in. We were slightly bummed, but we came here for football and it was important for us to be here and bond with the team, as well as learn our plays and practice to get us ready for the upcoming season. Every player misses the trips, and at the end of the day, we prefer it that way because football is the reason we are here. Camp gives us the chance to meet our teammates and get used to campus before everyone else arrives.”

Collector Comment:
As a member of the football team, our class also experienced its first camp this fall. It was a good preparation period and I enjoyed the bond the team built from being on campus early.



Collected by:

Ross Parrish 20

Cincinnati, OH

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021

Class Picture

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General Information:
Informant: DL
Place: Front of Baker-Berry Library
Date: October 15th, 2021
Genre/Form of folklore: Customary/Ritual
Title: “Class Picture”

Informant Data: DL is a 20-year-old Dartmouth college student graduating in 2024. He is from Charleston, SC, and grew up with a twin brother, a mom, and a dad. He plans to study economics and has an interest in improv comedy. He is involved in DIPP and the Greek-Life system. Currently, he lives primarily in Hanover, NH as he attends school, but his home is still Charleston when he is not at school.

Contextual Data: Every class at Dartmouth has a class picture taken of them to capture their first moments on campus as a collective group. It is meant to give them a reference point of the beginning of their Dartmouth journey, as there will be many terms when the class is not all on-campus together in the future.

Social Data: At the time the folklore was occurring, students in Dartmouth’s class of 2024 were gathered in front of Baker-Berry library in front of a large ladder with a photographer on top. I collected this folklore in person in a dorm room in Lord Hall, as DL is my roommate.

Item: Every class at Dartmouth takes a picture in front of Baker-Berry during their freshman fall term to show unity and encourage students to meet each other.

Transcript:

Collector: “What does the tradition of the class picture symbolize to you?”

Informant: “The tradition of the Dartmouth class photo is a traditional, unifying experience in which the entire class comes together under one symbolic grouping in front of a camera. It captures the moment for generations of Dartmouth students and provides everyone a chance to be a part of their class history. This one event was vital to my connection with my class and the Dartmouth community. As I stood there amongst my peers, I could feel the camaraderie and, to be frank, the love within the group.”


Collector Comments:
The one-year late class picture (posted above) felt a bit weird this year. Many students arrived at the last second, but it turned out great and it was nice to replace the virtual “picture” they had done.


Collected by:

Ross Parrish 20

Cincinnati, OH

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021

DOC Trip

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General Information:
Informant: MA
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: August 2019
Genre/Form of folklore: Customary/Ritual
Title: “DOC Trips”

Informant Data: MA is a 20-year-old Dartmouth student from the class of 2023. She is from Florida and wants to study geography. She is a student-athlete on the softball team, which meant she already knew some people on campus.

Contextual Data: In the week prior to Freshman Orientation week, the Dartmouth Outing Club organizes and oversees “Freshman Year Trips”, where students go on a 3 day trip with six to eight other freshman and two upperclassmen trip leaders. There is a wide range of activities- from hiking to canoeing, to arts and crafts. Upon arrival, the freshmen go to Robinson Hall (Robo) where they are greeted by upperclassmen dressed in random, flamboyant outfits (flair) to check in. They spend the first night preparing for the trip and they are sent into the wilderness of New Hampshire. Throughout this whole period, the freshmen do not have access to their phones and have all their belongings in one bag. This is often an intimidating experience for freshmen entering a totally new environment but is intended to make them feel welcomed and comfortable. 

Social Data: Freshmen are arriving on campus from different corners of the country, and many of them are arriving without any friends. The trips force them into groups where they can meet new people and also learn something about the area surrounding their campus.

Item: Every fall, freshmen go on trips that are led by upperclassmen and get to see the area surrounding their new college campus.

Transcript:

Collector: “What do you remember most about DOC trips?”

Informant: “I remember it being super awkward at first, but then when people started talking we got to know each other very well. It opened my eyes to how different people here are, but expanding my friend group was a good thing. I appreciated the opportunity to observe and enjoy the diversity of everyone on campus. Being from different parts of the country and sometimes the world, it was nice to see we have Dartmouth in common.”

Collector Comment:
I was never able to go on the DOC trips, so it is always kind of bitter-sweet to hear how great of an experience it is for many of the freshmen as they arrive on a new campus. It is a great tradition that Dartmouth does a great job employing.

Collected by:

Ross Parrish 20

Cincinnati, OH

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021

Homecoming Bonfire

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General Information:
Informant: SH
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: October 9, 2021
Genre/Form of folklore: Customary/Ritual
Title: “Bonfire”

Informant Data: SH is an 18-year-old Dartmouth student who is a part of the class of 2025. He is from Washington State, but he lives on campus at Dartmouth in Hanover, NH for most of the year. He is a student-athlete participating on the football team and has an interest in studying economics.

Contextual Data: Every term at Dartmouth has one big weekend of celebration, and in the fall this is “Homecoming” weekend for the incoming freshman and alumni. There are parades, speeches, and a large bonfire that the freshman class walks around. While the freshmen walk around the fire, the upperclassmen yell at them and tell them to “touch the fire”. This is one of the most well-known traditions at Dartmouth that all students and alumni look forward to.

Social Data: The bonfire is a massive fire set on the green and designed to be run (or walked) around by the freshman class. Since it is during homecoming weekend, most of the campus plus many alumni surround the fire while the freshmen go around. The fire has the numbers of the graduating year of the freshmen class (24 and 25 this year because of COVID).

Item: The massive fire annually set on Dartmouth’s campus on The Green. 

Transcript: 
Collector: “What is your attitude towards Homecoming Weekend and the Bonfire tradition?”

Informant: “Homecoming was pretty cool. The fire was massive and I enjoyed feeling the heat from across the green. I did not expect it to be as large as it was. I appreciated that our class was able to make a lot of fun memories together.”

Collector Comment:
Homecoming weekend in general is a great tradition at Dartmouth. It is super cool to see all of the alumni come back and celebrate at the football game, bonfire, around campus, in their former frats/sororities, etc. Dartmouth alumni seem especially drawn to the campus after they graduate, and it is clear that homecoming weekend is a wonderful example of this.


Collected by:

Ross Parrish 20

Cincinnati, OH

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021

Instructions for uploading folklore collections

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Folklore Project, Word Press Instructions

Log in onto the folklore collection web site

You might need to confirm the invitation sent to your email from WordPress before accessing posting on this site.

Your collection will consist of an Introduction and folklore items that you upload as POSTS.

The Introduction is a post that contains general information about your topic. Items are posts that contain separate items of your collection. To create an Introduction post or an item post, choose NEW and then POST ( i.e. create new post) in the menu at the the top of your screen.

The Introduction post should contain an overview of your project as a whole, a general characteristic of the genre, informants, your conclusions etc. You may use your final presentation as part of this post. 

Please use the item template  below to create at  item post.

Once you have created the content of the post, supply it with CATEGORIES and TAGS. To do so find the corresponding menu items ( categories, tags) in the post editing menu on the right side of your screen.

Your categories are predetermined for you:

Your category is  Fall 2022  and your subcategory is  Fa2022_Your group ( find your group among categories for Fall 2022).

Your tags you have to choose/create on your own. Please use the following scheme. 4-5 tags, with 

  • one tag for genre/domain (e.g. joke, tongue-twister, superstition, tost)
  • one tag for the  language/ethnic group ( if relevant) ( american,russian, german)
  • one tag for the professional/gender/age group (if relevant, e.g. programmers, doctors, students, children)
  • one tag for the region/institution ( if relevant, e.g. new england, dartmouth)
  • one or two tags for other descriptors you find relevant ( e.g. soccer, christmas, etc)

Please add the tag “Introduction” to your introduction post.

Once you’ve entered the title and added categories, tags, and a featured image in the right column, click the “Save Draft” button. Once you’re satisfied with your work, click the blue “Publish” button.

Good Sam

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General Information:

         Verbal Lore, Slang

         Language: English

         Country of Origin: United States

         Informant: LG

         Date Collected: 11/4/2021

         Location Collected: Dorm Room over a FaceTime Call

Informant Data: LG is a ’23 from Maui, Hawaii. She is 20 years old, and a Government and Geography double major. She is a member of the equestrian team.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Good sam is used when someone is under the influence to the point that medical assistance is required. It is rarely used by people on campus, as people rarely drink to the point where they need to go to the hospital. All of campus knows this word.

Cultural Context: Good sam is a program used by Dartmouth to encourage safety. If you good sam someone you are exempt from getting into any trouble for underage drinking. Dartmouth students often use this in a joking manner, saying things such as “slow down we don’t want to have to good sam you”. Most students learn this early on during their freshman year, as it is a matter of safety stressed by the college. It has a negative connotation, and can often be a source of shame if you are “good sam’ed”.

Item: Good Sam: To call 911 and request medical assistance for someone who has had too much to drink or is otherwise incapacitated. Example: “John had too much to drink last night so we had to good sam him”.

Associated File: Notable quotes

“Good sam means to call the hospital for someone who has had too much to drink at a party or a night out”.

“Yeah the term is often used when someone is drinking a lot and we want to tell them to slow down, saying something like ‘don’t want to have to good sam you'”.

Informant’s Comments: LG said she has luckily never had to use this word herself on campus.

Collector’s Comments: I have never had any experience with using good sam directly, but friends of mine have. It is certainly a negative word, and people talk about others getting good sam’ed and spread rumors about it.

Collector’s Name: Ben Ryan

Dark Side/Light Side (Harry Grigorian)

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Title: Dark Side/ Light Side

General Information:

         Verbal Lore, Slang

         Language: English

         Country of Origin: United States

         Informant: JS

         Date Collected: 11/2/2021

         Location Collected: Dorm Room

Informant Data: JS is a member of the Class of 2023 at Dartmouth. He is from Providence, Rhode Island and rows on the Varsity Men’s Lightweight Crew Team. JS is a Government major and enjoys spending time with his dog and riding his bike.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: These are among the two most commonly used phrases at Dartmouth. Student can use them in person or over text, and they are ubiquitous in all class years and across campus. Its usage certainly spikes around meal times as student plan where to meet friends.

Cultural Context: As there is only one dining hall, students are very familiar with it. It does have two separate eating areas, and one is lighter with white paint and tables while one is darker with brown paint and tables. Students coordinate where they want to sit by texting their friends before a meal asking if they are going light or dark side. It has a neutral connotation.

Item: Dark and Light Side; the two eating areas at Foco, one of which is darker and one of which is lighter. Example: I was sitting at Dark Side, but it was too depressing today so I moved to Light Side.

Quotes from Informant: “In foco,” these two terms describe “two places you can at in Foco on opposite sides of the building.” In a phrase, he could say “I would prefer to eat on dark side over light side today.” He learned this phrase “freshman fall, right at the start of school from a person who had already been here.” “All of Dartmouth knows dark side vs light side.” This slang came to be “because it’s a description of a place and dark side is a lot darker. It’s much easier to describe.”

Informant’s Comments: Everyone on campus knows this word and uses it frequently. Sports teams eat on Dark Side usually, especially JS’s crew team. “It’s nice because whole teams can sit together at the longer tables and not have to split up,” JS said.

Collector’s Comments: This slang feels very unique to Dartmouth. As we are all so familiar with Foco, it is cool that we can create slang (Dark and Light Side) within other slang (Foco). That’s pretty cool!

Collector’s Name: Harry Grigorian

Need ___

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General Information:

         Verbal Lore, Slang

         Language: English

         Country of Origin: United States

         Informant: CR ’23

         Date Collected: 11/4/2021

         Location Collected: New Hamp Dorm Room

Informant Data: CR is a ’23 from Orinda, California. He is 20 years old, and a philosophy and environmental science double major. On campus he plays club soccer.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: The phrase “need ___” is used when asking people to do an activity with you. It is most frequently used in group chats, often in large group chats for clubs or greek organizations. Common uses of “need” are when people want to play pong, get a meal, or go somewhere off campus. It is often texted out, and then people will respond in a specific manner to indicate that they are interested.

Cultural Context: Dartmouth students have a unique way of talking, and like to shorten and simplify words. The phrase “need” is a simple, efficient way of asking people to do something and saying how many people are needed. This phrase is especially useful for pong, a game that is fairly unique to Dartmouth. It has a fairly neutral connotation.

Item: “Need ___”: Need is a way to express that you want people to do something with you, so you say need followed by the number of people needed and the activity you want to do. Example: “Need 3 for pong”

Associated File: Notable quotes

“Need is an easy text to send when you need a certain number of people to do something with you.”

“I mostly use ‘need’ when I want to play pong, and I usually text out in our fraternity group chat, as that is where I usually get the quickest responses.”

Informant’s Comments:  CR said he uses this word mostly for pong, although he mentioned that his freshman floor group chat used it a lot for meals and other activities. He also started using it more frequently once joining a fraternity.

Collector’s Comments: I started using this word a lot more once I joined a greek organization. It is an easy way to communicate to a large group of people and helps me find people to do activities with.

Collector’s Name: Ben Ryan

Warm Cut (Harry Grigorian)

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General Information:

         Verbal Lore, Slang

         Language: English

         Country of Origin: United States

         Informant: AK

         Date Collected: 11/5/2021

         Location Collected: Dorm Room

Informant Data: AK is a member of the Class of 2023 at Dartmouth College. She is a Creative Writing major and Computer Science minor, and she rows for the Women’s Crew team. AK is from San Francisco, California, and enjoys running and hanging out with friends

Contextual Data:

Social Context: This slang is used typically when describing a route to get from one place to another. It is not usually used over text, but is said in person when two or more people are discussing. This phrase is used often among members of the women’s crew team, and is probably used more during cold weather.

Cultural Context: Hanover, especially in the winter, is extremely cold. Dartmouth also has many clusters of buildings that can impede travel. Therefore, in the cold, it makes sense for students to cut through buildings while moving around campus. Its connotation is neutral.

Item: Warm cut; an indoor travel route that avoids the cold weather outside. Example: Sorry I was a second late, I took a warm cut through Robinson Hall.

Quotes from Informant: The warm cut definition is “walking through a warm building you normally wouldn’t enter when it’s cold outside to stay warmer. An example is “I walk through the library on the way to class.” She learned it “Freshman year from a teammate who would beep us into her dorm as a warm cut.” She’s “not sure” who uses it, but “definitely [her] whole sports team.” She said it developed “Because it’s a spin on the word short cut but it’s warm.”

Informant’s Comments: AK said she likes this word because it is unique to Dartmouth students and fits the small campus nature. She learned this phrase freshman year.

Collector’s Comments: I know this word and also really like it. Hearing it now reminds me of the beautiful winter time. It is also a word that people outside of Dartmouth would not understand, so I enjoy the uniqueness. It is also definitely used by way more people than just her sports team. Probably the whole campus uses it.

Collector’s Name: Harry Grigorian

NARP

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General Information:

         Verbal Lore, Slang

         Language: English

         Country of Origin: United States

         Informant: JC ’24

         Date Collected: 11/2/2021

         Location Collected: First Floor Baker Library

Informant Data: JC is a ’24 at Dartmouth College, and is a 21 year old male from Singapore. He is a sophomore at Dartmouth college, and is not an athlete. He is a Economics major.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: I collected this information and word from Jihwan on the first floor of Baker library. NARP is used to delineate a social divide on campus between athletes and non-athletes. It is often a key piece of information used to describe someone. It can cause divides in social settings such as greek life, as athletes tend to belong to certain fraternities and sororities and narps belong mostly to others.It can be used with both a negative or positive connotation, depending on the situation. Some people are very proud to be narps, while occasionally athletes look down on narps and use the word in a mean way.

Cultural Context: Dartmouth students often shorten words or phrases to make them easier to remember and create a more unique culture. Non-athlete is an awkward way to refer to someone, so the word NARP was created to make things easier. Given the unusually high percentage of Dartmouth students that are athletes, this term is useful when talking about people on campus.

Item: NARP (Non-Athletic Regular Person): Example: “Joe used to play on the soccer team but he quit, so now he is a narp.”

Associated File:

“NARP stands for non-athletic regular person, so its like anyone who’s not an athlete.”

“I learned it freshman year because a couple guys on my floor were athletes, and some older guys referred to other people on our floor using this word”.

Informant’s Comments: JC said he was asked if he was a narp fairly frequently during his first few weeks at Dartmouth. He also noted that the word fosters a sense of division between athletes and non-athletes that can be seen in various social situations.

Collector’s Comments: This term was created as an easy way to refer to non-athletes. It is an abbreviation and thus is more efficient and easy to remember. I don’t frequently use this word, but when I do I use the word to describe individuals or friend groups.

Collector’s Name: Ben Ryan