Tag Archives: fear

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Title: Secret Language For S&S 

Genre: Verbal, Taboo Speech

S&S Folklore

Informant Information: Hailey Noronha. Dartmouth ’18. From Ottawa Canada 

Type of Lore: Verbal Folklore/ Secret Speech

Language: English

Country of Origin: U.S.A

Social / Cultural Context: Again like previous items mentioned, this secret speech comes from those trying to protect themselves during S&S’ walkthroughs. Additionally, the type of speech typically used when imbibing tends to incriminate those participating. Therefore, students have adopted the secret speech described below. 

Video: https://youtu.be/rgyTN8znD2s

This is the video interview with the informant who speaks about the taboo words that students avoid.

Transcript: (Summarized from video). During things like pregames in a dorm students don’t use specific words in order to avoid getting in trouble. Words that pertain to drinking or un approved activities are avoided and replaced with neutral words that S&S wouldn’t think twice about.

Informant Comments: All students will avoid these words during times of partaking. The informant commented about how her and all of her friends did this as well as being a widely by the students on campus.

Collector Comments: I have personally ran into issues with S&S when I did not avoid the taboo words. This secret speech is an important thing to do to avoid getting in trouble with S&S and therefore I have been apart of the practice of this folklore and was familiar with the topic before speaking with the informant.

Collected by Carter Copeland ’19, Luke Hudspeth ’19, and Albert Mitchell ’19, and Luka Pejanovic ’17

S&S Imposter

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Title: S&S Imposter

Genre: Verbal and Customary Folklore

S&S Folkore

Informant: Emma Margaret Roberts. Dartmouth ’19. From Boston, Mass. Age 19. Lives in Russell Sage Dorm. 

Type of Lore: Verbal Folklore, Customary Folklore,  Joke.

Language: English.

Country of Origin: United States of America.

Social Context: Students drinking in a dorm room can be faced with a lot of trouble if caught by S&S.One measure that S&S takes to stop students from partaking in this activity is walking through dorms at various points in the night.  If S&S feels as though there is something bad happening in a dorm room, they will knock on the door and demand to be let in. The joke described by the student in the interview plays off of the fear of S&S knocking on the door. Students have adapted this S&S practice into a joke where they will knock on their friends door and pretend to be S&S, inciting fear in all of the people in the dorm room. This joke is widely practiced and understood by the students on campus.

Video: https://youtu.be/3WbYbGJnJj0 

In this video the informant tells about how the joke would be performed and of her personal experience with the process. She gives an example of how S&S has knocked on her door during a party and speaks about the fear of this being universal on campus. She then goes into detail about how she would perform this joke on one of her friends and how the joke would be performed on her.  

Informant Comments: The informant said that she has partaken in this Joke numerous times and that is is widely practiced by the students on campus.

Collector Comments: I have also experienced this Joke. Both as the performer and as the victim. This joke is born out of superstition and fear of S&S, and really plays on that. It is another piece of folklore that has gone unnoticed by many on campus because they are part of the folk and take part in the joke without a second guess.

Collected by Carter Copeland and Luke Hudspeth, Class of 2019.

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Title: Drop your cups; How to not get your greek house shut down

Genre: Customary Folklore

S&S Folkore

Informant info: Daniel C. Reitsch, from Rockford, IL, VP at Chi Heorot Fraternity and Dartmouth class of 2016 President

Type of lore: Customary

Language: English

Country of Origin: U.S.A

Social / Cultural Context: Greek Houses tend to be lenient in regards to serving minors alcohol; therefore, they can find themselves in trouble if campus security discovers that they are doing such an act. Accordingly, campus security performs “walkthroughs” in which they knock on the fraternity door and then do a walkthrough to make sure that all college rules are being followed. Greek houses have rituals that they perform in order to make sure they pass walkthroughs.

Transcript: When minors who are drinking at a greek house hear or see one of the warning systems, they immediately get rid of whatever they are drinking. And if they don’t then fraternity brothers will slap the cups out of their hands. It is said that S & S officers will check students’ ID’s to make sure that they are of age to drink and the consequences for someone who is not of age and is drinking can be severe.  

Collector’s comments: The informant was very matter of fact about the rituals, he did acknowledge that he had never seen the bell system in use, but that it was a system that he had heard was used in the past very often.

Collected by Robert Moffitt, Class of 2016.

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Title: How to ward off S & S.

Genre: Customary Folklore

S&S Folkore

Informant info: Krissy Saraceno. From Boston Massachusetts. Female Dartmouth ‘19 student. Lives on campus at Dartmouth in Russell Sage Hall. 19 years old.

Type of Lore: Customary lore, Ritualistic

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Students drinking in a dorm room can be faced with a lot of trouble if caught by S&S during one of their walkthroughs. The ritual described below is one that nearly every student performs, but very few notice, because we are all part of the folk. A lot of students at Dartmouth have their friends visit their rooms in order to hang out and possibly drink, therefore in order to escape notice from S&S, students perform this ritual.

Video: https://youtu.be/JQunnbKolsE This is a video interview with informant explaining the ritual. Krissy is walking the collectors through the process of how she would prepare herself and her room on the chance there would drinking taking place. 

Transcript: This is customary folklore, but verbally explained by informant. The informant describes how she locks the door, shuts the blind, and makes sure not to play loud music.

Informant’s comments: The informant described this ritual as a very common practice, and did not have very negative things to say about S&S, merely that many students obviously seek to escape possibly punishment.

Collector’s comments: This item is something I have observed myself in my time at Dartmouth, many students seem to practice this ritual.

 

Collected by Carter Copeland and Luke Hudspeth

May 23, 2016

 

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Title: Bells for S&S

Genre: Customary Folklore

S&S Folkore

Informant info: Daniel C. Reitsch, from Rockford, IL, VP at Chi Heorot Fraternity and Dartmouth class of 2016 President

Type of lore: Customary

Language: English

Country of Origin: U.S.A

Social / Cultural Context: Greek Houses tend to be lenient in regards to serving minors alcohol; therefore, they can find themselves in trouble if campus security discovers that they are doing such an act. Accordingly, campus security performs “walkthroughs” in which they knock on the fraternity door and then do a walkthrough to make sure that all college rules are being followed. Greek houses have rituals that they perform in order to make sure they pass walkthroughs.

Transcript: “At some greek houses, when someone believes that S & S is at their door, they initiate a buzzer or bell system to warn everyone in the house in case they are doing something that would get them in trouble.” 

Collector’s comments: The informant was very matter of fact about the rituals, he did acknowledge that he had never seen the bell system in use, but that it was a system that he had heard was used in the past very often.

 

Collected by Robert Moffitt, Class of 2016.

May 18th, 2016