Title: Lou’s Challenge

General Information:

• Type: Verbal Lore
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: MR ’18
• Date Collected: 11/7/2021
• Location Collected: Phone Call

Informant Data:

• MR ’18 is a twenty-six-year-old male who was born in Boston and grew up in Weston, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. He is a Dartmouth Alumni and graduated in 2018. He majored in Computer Science and currently works as a software engineer in New York City, where he lives, for a financial technology company. While at Dartmouth, he was heavily involved in the Computer Science Department as a teaching assistant and tutor. He also worked at the technology support desk. He is of German and Polish heritage and does not prescribe to any religion, although he grew up with two Catholic parents.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: Dartmouth has various traditions that can be classified as “challenges.” While their origins are often unknown, these challenges provide students with both entertainment during their time at Dartmouth and the opportunity to participate in and perpetuate Dartmouth traditions. They also provide Dartmouth students with the opportunity to prove that they can do something challenging outside of academics or sports and, as they are frequently attempted with friends, provide a bonding experience among classmates. The “Lou’s Challenge” is just one of many such challenges.
• Social Context: Lou’s is a restaurant in Hanover, New Hampshire, located on the main street of the town and a brief minute walk from the green, which marks the center of campus. Lou’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and is by far the most popular brunch place in town. It typically has long wait times on the weekends as it is popular among student as well as other residents of Hanover. The phrase “Lou’s Challenge” is typically used exclusively by students rather than the general Dartmouth population. Although professors and likely other Hanover residents know about the challenge, it is students alone who attempt this feat. This slang is used around campus and is not limited to a particular season, though people more frequently attempt the Lou’s Challenge when weather is warmer. The term is typically used on “on-nights” when students go out to parties, which would be Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, as students are typically out late anyways. The term is also frequently used during busy academic weeks when students are staying up late studying for exams and decide to attempt the challenge. Most students strive to attempt the challenge at least once in their Dartmouth careers, but there are lots of failed attempts where students cannot manage to stay up for so many hours and instead fall asleep. Students typically hear of this challenge early on in their Dartmouth Career, perhaps their freshman fall, but will attempt the challenge at any point in their Dartmouth Career. It is almost always attempted in pairs or groups, never alone.

Item:

• The phrase “Lou’s Challenge” refers to the challenge of staying up all night and going to Lou’s Restaurant when it opens at 6am. For example, a student will ask their friend, “Want to do Lou’s after going out tonight?”.

Associated File:

• Transcript: “I first heard about the Lou’s Challenge early on in my freshman year from a friend who said we should do it. I’m guessing he learned about it from an upper classman. I did the Lou’s Challenge once while I was at Dartmouth. It was a terrible experience, it was not fun at all and I just slept the whole day afterward. I would define the challenge as staying up all night and then going to Lou’s at 6am. Either you’re pulling an all nighter studying for an exam or you are out partying and trying to find things to do to keep you busy and help you not fall asleep.  I would use it, like, “Wanna do the Lou’s Challenge tonight after going out?”. I think it probably came about a long time ago since Lou’s has been around for like ever, but also probably because people here are bored and have nothing better to do with their time.”

Informant’s Comments:

• I would not recommend doing the Lou’s Challenge as it’s not a fun experience, but it’s a Dartmouth tradition so I guess we have to keep it going.

Collector’s Comments:

• The motivation for completing the Lou’s Challenge varies from person to person, but many students, including MR ’18, feel like they have to complete it just for the sake of keeping the tradition going and passing it down to future generations. The Lou’s Challenge, though impossible to say how far back it dates, has been going on for likely decades at the very least. I think this says a lot about human nature and our desire for tradition in order to feel more a part of our community. By completing the Lou’s Challenge, students feel more immersed in campus culture and feel united with each other by the common experience of staying up all night and going to the same place afterward for breakfast. It should also be noted that the challenge itself may be considered Customary Folklore–in this entry it is the phrase itself and its meaning as slang that we are documenting.

Collector’s Name: Annabel Revers

Tags/Keywords: Verbal Folklore, Students, English, Dartmouth, Slang, Challenges, Food, Lou’s, Lou’s Challenge