Tag Archives: Text

Legend of the Overexerted Swimmer

General Information about Item:

  • Text Folklore – Legend
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: James Edward Thompson III
  • Date Collected: 03-03-2018

Informant Data:

  • James Thompson was born and raised in Tracy, CA. A lifelong swimmer, James came to Dartmouth as part of the Class of 2017 and was an accomplished member of the Men’s Swimming team for four years between 2013 and 2017. He is no longer a member of the Dartmouth Swim and Dive Team.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Swim and Dive team has a storied tradition of lore. This particular legend utilizes a walk-on underdog figure to help the team motivate themselves and remind themselves that effort, and not reputation, is what is most important.
  • Social Context: James relayed this legend in a one-on-one interview. It is often told either after an extremely hard day’s practice to help team members vent their anger through sarcasm, or when they feel that the team is not working hard enough, in order to motivate themselves through the hyperbole of this legend.

Item:

  • James relayed a story of a walk-on (a team member who was not good enough to be recruited but eventually made the team after coming to Dartmouth), who trained so hard to be on the team and then set a pool record, but who perished in the attempt.

 

Transcript:

  • “One story I remember was from a speech a Captains gave a long time ago about a swimmer a while back who was a walk-on, but trained super hard and ended up setting a pool record, but he died while training.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • This story of a hero who sacrificed everything, including their lives, to achieve some fantastic goal is quite familiar in many different types of lore, but is always inspiring to hear. It also has some elements similar to Max Luthi’s tragically underequipped hero, who still succeeds.

Collector’s Name: Ashwath Srikanth

Tags/Keywords: Text Folklore, Legend, William Bascom, Max Luthi, Swimming

“123 Dartmouth” Chant

General Information about Item:

  • Textual Folklore – Chant
  • Poly-modal Folklore – Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Ziqi Wang
  • Date Collected: 02-23-2018

Informant Data:

  • Ziqi Wang is a male student in the Dartmouth College Class of 2018.  He was born in China and emigrated to the United States when he was 9 years old; he has spent most of his life in the Hanover, NH area, having attended Hanover High School. He studies economics and environmental science at Dartmouth, and intends to pursue a career in business in Boston, MA after graduation. Ziqi has been an active member of Dartmouth’s Club Swim Team since the fall of 2014.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Club Swim Team has a variety of bonding rituals which help the team come together. This particular ritual is mandatory for all members, with the repetition helping to enforce the primacy of the team in all members heads, while establishing the hierarchy of the team, by having team leaders lead the chant in a loud, authoritative voice and having junior members echo the leaders.
  • Social Context: This chant was explained in a one-on-one interview with the informant at Baker-Berry Library. It is performed at the end of the meet, with the members all huddling up together in close contact, creating a close bond. Various team leaders then lead the chant, with the rest of the members following them in the chorus. The chant is also used to signal the end of practices, illustrating the transition from the intensity of practice to post-practice relaxation.

Item:

  • At the end of every practice, the members of the Dartmouth Club Swim Team come together in a huddle and finish with the “123 Dartmouth” chant. It is led by one or more of the team’s leaders or senior members, with the rest of the team acting as a chorus. The text of the chant is shown below.
  • “Team Leader: ‘Club Swim on 3! 1, 2, 3!                                                                                         Rest of Team: ‘Club Swim!'”

Transcript:

  • “We end practice every day with a simple chant which is called 123 Dartmouth. One of the seniors or older people on the team shouts ‘Club Swim on 3!’ And then counts off “1,2,3.” Then everyone else shouts ‘Club Swim!'”

Informant’s Comments:

  • It seems kind of simple and is pretty similar to what a lot of other teams do, but it still adds a lot of excitement and energy for the team after practices.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This chant does seem similar to the huddle-ending practices of many sports teams at Dartmouth, but uniquely, it is led by senior team members, rather than the coach, like in most teams, illustrating a greater level of independence. It has a vague similarity to children’s folklore, in that as Bettelheim emphasizes, repetition is used to reinforce ideas for junior members. Also, it is composed and performed exclusively by and for students. This reflects the nature of club sports, which generally do not have formal coaching staff, requiring club athletes to learn and maintain their traditions and skills independently, much as children’s folklore is used by children to teach themselves and others, as opposed to adults teaching them.

Collector’s Name: Ashwath Srikanth

Tags/Keywords: Textual Folklore, Poly-modal Folklore, Ritual, Chants, Children’s Folklore, Swimming

Weight Cutting Tip Sheet

Title: Weight Cutting Tip Sheet

General Information about Item:

  • Genre: Verbal, Customary
    • Subgenre:  Superstition, Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of origin: USA

Informant Data: Wyatt Smith ’19 is a 20-year-old male caucasian light-weight rower from Hong Kong. He is a long-time rower, having rowed competitively before Dartmouth, and was recruited to Dartmouth’s D150 Lightweight Rowing team.

Contextual Data: 

Social Context: Lightweight rowing has a very strict weight cut off of 160 lbs, which means heavier rowers over 160lbs are barred from competition. The D150 team has an average weigh in of 155lbs. Due to the importance of falling under the 160lb limit, weight cutting is a central part of the D150 experience. To prepare new rowers and to remind more experienced ones, previous generations of D150 rowers compiled a list of common practices and tips for losing weight quickly. This list is handed down and shared between D150 rowers whenever big races are approaching and signals that rowers should begin considering their weights more seriously in preparation.

Cultural Context: Almost like a physical or material bequest, this list has been handed down through a line of rowers throughout the years. This document links generations and reminds them not only of their status as lightweight (sub -160lb) rowers, but also provides a unifying agent for the team. It signals that rowers should start becoming more cognizant of their weights as well as allows the rowers to all bond together over the coming challenge of losing weight.

Item: This item is a verbal (although also written) piece of folklore that contains common tips and advice for losing weight. It is both verbal and customary because many of its recommendations are transmitted through conversation and are then implemented. They are not based completely on fact but rather on observations over time and superstitions. These beliefs are passed down from generation to generation and helps create team unity because it allows all the rowers to rely on the same tactics and methods for losing weight.

Associated media:

Transcript (0:53 – 1:13):

WS: “On our team, the… we have a word document that’s been passed down the team for maybe five or six years. Um, and it was created six years ago or something…”

BC: “Right”

WS: “and it kinda dictates what the steps that you should take, the recommended steps that you should take the days going up to your weigh in.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • Receiving this weight cutting tip sheet reminds rowers that weight-cutting season is here. Because weight-cutting is specific only to the D150 team, new rowers who receive this tip sheet are essentially becoming incorporated into the team. Therefore, this poly-modal folklore is akin to a Rite of Passage for many new rowers.

Collector’s Name: Brian Chekal