To the Editor:
Tom Mandel '11 is on the right track when he notes the peculiarity of Dartmouth's "ultra-fratty" vocabulary ("Concordantly Fratty," May 6). I object, however, when he calls this language "dumbed down." In my years as an observer of campus basement culture, I have come to realize that our speech patterns are nuanced and intellectually revealing.
The words themselves are simple and crude, but the irony Mandel hears in the speech of freshmen does not disappear over time. Dartmouth upperclassmen, in my experience, continue to attach a tone of veiled irony to the fraternity lexicon, even while actually "pulling the trigger." One suspects that no Dartmouth student truly identifies him or herself as "ultra fratty," even when acting the part. Rather, in a paradox straight out of Baudrillard, each successive class simulates their older, cooler role models while knowing that no actual original model for their behavior exists. Dartmouth students, being highly intelligent, surely realize on some level that our basement culture is a hyper-real fantasy; this explains the persistence of our ironic inflection. More than simply words that "don't challenge you or stress you," the frat dialect is evidence that Dartmouth's basement-dwellers are negotiating a precariously complex philosophical situation.
Nathan Wersal '08
