WOTY candidate: _fracket_

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 8:25 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Courtesy of my daughter--no, she wasn't referring to one from her own
> wardrobe, just asking if I was familiar with the term.
>
> Here's one of several web entries for it, all essentially identical
> (including the one on urbandictionary.com), and all asserting or
> presupposing it as a blend of "frat" + "jacket":
>
> fracket, n., (colloquial): an uncared-for, inexpensive jacket worn to
> a frat party as a deliberately disposable garment, which can be
> vomited upon, covered with beer, smeared with 'frat sludge', etc, or
> lost without upset.
> http://cactusractus.tumblr.com/post/292325589/fracket-n-colloquial-an-uncared-for
>
> I have no idea how far back it goes, but the hits I located (among
> the various irrelevant entries for proper names and such) are all
> from the last few months.  It apparently earned a mention on NPR this
> weekend according to one site.  I didn't hear it live myself.

It showed up in a recent episode of "This American Life" all about the
drinking culture of Penn State:

---
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=396
"Ira Glass, Sarah Koenig, Lisa Pollak and Jane Feltes report on
tailgating parties, frat parties, an article of clothing known as a
'fracket,' and a surprising and common drunken crime."
---

("Fracket" shows up at about 13:30 in the audio.)


--Ben Zimmer

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