# Did freshmen really used to wear those big coats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176 "2003-12-20T15:36:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/1 "2003-12-20T15:36:17Z")
I’ve seen this only twice, and both were on TV. In one ep of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” Jethro is wearing this big furry-looking coat when he becomes a “freshman” somewhere. And in the cartoon “Raw! Raw! Rooster,” Foghorn Leghorn’s old annoying college “pal” Rhode Island Red comes to visit, and he’s wearing the same sort of outfit as he’s singing “Freddy the Freshman.” So how did that outfit become associated with freshmen? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/2 "2003-12-20T15:55:28Z")
Not just freshman - it was meant to suggest “collegiate”. What you are referring to is a raccoon coat, which actually WAS in style in the 1920’s, particularly with college kids, and people who wanted to look like them. This was lots of people, “collegiate” fashion being in at the time. Not that all students wore the things, or wore them all the time, but it survived as an emblem. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/3 "2003-12-20T17:07:33Z")
Ah, they’re 1920’s style “raccoon coats”. Well, someone had to do it ---
**Author:** ![Matchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Matchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matchka)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/4 "2003-12-20T17:17:08Z")
precious. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/5 "2003-12-20T18:43:02Z")
They looked great with a straw hat (or a freshman beanie), a ukulele, a canoe, and a sweetheart, too. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/6 "2003-12-20T21:02:16Z")
From the 1927 novelty soing _Doin’ the Raccoon_: College men, knowledge men, Do a dance called raccoon; It’s the craze, nowadays, And it will get you soon. Buy a coat and try it, I’ll bet you’ll be a riot, It’s a wow, learn to do it right now! Oh, they wear 'em down at Princeton, And they share 'em up at Yale, They eat in them at Harvard, But they sleep in them in jail! At Penn, they’re made of rabbit, At Vassar, sex appeal, At Nebraska, made of airedale, In Chicago lined with steel! From _Collegiate Sam_ (1928): His raccoon coat - his raccoon coat - is ally cat! Meow! They threw him out - they threw him out - of every frat. From _Collegiate Love_ (1929): If you want to get her goat, You’ll have to buy a raccoon coat, For that’s – collegiate love! ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/7 "2003-12-20T22:25:38Z")
> [@](#): > > They looked great with a straw hat (or a freshman beanie), a ukulele, a canoe, and a sweetheart, too. Don’t forget the hip flask. And if you were a girl you strut around in unbuckled galoshes, flapper-style. Honest. Ahh, the good ol’ days. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/8 "2003-12-20T22:30:55Z")
Straw hats were for spring and summer! P-u-lease! The racoon coat made a comeback in the early 1960’s, but we settled with just a huge racoon collar. I think I was a college sophomore. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/9 "2003-12-20T23:28:11Z")
Hold on, Zoe. I won’t bet the farm on this, but – I think the boater straw, like the coat, was an identifier that defied the normally strict rules of fashion seasonality. IIRC, I’ve seen the coat + hat combo often. Like I posted, this was also the period when girls wore floppy galoshes with not a cloud in the sky. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/10 "2003-12-20T23:38:39Z")
23-Skidoo! Oh, you kid! You’re the cat’s pajamas! Ah, memories. Of someone else. I ain’t THAT old. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/11 "2003-12-20T23:54:47Z")
. . . Well, if we are going to get _really_ historically picky here, the term “flapper” had nothing to do with the 1920s or galoshes. It was used as early as 1900, referring to fluttery, butterfly-like society girls. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/12 "2003-12-20T23:57:07Z")
The PIPE! Don’t forget the PIPE! A new collegiate can’t be a sophisticated intellectual unless he’s seen smoking a pipe! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/13 "2003-12-21T00:24:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enola Straight \*The PIPE! Don’t forget the PIPE! > > A new collegiate can’t be a sophisticated intellectual unless he’s seen smoking a pipe! Doubtful. I tried that once in college, and I swear my I.Q. went down 20 points. You think it could have been the corncob? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/14 "2003-12-21T00:42:31Z")
Corncobs are for hillbillies. You needed a Briar, or Meerschaum. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/15 "2003-12-21T00:43:59Z")
There’s actually an old Garfield figurine of him in a raccoon coat with a boat skimmer holding a pennant that says “GO!” It’s kind of cute, in a hideous-omg-horrible-fashion way. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/16 "2003-12-21T02:14:58Z")
> [@](#): > > 23-Skidoo! Oh, you kid! You’re the cat’s pajamas! And the bee’s knees, too. One added feature of the raccoon coat was that to be truly fashionable, it had to be full length - practically dragging on the ground behind you. The things must have weighed a bloody ton, and I have no idea how many raccoons it took to make a coat. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/17 "2003-12-21T11:36:15Z")
[University of Wisconsin, ca. 1928-29.](http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=4074548&a=30450554&p=62149276&f=0) ---
**Author:** ![LowerLip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/839c29/32.png) [@LowerLip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LowerLip)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/18 "2003-12-21T11:59:09Z")
**Walloon** Great photo. What are they wearing under the coat? I see the neck tie and shirt, but what is that big white curtain they have draped on them under the coat? On three of them anyway. LL ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/19 "2003-12-21T12:28:57Z")
Oh god, I can only imagine walking across campus with one of those coats on today. Would PETA kill you or only maim you? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176/20 "2003-12-21T12:31:49Z")
“Big white curtain”? They’re wearing white, button-up varsity sweaters under their raccoon coats (Wisconsin’s colors are cardinal red and white). The photo was probably taken on a fall day before or after attending a football game. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-freshmen-really-used-to-wear-those-big-coats/220176.md?page=2)