An Unofficial Guide to the ‘Fracket’

According to Urban Dictionary a “fracket” can be defined as: “a jacket you wear to frats because you don’t mind if at the end of the night, it is covered in beer, frat sludge or other unidentifiable liquids. Also, it is not a big deal if this jacket is lost or stolen during the course of the night.” Now that you know the definition, you’re probably realizing that you do indeed have a fracket of your own. Going into college I had never heard of this term. I vividly remember during week one a girl was asking me which fracket she should wear. I stood there completely puzzled. A fracket? She looked at me as if I was a naive child when I asked what it meant. Since then the term has never left my vocabulary. 

Courtesy of Giphy

As a college aged girl wearing pleather skirts and mesh shirts without some sort of outerwear for a night out is a death sentence. That’s where the fracket comes into play. Frackets can be the windbreakers from your high school track team or the ugly puffy jacket your Aunt Susie got you for Christmas two years ago. 

A fracket is the kind of disposable outerwear you wouldn’t necessarily care if it was lost forever. In fact, you might be happy it’s gone. Lost the jacket? No problem. Someone stole it? Even better, they’ll like it more than you. Fracket got barfed on? Oh, well, it’s about time. They’re the jackets that should have been thrown out years ago but now they serve the better purpose of keeping you warm on your walks back to your dorm. 

I’ve always wondered where the term originated. After some research, I found that the term is believed to have coined at Penn State. There was a Fracket Bible of sorts that I found that laid out a few rules surrounding the fracket. Apparently, stealing unguarded frackets is fair game. One student wrote, “In the unwritten fracket law, if your fracket is stolen, you are in the right to take someone else’s fracket. While you are at it, you might as well upgrade like your robber did.” This may sound a lot like stealing but it is just the nature of the fracket culture. 

I have learned a few tips regarding the fracket culture. The most important rule is to not keep anything valuable in the pockets of your fracket because, chances are, if you put it down you’ll never pick it up again. If you have no other place for your wallet and phone, then I would recommend just never putting the fracket down. I like to be super stylish and tie my ugly sweatshirt around my waist. I think it really ties my outfit together (sike! But at least I know my personal belongings are safe). Fracket is just the beginning of terms used in frat culture. Don’t want to wear heels tonight because of gross basement floors? Throw on your froots (frat boots). 

The fracket is a term that will stay with you well after college. Years from now you’ll hear the term and think back to your wild (or in my case not so wild, just chilly) college nights when you lost your favorite Aeropostale hoodie from middle school. 

Cover courtesy of The Odyssey 

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