Follow the Treee

Created by Unknown User (crk4), last modified by Unknown User (tno1) on Aug 23, 2012

Follow the Treee: noun; event during the Fall semester of 2008 in which, during a power outage, some students holding a tree branch inspired a march through campus and Main Street. The students were disbanded by police, but small remnants coalesced again, sans branch."My friends and I followed the treee all the way to Main Street!"85% of people surveyed knew this phrase.(Klein, E-H, 2008)

Comments:

I didn’t realize this was disbanded by the police; I thought it ended when a guy living in Saratoga commons snapped the limb. Also, this whole thing was started by a Mr. Matt Harris of Dante House, who didn’t intend to get people following him. Apparently a few people thought it would be funny to follow him around and then…gang mentality. There was also some streaking going on that night…

The real question about this phrase is why the third "e" found its way in. An eyewitness just told me that people were chanting, "T-R-E-E!" but with the wind and confusion the beat was totally off, and a number of marchers ended up shouting their final "e" after the rest of the group was finished. The result was that the chant sounded like "T-R-E-E-E!" with the third, delayed "e."

(By the way, this gathering looked really hilarious/terrifying/curious from the fourth floor of Putnam hall.)

Posted by era6 at Dec 02, 2008 01:03

According to my group’s survey so far, 40% of surveyors are familiar with this term. 100% of the surveyors who are familiar with this term use the original definition. Of the 40% of surveyors who are familiar with the term, 100% agree that the term is specific to Geneseo college life.The tale of the third "e" is still relevant, because of the apparent echo throughout the Geneseo valley.(Birkby, A-F, 2012).  

Posted by ccb7 at Nov 19, 2012 08:49

I remember this being part of the Week of Welcome introductory skits Fall 2009, I was unaware it was referencing an actual event. I wonder if its continued use in WOW could help explain its continued widespread recognition by students. (Craft, G-M, 2012)

Posted by msc5 at Dec 02, 2012 16:58

According to the survey, 20% of participants were familiar with this term, 80% of the participants had never heard the term. This indicates that the word is losing popularity. (H. Ali, A-F, 2019)

Posted by hea4 at Apr 30, 2019 16:47

No responses indicated total familiarity. 4.8% of responders had heard the term used but could not define it, and 95.2% had never heard theh term used before (Anderson A-F 2020)

Posted by aa48 at Dec 11, 2020 19:42

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