Date: Tue, 19 Dec 89 13:48:18 EST
From: jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Doyle)
Subject: College Slang Dictionary
It’s finally here, what you’ve all been waiting for! The official USENET
dictionary of college slang. Sorry it took so long, but it *is* the end of the
semester, and I’ve been busy. If you’re reading this article in soc.college,
this is the cover article, and there will be 3 articles to follow: the
dictionary itself, the people and colleges I heard from, and a list of courses
with slang names. If you are reading this in any other newsgroup, email
jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu if you would like any of these lists. The
dictionary is about 130 words long. Enjoy!
Jen
—
“Make mine a root beer, Mike. Thanks. To communication! ”
——————————————————————————-
Jennifer Doyle // Princeton ’92 // jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu
Disclaimer: I am a student, I represent the future.
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 89 13:48:21 EST
From: jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Doyle)
Subject: College Slang Posting I: people and colleges (1 of 3)
This is the first of 3 postings. For details, see the cover article “College
Slang Dictionary”.
Jen
*******************************************************************************
Here’s the people who sent me their slang, and helped make this dictionary.
Thanks to all of them. If I missed a name, I’m very sorry. I’m only human. 🙂
——————————————————————————-
Name Userid
——————————————————————————-
AEJCampbell aejc@louie.cc.utexas.edu
Bill Warner WTW101%PSUVM@pucc
Brendan O’Connor bmoconno@phoenix.princeton.edu
Brian Greenberg greenber@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
Bryon Buck ls2@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
Douglas J. Katz gt2783c@prism.gatech.edu
Drew MacBride laba-3ae@WEB.berkeley.edu
Edward J. Jordan basilisk%plum@hub.ucsb.edu
Greg Skinner gds@CS.UCLA.EDU
Harlan ? harlan@BBN.COM
Heather Corbett mikey@bambam.wellesley.edu
James Burley Huber jh5x+@andrew.cmu.edu
James Hu jxh@phobos.cis.ksu.edu
Jason Albert ejalbert@phoenix.princeton.edu
Jeff Hildebrand JDH92@campus.swarthmore.edu
Jennifer Doyle jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu
John Wilber wilber%sal-sun19.usc.edu@usc.edu
K.S. Palmer ksp8305@ultb.isc.rit.edu
Katherine ? kewms@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Ken Lin C.Kenny.Lin@f.gp.cs.cmu.edu
M. G. Stinnett nuapple@vm1.nodak.edu
Matthew R. Byer byer@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu
Michael E. Yellin my0l+@andrew.cmu.edu
Michael Tod Rose mr2t+@andrew.cmu.edu
Paul J Zawada zawada@en.ecn.purdue.edu
Phillip A. Remaker ames!amdcad!pepsi!remaker
S. Patel gatech!kong!ncratl!ncrlnk!ncrcae!PEDEV!PEDEV.Columbia.NCR.COM!sandy
Shin ? shin@oddjob.uchicago.edu
Stacy Weaver stacy@sci.ccny.cuny.edu
Stephen Brent Peters sp2q+@andrew.cmu.edu
Stuart Koyanagi STUART%OCE%gamera.usc.edu@usc.edu
Tiny Bubbles… ho@fergvax.unl.edu
Valerie Ohm valerie@athena.mit.edu
Victor Kan kan@DG-RTP.DG.COM
These are the colleges that the slang came from. They range from New Jersey to
California, and from North Dakota to Texas. Again, if I missed one, I’m sorry.
——————————————————————————-
Abbrieviation Full name of College Location
——————————————————————————-
Berkeley University of Calif. at Berkeley Berkeley, Cal.
CCNY City College New York City, N.Y.
CMU Carnegie-Mellon University Pittsburgh, Penn.
CSM Colorado School of Mines Golden, Col.
Columbia Columbia University New York City, N.Y.
Ga. Tech Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Ga.
Georgetown Georgetown University Washington, D.C.
Kansas State Kansas State University Manhattan, Ks.
MIT Masachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Mass.
Muhlenburg Muhlenburg College Allentown, Penn.
N.D. State North Dakota State University North Dakota
Okl. State Oklahoma State University Oklahoma
Penn State Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania
Princeton Princeton University Princeton, N.J.
Purdue Purdue University W. Lafayette, Ind.
RIT Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, N.Y.
Swarthmore Swarthmore College Swarthmore, Penn.
U. of Chicago University of Chicago Chicago, Ill.
U. of Ill. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Illinois
U. of Neb. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, Neb.
U. of Pgh. University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Penn.
U. of Rochester University of Rochester Rochester, N.Y.
UCSB University of California at Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, Cal.
UPenn University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Penn.
USC University of Southern California Los Angeles, Cal.
UT at Austin University of Texas at Austin Austin, Tx.
Wellesley Wellesley College Wellesley, Mass.
—
“Make mine a root beer, Mike. Thanks. To communication! ”
——————————————————————————-
Jennifer Doyle // Princeton ’92 // jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu
Disclaimer: I am a student, I represent the future.
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 89 13:48:25 EST
From: jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Doyle)
Subject: College Slang Posting II:course name slang (2 of 3)
This is the second of 3 articles. For details, see the cover article “College
Slang Dictionary”.
Jen
*******************************************************************************
PRINCETON
Geo 201/202 – “Rocks for Jocks”
Architecture 204 – “Architorture”
PURDUE
Engineering 100 – “Sleep 100”
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
Physics 107 Adventures in Physics – “Physics for Jocks and Pretty Girls”
BERKELEY
Physics 10 Physics Without Math – “Physics for Poets”
Astronomy 10 Self Paced General Astro – “Astro Without Stars”
Geology 50 Intro to Geology – “Rocks for Jocks”
Math P Remedial Trig & Algebra – “Math Without Numbers”
CARNEGIE-MELLON
Architorture – “Architecture”
Sadistics – “Statistics”
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Anatomy and Physiology – “A and P”
Digital Organization and Management – “DOoM”
PENN STATE
GEOSC 20 Planet Earth – “Rocks for Jocks”
GEORGETOWN
Modern Foreign Government – “Mo-Fo Go”
Problem of God, an introductory theology course – “God’s Problems”
COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
any Physics class, especially required 1st and 2nd year classes – “Phy-sucks”
Differential Equations course – “Diffy-screw”
MIT
introductory circuits course – “6.002 Six double-Oh Screw”
advanced version of freshman physics (first term) –
“8.012 Mechanics for Masochists”
advanced version of freshman physics (second term) –
“8.022 Electricity and Masochism”
Unified Engineering, I through IV – “16.001, 16.002, 16.003, 16.004 Unifried”
xxxxx Death Lab: Variously applied to a number of 20 unit lab
courses in Biology and Chemistry. In the MIT system, a 12 unit course
is roughly equal to a three credit course somewhere else. 20 units is
a lot.
—
“Make mine a root beer, Mike. Thanks. To communication! ”
——————————————————————————-
Jennifer Doyle // Princeton ’92 // jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu
Disclaimer: I am a student, I represent the future.
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 89 13:48:30 EST
From: jmdoyle@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jennifer Doyle)
Subject: College Slang Posting III: dictionary (3 of 3)
This is the third of 3 articles. For details, see the cover article “College
Slang Dictionary”.
Jen
*******************************************************************************
I feel this particular article needs a preface. I took just about every piece
of slang I was sent, unless you *really* had to know the college to appreciate
it. It’s in alphabetical order by word, and not split into any sort of
categories. There is an explative here and there, and various sex related
definitions. The style is my own, basically designed to make my life easier.
There are almost no listings of part of speech. I tried to keep the definitions
as much the contributor’s words as possible, but some editing had to be done.
Enjoy!
Jen jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu
——————————————————————————-
word [College] definition
——————————————————————————-
24/7 [CMU] all day, all week
ACEd [Berkeley] to have your schedule come out completely scrambled (named
after the computerized and bug-prone Advance Class Enrollment system)
FAC [U. of Neb.-Lincoln] from “Friday Afternoon Club” going out to the bars
on Friday afternoon
Ma Tech [Ga. Tech] the loving Georgia Tech mommy
Mac [CMU] to create any laser output using a Macintosh computer
Neives’ effect [RIT] the effects of a head shot from any weapon in the role
playing game Twilight 2000 that misses the helmet
P.C. [Swarthmore] Stands for politically correct
SWAG [Purdue] answer to homework or exam question usually written down minutes
before it is due (orig. Scientific Wild Ass Guess)
Squid [USC] someone who always studies, especially on Friday nights
Swarthmore Swivel [Swarthmore] having only one dining hall, if you wish to talk
about someone at a meal, you should first look left, look
right, and look behind you to make sure that person isn’t in
earshot
Underwater Basketweaving [CMU] a mythical course that often comes up jokingly
in conversation
Undue Perversity [Purdue] Purdue University
V.P. Run/7-11 Run [Purdue] make a trip to the V.P. or 7-11, convenience stores
(V.P.= Village Pantry)
VAX, to [Swarthmore] logging onto the mainframe computer system, generally with
the intention of wasting time and specifically not doing
work
Wa run [Princeton] make a trip to the WaWa, a convenience store
X kegger [Purdue] Party at which X kegs of beer were consumed
aced [N.D. State] did very well on a test
apes [CMU] fraternity brothers
artsy-fartsy [RIT] graphic arts major
bag [Muhlenburg] to sleep with
bag [Princeton] to cut, to blow off
baggers [CMU] prospective freshman (visiting on`sleeping bag’
weekend
baggy [CMU] when campus dining facilites are filled with baggers
bail [UCSB] leave somewhere or skip a class
be a Wendy [Wellesley] to be like the stereotypically W.A.S.P.y Wellesley
woman
bifftad [CA] New England preppie school type
black [CSM] incomprehensible course material
blitzed [Purdue] Became very intoxicated
blow off [Princeton] to cut, to not go
blow off [Purdue] (1) to ignore an otherwise important thing (2) something very
easy
blow off [U. of Pgh] slack off, quit, break off relationship
blow shit [Purdue] to tease somone
blow-off [CMU] very easy, simple, requiring little work
bogus [UCSB] not as bad as hanus
bombed [N.D. State] did very badly on the test
bone [USC] to sleep with
book (also bookin’) [CMU] used sarcastically to say you are definitely going to do something
brutal [UCSB] difficult as in a test or assignment
cheese [CMU] software
cheesebox [CMU] computer
clicky-windy [RIT] photography major
clueful [CMU] to have clue: be aware of what’s going on
clueless [UCSB] not know anything about something
corporate facist [MIT] person in interview mode, especially when dressed for an
interview
cows [CMU] sorority sisters
crash [Berkeley] enroll in an over-enrolled class
crash [U. of Kansas] to sleep
crash and burn [N.D. State] fail in a pickup attempt
cutty-pasty [RIT] fine arts major
digithead [RIT] Comp. Sci. major
dis [CMU] insult
double [MIT] two all-nighters in a row
dramats [CMU] drama majors, in general. Also known as the “ones wearing black”
erg [Columbia] a training exercise done by members of the crew team (male and
female)
flailed [UCSB] blew it in a big way
freshling [Swarthmore] first year students
fruits [CMU] students in the College of Fine Arts
geek [U. of Chicago] what everyone calls each other whose usage frequency is
inversely proportional to the number of days left in a given quarter
geek box [Purdue] box (usually a tackle box) carried by EEs and EETs. Contains
millions of electronic components needed in lab
geeking out [Swarthmore] expression of sympathy
get a clue [CMU] telling someone to start paying attention to the world
get shafted [Ga. Tech] to be required to write an extremely difficult exam
go grungy [Kansas State] go out without showering
got reamed [Purdue] Did very poorly on an exam
gone [Purdue] Became very intoxicated
grunt [RIT] Army ROTC cadet
hack [MIT] 1. (n) a prank 2. (v) to “explore” (i.e. going places where students
aren’t supposed to be)
hanus [UCSB] really, really bad [Alt. spelling: heinous]
helmet [Penn State] women
hit the slot machine [N.D. State] obtained money from the ATM
hose [CMU] description of a test/exam that is going to be/was impossible
hosed [Princeton] failed to achieve something; was rejected
make a run for the border [N.D. State] head to Minn. where the drinking age was
19 (now obsolete)
mash [U. of Ill. at U-C] to kiss, neck, make out, etc.
mash [U. of Neb. at Linc.] some sort of sexual activity
mint [CMU] really cool
mutant [MIT] math major, especially theoretical math. Sometimes applied to
theoretical physicists as well
narfs [CMU] stupid freshmen, or republicans
nerd [MIT] same as tooling, but especially when one is turning down an
opportunity to punt
nerd box [Purdue] box (usually a tackle box) carried by EEs and EETs. Contains
millions of electronic components needed in lab
nerd kit [MIT] a breadboard with power supply and a small set of ICs for the
digital lab courses
no can do [CCNY] I’m sorry, I can’t help you
no way [U. of Pgh] I don’t believe it
nuke [RIT] 1. to destroy or delete 2. to pull a prank on someone
peachy [CMU] fine (ex. How are you? Just peachy!)
plasma [MIT] caffeine, in any of its forms
pound [CMU] to drink beer, usually pretty fast and enthusiastically
power sludge [CMU] strong coffee
powertool [MIT] to cram or study intensly
psych! [CMU] just kidding
punt [MIT] to cut class, skip a problem set, or otherwise avoid doing academic
work
rack [U. of Oklahoma] to sleep
rage [UCSB] party to excess
random [MIT] non-MIT person who hangs out at MIT anyway
rent-a-cop [RIT] Campus Safety
rip, to [USC] to do well in
rocked [Purdue] Did very well on an exam
roll [Okl. State] to cut class
scoping [Princeton] looking for possible members of the other sex to date, etc.
scrod [MIT] to have been screwed over
scrump [RIT] to have sex with someone
sexile [Swarthmore] state of banishment from one’s room while one’s roommate is
with his significant other
shack [U. of Ill. at U-C] to stay at the apartment/dorm/frat/sorority of
your significant or not so significant other overnight
shooting the shabookie [CMU] 1. ‘taking it all’ in the card game ‘hearts’
2. anything particularly destructive
six-screw [MIT] a “pet” name for the EECS department (course 6)
slip ‘er the Woodrow, to [USC] to sleep with
slort [CMU] to go to class with the express purpose of sleeping through it
squid [RIT] Navy ROTC cadet
stoked [UCSB] happy, elated, etc
stopped by the Union [N.D. State] had sex, because condom machines are located
in the bathrooms of the Union
that’s sweet [CMU] that’s really, really nice, awesome, terrific
thes [MIT] to work on one’s thesis
throat [U. of Rochester] someone who lives in the library, a study-geek
toast [MIT] what you are if you do badly on a test
toasted [Purdue] Became very intoxicated
tomatoes [CMU] engineering/science students who dress/behave like CFA students
or vice versa. Both a fruit and a vegetable
too much glue during those pre-adolescent years [N.D. State] used in reference
to a strange or stupid act by
someone
tool [MIT] to study
tool [Princeton] someone with political or business ambitions, usually a
Woodrow Wilson school major
tool [Purdue] someone who is used and abused
tool [SUNY – S.B.] someone you pick up, use, and put back when you’re done
torque [Purdue] to hit on someone
trashed [CMU] overworked, tired, drunk. More often the former.
triple [MIT] three all-nighters in a row
vegetables [CMU] science/engineering students
walk [UT at Austin] when a professor decides not to have class, sometimes used
to describe cutting
wank [Columbia] 1.(n) a person who is logged on for a huge amount of time
2. (v) to log on, to stay logged on, and to hack your brains out while
drinking lots of JOLT or Mountain Dew 3. (adj) having the properties of a
wank
wasted [CMU] overworked, tired, drunk. More often the former.
watermelon effect [RIT] see Neives’ effect
word [Ga. Tech] any hint on what might be asked in exam by a professor
zone [UCSB] lose contact with the world (e.g. daydream in class)
zoomie [RIT] Air Force ROTC cadet
—
“Make mine a root beer, Mike. Thanks. To communication! ”
——————————————————————————-
Jennifer Doyle // Princeton ’92 // jmdoyle@phoenix.princeton.edu
Disclaimer: I am a student, I represent the future.
