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A Collection of College Words and Customs written by Benjamin Homer Hall

B >> Benjamin Homer Hall >> A Collection of College Words and Customs




The exercises of the association varied from year to year. Many of
the old customs gradually went out of fashion, until finally but
little of the original Navy remained. The officers were, as usual,
appointed yearly, but the power of appointing them was transferred
to the class, and a public parade was substituted for the forms
and ceremonies once peculiar to the society. The excursion down
the harbor was omitted for the first time the present year,[57]
and the last procession made its appearance in the year 1846.

At present the Navy Club is organized after the parts for the last
Senior Exhibition have been assigned. It is composed of three
classes of persons; namely, the true NAVY, which consists of those
who have _never_ had parts; the MARINES, those who have had a
_major_ or _second_ part in the Senior year, but no _minor_ or
_first_ part in the Junior; and the HORSE-MARINES, those who have
had a _minor_ or _first_ part in the Junior year, but have
subsequently fallen off, so as not to get a _major_ or _second_
part in the Senior. Of the Navy officers, the Lord High Admiral is
usually he who has been sent from College the greatest number of
times; the Vice-Admiral is the poorest scholar in the class; the
Rear-Admiral the laziest fellow in the class; the Commodore, one
addicted to boating; the Captain, a jolly blade; the Lieutenant
and Midshipman, fellows of the same description; the Chaplain, the
most profane; the Surgeon, a dabbler in surgery, or in medicine,
or anything else; the Ensign, the tallest member of the class; the
Boatswain, one most inclined to obscenity; the Drum Major, the
most aristocratic, and his assistants, fellows of the same
character. These constitute the Band. Such are the general rules
of choice, but they are not always followed. The remainder of the
class who have had no parts and are not officers of the Navy Club
are members, under the name of Privates. On the morning when the
parts for Commencement are assigned, the members who receive
appointments resign the stations which they have held in the Navy
Club. This resignation takes place immediately after the parts
have been read to the class. The door-way of the middle entry of
Holworthy Hall is the place usually chosen for this affecting
scene. The performance is carried on in the mock-oratorical style,
a person concealed under a white sheet being placed behind the
speaker to make the gestures for him. The names of those members
who, having received Commencement appointments, have refused to
resign their trusts in the Navy Club, are then read by the Lord
High Admiral, and by his authority they are expelled from the
society. This closes the exercises of the Club.

The following entertaining account of the last procession, in
1846, has been furnished by a graduate of that year:--

"The class had nearly all assembled, and the procession, which
extended through the rooms of the Natural History Society, began
to move. The principal officers, as also the whole band, were
dressed in full uniform. The Rear-Admiral brought up the rear, as
was fitting. He was borne in a sort of triumphal car, composed of
something like a couch, elevated upon wheels, and drawn by a white
horse. On this his excellency, dressed in uniform, and enveloped
in his cloak, reclined at full length. One of the Marines played
the part of driver. Behind the car walked a colored man, with a
most fantastic head-dress, whose duty it was to carry his Honor
the Rear-Admiral's pipe. Immediately before the car walked the
other two Marines, with guns on their shoulders. The 'Digs'[58]
came immediately before the Marines, preceded by the tallest of
their number, carrying a white satin banner, bearing on it, in
gold letters, the word 'HARVARD,' with a _spade_ of gold paper
fastened beneath. The Digs were all dressed in black, with Oxford
caps on their heads, and small iron spades over their shoulders.
They walked two and two, except in one instance, namely, that of
the first three scholars, who walked together, the last of their
brethren, immediately preceding the Marines. The second and third
scholars did not carry spades, but pointed shovels, much larger
and heavier; while the first scholar, who walked between the other
two, carried an enormously great square shovel,--such as is often
seen hung out at hardware-stores for a sign,--with 'SPADES AND
SHOVELS,' or some such thing, painted on one side, and 'ALL SIZES'
on the other. This shovel was about two feet square. The idea of
carrying real, _bona fide_ spades and shovels originated wholly in
our class. It has always been the custom before to wear a spade,
cut out of white paper, on the lapel of the coat. The Navy
Privates were dressed in blue shirts, monkey-jackets, &c., and
presented a very sailor-like appearance. Two of them carried small
kedges over their shoulders. The Ensign bore an old and tattered
flag, the same which was originally presented by Miss Mellen of
Cambridge to the Harvard Washington Corps. The Chaplain was
dressed in a black gown, with an old-fashioned curly white wig on
his head, which, with a powdered face, gave him a very
sanctimonious look. He carried a large French Bible, which by much
use had lost its covers. The Surgeon rode a beast which might well
have been taken for the Rosinante of the world-renowned Don
Quixote. This worthy AEsculapius had an infinite number of
brown-paper bags attached to his person. He was enveloped in an
old plaid cloak, with a huge sign for _pills_ fastened upon his
shoulders, and carried before him a skull on a staff. His nag was
very spirited, so much so as to leap over the chains, posts, &c.,
and put to flight the crowd assembled to see the fun. The
procession, after having cheered all the College buildings, and
the houses of the Professors, separated about seven o'clock, P.M."

At first like a badger the Freshman dug,
Fed on Latin and Greek, in his room kept snug;
And he fondly hoped that on _Navy Club_ day
The highest spade he might bear away.
_MS. Poem_, F.E. Felton, Harv. Coll.


NECK. To _run one's neck_, at Williams College, to trust to luck
for the success of any undertaking.


NESCIO. Latin; literally, _I do not know_. At the University of
Cambridge, England, _to sport a nescio_, to shake the head, a
signal that one does not understand or is ignorant of the subject.
"After the Senate-House examination for degrees," says Grose, in
his Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, "the students
proceed to the schools, to be questioned by the proctor. According
to custom immemorial, the answers _must_ be _Nescio_. The
following is a translated specimen:--

"_Ques._ What is your, name? _Ans._ I do not know.

"_Ques._ What is the name of this University? _Ans._ I do not
know.

"_Ques._ Who was your father? _Ans._ I do not know.

"The last is probably the only true answer of the three!"


NEWLING. In the German universities, a Freshman; one in his first
half-year.


NEWY. At Princeton College, a fresh arrival.


NIGHTGOWN. A dressing-gown; a _deshabille_.

No student shall appear within the limits of the College, or town
of Cambridge, in any other dress than in the uniform belonging to
his respective class, unless he shall have on a _nightgown_, or
such an outside garment as may be necessary over a coat.--_Laws
Harv. Coll._, 1790.


NOBLEMAN. In the English universities, among the Undergraduates,
the nobleman enjoys privileges and exemptions not accorded to
others. At Oxford he wears a black-silk gown with full sleeves
"couped" at the elbows, and a velvet cap with gold tassel, except
on full-dress occasions, when his habit is of violet-figured
damask silk, richly bedight with gold lace. At Cambridge he wears
the plain black-silk gown and the hat of an M.A., except on feast
days and state occasions, when he appears in a gown still more
gorgeous than that of a Fellow-Commoner.--_Oxford Guide. Bristed_.


NO END OF. Bristed records this phrase as an intensive peculiar to
the English Cantabs. Its import is obvious "They have _no end of_
tin; i.e. a great deal of money. He is _no end of_ a fool; i.e.
the greatest fool possible."--_Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.
2d, p. 24.

The use of this expression, with a similar signification, is
common in some portions of the United States.


NON ENS. Latin; literally _not being_. At the University of
Cambridge, Eng., one who has not been matriculated, though he has
resided some time at the University; consequently is not
considered as having any being. A Freshman in embryo.--_Grad. ad
Cantab._


NON PARAVI. Latin; literally, _I have not prepared_. When Latin
was spoken in the American colleges, this excuse was commonly
given by scholars not prepared for recitation.

With sleepy eyes and countenance heavy,
With much excuse of _non paravi_.
_Trumbull's Progress of Dullness_, 1794, p. 8.

The same excuse is now frequently given in English.

The same individuals were also observed to be "_not prepared_" for
the morning's recitation.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. II. p. 261.

I hear you whispering, with white lips, "_Not prepared_,
sir."--_Burial of Euclid_, 1850, p. 9.


NON PLACET. Latin; literally, _It is not pleasing_. In the
University of Cambridge, Eng., the term in which a _negative_ vote
is given in the Senate-House.

To _non-placet_, with the meaning of the verb _to reject_, is
sometimes used in familiar language.

A classical examiner, having marked two candidates belonging to
his own College much higher than the other three examiners did,
was suspected of partiality to them, and _non-placeted_ (rejected)
next year when he came up for approval.--_Bristed's Five Years in
an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 231.


NON-READING MAN. See READING MAN.

The result of the May decides whether he will go out in honors or
not,--that is, whether he will be a reading or a _non-reading
man_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 85.


NON-REGENT. In the English universities, a term applied to those
Masters of Arts whose regency has ceased.--_Webster_.

See REGENT. SENATE.


NON-TERM. "When any member of the Senate," says the Gradus ad
Cantabrigiam, "dies within the University during term, on
application to the Vice-Chancellor, the University bell rings an
hour; from which period _Non-Term_, as to public lectures and
disputations, commences for three days."


NON VALUI. Latin; literally, _I was sick_. At Harvard College,
when the students were obliged to speak Latin, it was usual for
them to give the excuse _non valui_ for almost every absence or
omission. The President called upon delinquents for their excuses
in the chapel, after morning prayers, and these words were often
pronounced so broadly as to sound like _non volui_, I did not wish
[to go]. The quibble was not perceived for a long time, and was
heartily enjoyed, as may be well supposed, by those who made use
of it.


[Greek: Nous]. Greek; _sense_. A word adopted by, and in use
among, students.

He is a lad of more [Greek: nous], and keeps better
company.--_Pref. to Grad. ad Cantab._

Getting the better of them in anything which required the smallest
exertion of [Greek: nous], was like being first in a donkey-race.
--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 30.


NUMBER FIFTY, NUMBER FORTY-NINE. At Trinity College, Hartford, the
privies are known by these names. Jarvis Hall contains forty-eight
rooms, and the numbers forty-nine and fifty follow in numerical
continuation, but with a different application.


NUMBER TEN. At the Wesleyan University, the names "No. 10, and, as
a sort of derivative, No. 1001, are applied to the privy." The
former title is used also at the University of Vermont, and at
Dartmouth College.


NUTS. A correspondent from Williams College says, "We speak of a
person whom we despise as being a _nuts_." This word is used in
the Yorkshire dialect with the meaning of a "silly fellow." Mr.
Halliwell, in his Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words,
remarks: "It is not applied to an idiot, but to one who has been
doing a foolish action."



_O_.


OAK. In the English universities, the outer door of a student's
room.

No man has a right to attack the rooms of one with whom he is not
in the habit of intimacy. From ignorance of this axiom I had near
got a horse-whipping, and was kicked down stairs for going to a
wrong _oak_, whose tenant was not in the habit of taking jokes of
this kind.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 287.

A pecker, I must explain, is a heavy pointed hammer for splitting
large coals; an instrument often put into requisition to force
open an _oak_ (an outer door), when the key of the spring latch
happens to be left inside, and the scout has gone away.--_The
Collegian's Guide_, p. 119.

Every set of rooms is provided with an _oak_ or outer door, with a
spring lock, of which the master has one latch-key, and the
servant another.--_Ibid._, p. 141.

"To _sport oak_, or a door," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "is,
in the modern phrase, to exclude duns, or other unpleasant
intruders." It generally signifies, however, nothing more than
locking or fastening one's door for safety or convenience.

I always "_sported my oak_" whenever I went out; and if ever I
found any article removed from its usual place, I inquired for it;
and thus showed I knew where everything was last
placed.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 141.

If you persist, and say you cannot join them, you must _sport your
oak_, and shut yourself into your room, and all intruders
out.--_Ibid._, p. 340.

Used also in some American colleges.

And little did they dream who knocked hard and often at his _oak_
in vain, &c.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. X. p. 47.


OATHS. At Yale College, those who were engaged in the government
were formerly required to take the oaths of allegiance and
abjuration appointed by the Parliament of England. In his
Discourse before the Graduates of Yale College, President Woolsey
gives the following account of this obligation:--

"The charter of 1745 imposed another test in the form of a
political oath upon all governing officers in the College. They
were required before they undertook the execution of their trusts,
or within three months after, 'publicly in the College hall [to]
take the oaths, and subscribe the declaration, appointed by an act
of Parliament made in the first year of George the First,
entitled, An Act for the further security of his Majesty's person
and government, and the succession of the Crown in the heirs of
the late Princess Sophia, being Protestants, and for extinguishing
the hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales, and his open and
secret abettors.' We cannot find the motive for prescribing this
oath of allegiance and abjuration in the Protestant zeal which was
enkindled by the second Pretender's movements in England,--for,
although belonging to this same year 1745, these movements were
subsequent to the charter,--but rather in the desire of removing
suspicion of disloyalty, and conforming the practice in the
College to that required by the law in the English universities.
This oath was taken until it became an unlawful one, when the
State assumed complete sovereignty at the Revolution. For some
years afterwards, the officers took the oath of fidelity to the
State of Connecticut, and I believe that the last instance of this
occurred at the very end of the eighteenth century."--p. 40.

In the Diary of President Stiles, under the date of July 8, 1778,
is the annexed entry, in which is given the formula of the oath
required by the State:--

"The oath of fidelity administered to me by the Hon. Col. Hamlin,
one of the Council of the State of Connecticut, at my
inauguration.

"'You, Ezra Stiles, do swear by the name of the ever-living God,
that you will be true and faithful to the State of Connecticut, as
a free and independent State, and in all things do your duty as a
good and faithful subject of the said State, in supporting the
rights, liberties, and privileges of the same. So help you God.'

"This oath, substituted instead of that of allegiance to the King
by the Assembly of Connecticut, May, 1777, to be taken by all in
this State; and so it comes into use in Yale College."--_Woolsey's
Hist. Discourse_, Appendix, p. 117.


[Greek: Hoi Aristoi.] Greek; literally, _the bravest_. At
Princeton College, the aristocrats, or would-be aristocrats, are
so called.


[Greek: Hoi Polloi.] Greek; literally, _the many_.

See POLLOI.


OLD BURSCH. A name given in the German universities to a student
during his fourth term. Students of this term are also designated
_Old Ones_.

As they came forward, they were obliged to pass under a pair of
naked swords, held crosswise by two _Old Ones_.--_Longfellow's
Hyperion_, p. 110.


OLD HOUSE. A name given in the German universities to a student
during his fifth term.


OPPONENCY. The opening of an academical disputation; the
proposition of objections to a tenet; an exercise for a
degree.--_Todd_.

Mr. Webster remarks, "I believe not used in America."

In the old times, the university discharged this duty [teaching]
by means of the public readings or lectures,... and by the keeping
of acts and _opponencies_--being certain _viva voce_ disputations
--by the students.--_The English Universities and their Reforms_,
in _Blackwood's Magazine_, Feb. 1849.


OPPONENT. In universities and colleges, where disputations are
carried on, the opponent is, in technical application, the person
who begins the dispute by raising objections to some tenet or
doctrine.


OPTIME. The title of those who stand in the second and third ranks
of honors, immediately after the Wranglers, in the University of
Cambridge, Eng. They are called respectively _Senior_ and _Junior
Optimes_.

See JUNIOR OPTIME, POLLOI, and SENIOR OPTIME.


OPTIONAL. At some American colleges, the student is obliged to
pursue during a part of the course such studies as are prescribed.
During another portion of the course, he is allowed to select from
certain branches those which he desires to follow. The latter are
called _optional_ studies. In familiar conversation and writing,
the word _optional_ is used alone.

For _optional_ will come our way,
And lectures furnish time to play,
'Neath elm-tree shade to smoke all day.
_Songs, Biennial Jubilee_, Yale Coll., 1855.


ORIGINAL COMPOSITION. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., an
essay or theme written by a student in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, is
termed _original_ composition.

Composition there is of course, but more Latin than Greek, and
some _original Composition_.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 137.

_Original Composition_--that is, Composition in the true sense of
the word--in the dead languages is not much practised.--_Ibid._,
p. 185.


OVERSEER. The general government of the colleges in the United
States is vested in some instances in a Corporation, in others in
a Board of Trustees or Overseers, or, as in the case of Harvard
College, in the two combined. The duties of the Overseers are,
generally, to pass such orders and statutes as seem to them
necessary for the prosperity of the college whose affairs they
oversee, to dispose of its funds in such a manner as will be most
advantageous, to appoint committees to visit it and examine the
students connected with it, to ratify the appointment of
instructors, and to hear such reports of the proceedings of the
college government as require their concurrence.


OXFORD. The cap worn by the members of the University of Oxford,
England, is called an _Oxford_ or _Oxford cap_. The same is worn
at some American colleges on Exhibition and Commencement Days. In
shape, it is square and flat, covered with black cloth; from the
centre depends a tassel of black cord. It is further described in
the following passage.

My back equipped, it was not fair
My head should 'scape, and so, as square
As chessboard,
A _cap_ I bought, my skull to screen,
Of cloth without, and all within
Of pasteboard.
_Terrae-Filius_, Vol. II. p. 225.

Thunders of clapping!--As he bows, on high
"Praeses" his "_Oxford_" doffs, and bows reply.
_Childe Harvard_, p. 36.

It is sometimes called a _trencher cap_, from its shape.

See CAP.


OXFORD-MIXED. Cloth such as is worn at the University of Oxford,
England. The students in Harvard College were formerly required to
wear this kind of cloth as their uniform. The color is given in
the following passage: "By black-mixed (called also
_Oxford-mixed_) is understood, black with a mixture of not more
than one twentieth, nor less than one twenty-fifth, part of
white."--_Laws of Harv. Coll._, 1826, p. 25.

He generally dresses in _Oxford-mixed_ pantaloons, and a brown
surtout.--_Collegian_, p. 240.

It has disappeared along with Commons, the servility of Freshmen
and brutality of Sophomores, the _Oxford-mixed_ uniform and
buttons of the same color.--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I. p. 263.


OXONIAN. A student or graduate of the University of Oxford,
England.



_P_.


PANDOWDY BAND. A correspondent writing from Bowdoin College says:
"We use the word _pandowdy_, and we have a custom of
_pandowdying_. The Pandowdy Band, as it is called, has no regular
place nor time of meeting. The number of performers varies from
half a dozen and less to fifty or more. The instruments used are
commonly horns, drums, tin-kettles, tongs, shovels, triangles,
pumpkin-vines, &c. The object of the band is serenading Professors
who have rendered themselves obnoxious to students; and sometimes
others,--frequently tutors are entertained by 'heavenly music'
under their windows, at dead of night. This is regarded on all
hands as an unequivocal expression of the feelings of the
students.

"The band corresponds to the _Calliathump_ of Yale. Its name is a
burlesque on the _Pandean Band_ which formerly existed in this
college."

See HORN-BLOWING.


PAPE. Abbreviated from PAPER, q.v.

Old Hamlen, the printer, he got out the _papes_.
_Presentation Day Songs_, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854.

But Soph'more "_papes_," and Soph'more scrapes,
Have long since passed away.--_Ibid._


PAPER. In the English Universities, a sheet containing certain
questions, to which answers are to be given, is called _a paper_.

_To beat a paper_, is to get more than full marks for it. In
explanation of this "apparent Hibernicism," Bristed remarks: "The
ordinary text-books are taken as the standard of excellence, and a
very good man will sometimes express the operations more neatly
and cleverly than they are worded in these books, in which case he
is entitled to extra marks for style."--_Five Years in an Eng.
Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 238.

2. This name is applied at Yale College to the printed scheme
which is used at the Biennial Examinations. Also, at Harvard
College, to the printed sheet by means of which the examination
for entrance is conducted.


PARCHMENT. A diploma, from the substance on which it is usually
printed, is in familiar language sometimes called a _parchment_.

There are some, who, relying not upon the "_parchment_ and seal"
as a passport to favor, bear that with them which shall challenge
notice and admiration.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. III. p. 365.

The passer-by, unskilled in ancient lore,
Whose hands the ribboned _parchment_ never bore.
_Class Poem at Harv. Coll._, 1835, p. 7.

See SHEEPSKIN.


PARIETAL. From Latin _paries_, a wall; properly, _a
partition-wall_, from the root of _part_ or _pare_. Pertaining to
a wall.--_Webster_.

At Harvard College the officers resident within the College walls
constitute a permanent standing committee, called the Parietal
Committee. They have particular cognizance of all tardinesses at
prayers and Sabbath services, and of all offences against good
order and decorum. They are allowed to deduct from the rank of a
student, not exceeding one hundred for one offence. In case any
offence seems to them to require a higher punishment than
deduction, it is reported to the Faculty.--_Laws_, 1850, App.

Had I forgotten, alas! the stern _parietal_ monitions?
_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 98.

The chairman of the Parietal Committee is often called the
_Parietal Tutor_.

I see them shaking their fists in the face of the _parietal
tutor_.--_Oration before H.L. of I.O. of O.F._, 1849.

The members of the committee are called, in common parlance,
_Parietals_.

Four rash and inconsiderate proctors, two tutors, and five
_parietals_, each with a mug and pail in his hand, in their great
haste to arrive at the scene of conflagration, ran over the Devil,
and knocked him down stairs.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 124.

And at the loud laugh of thy gurgling throat,
The _parietals_ would forget themselves.
_Ibid._, Vol. III. p. 399 et passim.

Did not thy starting eyeballs think to see
Some goblin _parietal_ grin at thee?
_Ibid._, Vol. IV. p. 197.

The deductions made by the Parietal Committee are also called
_Parietals_.

How now, ye secret, dark, and tuneless chanters,
What is 't ye do? Beware the _parietals_.
_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 44.