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

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SOPHIC. A contraction of sophomoric.

So then the _Sophic_ army
Came on in warlike glee.
_The Battle of the Ball_, 1853.

SOPHIMORE. The old manner of spelling what is now known as
SOPHOMORE.

The President may give Leave for the _Sophimores_ to take out some
particular Books.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1774, p. 23.

His favorite researches, however, are discernible in his
observations on a comet, which appeared in the beginning of his
_Sophimore_ year.--_Holmes's Life of Ezra Stiles_, p. 13.

I aver thou hast never been a corporal in the militia, or a
_sophimore_ at college.--_The Algerine Captive_, Walpole, 1797,
Vol. I. p. 68.

SOPHISH GOWN. Among certain gownsmen, a gown that bears the marks
of much service; "a thing of shreds and patches."--_Gradus ad
Cantab._

SOPHIST. A name given to the undergraduates at Cambridge, England.
--_Crabb's Tech. Dict._

SOPHISTER. Greek, [Greek: sophistaes]. In the University of
Cambridge, Eng., the title of students who are advanced beyond the
first year of their residence. The entire course at the University
consists of three years and one term, during which the students
have the titles of First-Year Men, or Freshmen; Second-Year Men,
or Junior Sophs or Sophisters; Third-Year Men, or Senior Sophs or
Sophisters; and, in the last term, Questionists, with reference to
the approaching examination. In the older American colleges, the
Junior and Senior Classes were originally called Junior Sophisters
and Senior Sophisters. The term is also used at Oxford and Dublin.
--_Webster_.

And in case any of the _Sophisters_ fail in the premises required
at their hands, &c.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 518.

SOPHOMORE. One belonging to the second of the four classes in an
American college.

Professor Goodrich, in his unabridged edition of Dr. Webster's
Dictionary, gives the following interesting account of this word.
"This word has generally been considered as an 'American
barbarism,' but was probably introduced into our country, at a
very early period, from the University of Cambridge, Eng. Among
the cant terms at that University, as given in the Gradus ad
Cantabrigiam, we find _Soph-Mor_ as 'the next distinctive
appellation to Freshman.' It is added, that 'a writer in the
Gentlemen's Magazine thinks _mor_ an abbreviation of the Greek
[Greek: moria], introduced at a time when the _Encomium Moriae_,
the Praise of Folly, by Erasmus, was so generally used.' The
ordinary derivation of the word, from [Greek: sofos] and [Greek:
moros] would seem, therefore, to be incorrect. The younger Sophs
at Cambridge appear, formerly, to have received the adjunct _mor_
([Greek: moros]) to their names, either as one which they courted
for the reason mentioned above, or as one given them in sport, for
the supposed exhibition of inflated feeling in entering on their
new honors. The term, thus applied, seems to have passed, at a
very early period, from Cambridge in England to Cambridge in
America, as 'the next distinctive appellation to Freshman,' and
thus to have been attached to the second of the four classes in
our American colleges; while it has now almost ceased to be known,
even as a cant word, at the parent institution in England whence
it came. This derivation of the word is rendered more probable by
the fact, that the early spelling was, to a great extent at least,
Soph_i_more, as appears from the manuscripts of President Stiles
of Yale College, and the records of Harvard College down to the
period of the American Revolution. This would be perfectly natural
if _Soph_ or _Sophister_ was considered as the basis of the word,
but can hardly be explained if the ordinary derivation had then
been regarded as the true one."

Some further remarks on this word may be found in the Gentleman's
Magazine, above referred to, 1795, Vol. LXV. p. 818.

SOPHOMORE COMMENCEMENT. At Princeton College, it has long been the
custom for the Sophomore Class, near the time of the Commencement
at the close of the Senior year, to hold a Commencement in
imitation of it, at which burlesque and other exercises,
appropriate to the occasion, are performed. The speakers chosen
are a Salutatorian, a Poet, an Historian, who reads an account of
the doings of the Class up to that period, a Valedictorian, &c.,
&c. A band of music is always in attendance. After the addresses,
the Class partake of a supper, which is usually prolonged to a
very late hour. In imitation of the Sophomore Commencement,
_Burlesque Bills_, as they are called, are prepared and published
by the Juniors, in which, in a long and formal programme, such
subjects and speeches are attributed to the members of the
Sophomore Class as are calculated to expose their weak points.

SOPHOMORIC, SOPHOMORICAL. Pertaining to or like a Sophomore.

Better to face the prowling panther's path,
Than meet the storm of _Sophomoric_ wrath.
_Harvardiana_, Vol. IV. p. 22.

We trust he will add by his example no significancy to that pithy
word, "_Sophomoric_."--_Sketches of Williams Coll._, p. 63.

Another meaning, derived, it would appear, from the
characteristics of the Sophomore, yet not very creditable to him,
is _bombastic, inflated in style or manner_.--_J.C. Calhoun_.

Students are looked upon as being necessarily _Sophomorical_ in
literary matters.--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 84.

The Professor told me it was rather _Sophomorical_.--_Sketches of
Williams Coll._, p. 74.

SOPHRONISCUS. At Yale College, this name is given to Arnold's
Greek Prose Composition, from the fact of its repeated occurrence
in that work.

_Sophroniscum_ relinquemus;
Et Euclidem comburemus,
Ejus vi soluti.
_Pow-wow of Class of '58, Yale Coll._

See BALBUS.

SPIRT. Among the students at the University of Cambridge, Eng., an
extraordinary effort of mind or body for a short time. A boat's
crew _make a spirt_, when they pull fifty yards with all the
strength they have left. A reading-man _makes_ _a spirt_ when he
crams twelve hours daily the week before examination.--_Bristed_.

As my ... health was decidedly improving, I now attempted a
"_spirt_," or what was one for me.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 223.

My amateur Mathematical coach, who was now making his last _spirt_
for a Fellowship, used to accompany me.--_Ibid._, p. 288.

He reads nine hours a day on a "_spirt_" the fortnight before
examination.--_Ibid._, p. 327.

SPIRTING. Making an extraordinary effort of mind or body for a
short time.--_Bristed_.

Ants, bees, boat-crews _spirting_ at the Willows,... are but faint
types of their activity.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._,
Ed. 2d, p. 224.

SPLURGE. In many colleges, when one is either dashy, or dressed
more than ordinarily, he is said to _cut a splurge_. A showy
recitation is often called by the same name. In his Dictionary of
Americanisms, Mr. Bartlett defines it, "a great effort, a
demonstration," which is the signification in which this word is
generally used.

SPLURGY. Showy; of greater surface than depth. Applied to a lesson
which is well rehearsed but little appreciated. Also to literary
efforts of a certain nature, to character, persons, &c.

They even pronounce his speeches _splurgy_.--_Yale Tomahawk_, May,
1852.

SPOON. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the last of each
class of the honors is humorously denominated _The Spoon_. Thus,
the last Wrangler is called the Golden Spoon; the last Senior
Optime, the Silver Spoon; and the last Junior Optime, the Wooden
Spoon. The Wooden Spoon, however, is _par excellence_, "The
Spoon."--_Gradus ad Cantab._

See WOODEN SPOON.

SPOON, SPOONY, SPOONEY. A man who has been drinking till he
becomes disgusting by his very ridiculous behavior, is said to be
_spoony_ drunk; and hence it is usual to call a very prating,
shallow fellow a rank _spoon_.--_Grose_.

Mr. Bartlett, in his Dictionary of Americanisms, says:--"We use
the word only in the latter sense. The Hon. Mr. Preston, in his
remarks on the Mexican war, thus quotes from Tom Crib's
remonstrance against the meanness of a transaction, similar to our
cries for more vigorous blows on Mexico when she is prostrate:

"'Look down upon Ben,--see him, _dunghill_ all o'er,
Insult the fallen foe that can harm him no more.
Out, cowardly _spooney_! Again and again,
By the fist of my father, I blush for thee, Ben.'

"Ay, you will see all the _spooneys_ that ran, like so many
_dunghill_ champions, from 54 40, stand by the President for the
vigorous prosecution of the war upon the body of a prostrate foe."
--_N.Y. Tribune_, 1847.

Now that year it so happened that the spoon was no
_spooney_.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. I. p. 218.

Not a few of this party were deluded into a belief, that all
studious and quiet men were slow, all men of proper self-respect
exclusives, and all men of courtesy and good-breeding _spoonies_.
--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 118.

Suppose that rustication was the fate of a few others of our
acquaintance, whom you cannot call slow, or _spoonies_ either,
would it be deemed no disgrace by them?--_Ibid._, p. 196.

When _spoonys_ on two knees, implore the aid of sorcery,
To suit their wicked purposes they quickly put the laws awry.
_Rejected Addresses_, Am. ed., p. 154.

They belong to the class of elderly "_spoons_," with some few
exceptions, and are nettled that the world should not go at their
rate of progression.--_Boston Daily Times_, May 8, 1851.

SPOONY, SPOONEY. Like a _spoon_; possessing the qualities of a
silly or stupid fellow.

I shall escape from this beautiful critter, for I'm gettin'
_spooney_, and shall talk silly presently.--_Sam Slick_.

Both the adjective and the noun _spooney_ are in constant and
frequent use at some of the American colleges, and are generally
applied to one who is disliked either for his bad qualities or for
his ill-breeding, usually accompanied with the idea of weakness.

He sprees, is caught, rusticates, returns next year, mingles with
feminines, and is consequently degraded into the _spooney_ Junior.
_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 208.

A "bowl" was the happy conveyance. Perhaps this was chosen because
the voyagers were _spooney_.--_Yale Banger_, Nov. 1849.

SPOOPS, SPOOPSY. At Harvard College, a weak, silly fellow, or one
who is disliked on account of his foolish actions, is called a
_spoops_, or _spoopsy_. The meaning is nearly the same as that of
_spoony_.

SPOOPSY. Foolish; silly. Applied either to a person or thing.

Seniors always try to be dignified. The term "_spoopsey_" in its
widest signification applies admirably to them.--_Yale Tomahawk_,
May, 1852.

SPORT. To exhibit or bring out in public; as, to _sport_ a new
equipage.--_Grose_.

This word was in great vogue in England in the year 1783 and 1784;
but is now sacred to men of _fashion_, both in England and
America.

With regard to the word _sport_, they [the Cantabrigians]
_sported_ knowing, and they _sported_ ignorant,--they _sported_ an
AEgrotat, and they _sported_ a new coat,--they _sported_ an Exeat,
they _sported_ a Dormiat, &c.--_Gent. Mag._, 1794, p. 1085.

I'm going to serve my country,
And _sport_ a pretty wife.
_Presentation Day Songs_, June 14, 1854, Yale Coll.

To _sport oak_, or a door, is to fasten a door for safety or
convenience.

If you call on a man and his door is _sported_, signifying that he
is out or busy, it is customary to pop your card through the
little slit made for that purpose.--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 336.

Some few constantly turn the keys of their churlish doors, and
others, from time to time, "_sport oak_."--_Harv. Mag._, Vol. I.
p. 268.

SPORTING-DOOR. At the English universities, the name given to the
outer door of a student's room, which can be _sported_ or fastened
to prevent intrusion.

Their impregnable _sporting-doors_, that defy alike the hostile
dun and the too friendly "fast man."--_Bristed's Five Years in an
Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 3.

SPREAD. A feast of a more humble description than a GAUDY. Used at
Cambridge, England.

This puts him in high spirits again, and he gives a large
_spread_, and gets drunk on the strength of it.--_Gradus ad
Cantab._, p. 129.

He sits down with all of them, about forty or fifty, to a most
glorious _spread_, ordered from the college cook, to be served up
in the most swell style possible.--_Ibid._, p. 129.

SPROUT. Any _branch_ of education is in student phrase a _sprout_.
This peculiar use of the word is said to have originated at Yale.

SPRUNG. The positive, of which _tight_ is the comparative, and
_drunk_ the superlative.

"One swallow makes not spring," the poet sung,
But many swallows make the fast man _sprung_.
_MS. Poem_, by F.E. Felton.

See TIGHT.

SPY. In some of the American colleges, it is a prevailing opinion
among the students, that certain members of the different classes
are encouraged by the Faculty to report what they have seen or
ascertained in the conduct of their classmates, contrary to the
laws of the college. Many are stigmatized as _spies_ very
unjustly, and seldom with any sufficient reason.

SQUIRT. At Harvard College, a showy recitation is denominated a
_squirt_; the ease and quickness with which the words flow from
the mouth being analogous to the ease and quickness which attend
the sudden ejection of a stream of water from a pipe. Such a
recitation being generally perfect, the word _squirt_ is very
often used to convey that idea. Perhaps there is not, in the whole
vocabulary of college cant terms, one more expressive than this,
or that so easily conveys its meaning merely by its sound. It is
mostly used colloquially.

2. A foppish young fellow; a whipper-snapper.--_Bartlett_.

If they won't keep company with _squirts_ and dandies, who's going
to make a monkey of himself?--_Maj. Jones's Courtship_, p. 160.

SQUIRT. To make a showy recitation.

He'd rather slump than _squirt_.
_Poem before Y.H._, p. 9.

Webster has this word with the meaning, "to throw out words, to
let fly," and marks it as out of use.

SQUIRTINESS. The quality of being showy.

SQUIRTISH. Showy; dandified.

It's my opinion that these slicked up _squirtish_ kind a fellars
ain't particular hard baked, and they always goes in for
aristocracy notions.--_Robb, Squatter Life_, p. 73.

SQUIRTY. Showy; fond of display; gaudy.

Applied to an oration which is full of bombast and grandiloquence;
to a foppish fellow; to an apartment gayly adorned, &c.

And should they "scrape" in prayers, because they are long
And rather "_squirty_" at times.
_Childe Harvard_, p. 58.

STAMMBOOK. German. A remembrance-book; an album. Among the German
students stammbooks were kept formerly, as commonly as
autograph-books now are among American students.

But do procure me the favor of thy Rapunzel writing something in
my _Stammbook_.--_Howitt's Student Life of Germany_, Am. ed., p.
242.

STANDING. Academical age, or rank.

Of what _standing_ are you? I am a Senior Soph.--_Gradus ad
Cantab._

Her mother told me all about your love,
And asked me of your prospects and your _standing_.
_Collegian_, 1830, p. 267.

_To stand for an honor_; i.e. to offer one's self as a candidate
for an honor.

STAR. In triennial catalogues a star designates those who have
died. This sign was first used with this signification by Mather,
in his Magnalia, in a list prepared by him of the graduates of
Harvard College, with a fanciful allusion, it is supposed, to the
abode of those thus marked.

Our tale shall be told by a silent _star_,
On the page of some future Triennial.
_Poem before Class of 1849, Harv. Coll._, p. 4.

We had only to look still further back to find the _stars_
clustering more closely, indicating the rapid flight of the
spirits of short-lived tenants of earth to another
sphere.--_Memories of Youth and Manhood_, Vol. II. p. 66.

STAR. To mark a star opposite the name of a person, signifying
that he is dead.

Six of the sixteen Presidents of our University have been
inaugurated in this place; and the oldest living graduate, the
Hon. Paine Wingate of Stratham, New Hampshire, who stands on the
Catalogue a lonely survivor amidst the _starred_ names of the
dead, took his degree within these walls.--_A Sermon on leaving
the Old Meeting-house in Cambridge_, by Rev. William Newell, Dec.
1, 1833, p. 22.

Among those fathers were the venerable remnants of classes that
are _starred_ to the last two or three, or it may be to the last
one.--_Scenes and Characters in College_, p. 6.

STATEMENT OF FACTS. At Yale College, a name given to a public
meeting called for the purpose of setting forth the respective
merits of the two great societies in that institution, viz.
"Linonia" and "The Brothers in Unity." There are six orators,
three from Linonia and three from the Brothers,--a Senior, a
Junior, and the President of each society. The Freshmen are
invited by handsomely printed cards to attend the meeting, and
they also have the best seats reserved for them, and are treated
with the most intense politeness. As now conducted, the _Statement
of Facts_ is any thing rather than what is implied by the name. It
is simply an opportunity for the display of speaking talent, in
which wit and sarcasm are considered of far greater importance
than truth. The Freshmen are rarely swayed to either side. In nine
cases out of ten they have already chosen their society, and
attend the statement merely from a love of novelty and fun. The
custom grew up about the year 1830, after the practice of dividing
the students alphabetically between the two societies had fallen
into disuse. Like all similar customs, the Statement of Facts has
reached its present college importance by gradual growth. At first
the societies met in a small room of the College, and the
statements did really consist of the facts in the case. Now the
exercises take place in a public hall, and form a kind of
intellectual tournament, where each society, in the presence of a
large audience, strives to get the advantage of the other.

From a newspaper account of the observance of this literary
festival during the present year, the annexed extract is taken.

"For some years, students, as they have entered College, have been
permitted to choose the society with which they would connect
themselves, instead of being alphabetically allotted to one of the
two. This method has made the two societies earnest rivals, and
the accession of each class to College creates an earnest struggle
to see which shall secure the greater number of members. The
electioneering campaign, as it is termed, begins when the students
come to be examined for admission to College, that is, about the
time of the Commencement, and continues through a week or two of
the first term of the next year. Each society, of course, puts
forth the most determined efforts to conquer. It selects the most
prominent and popular men of the Senior Class as President, and
arrangements are so made that a Freshman no sooner enters town
than he finds himself unexpectedly surrounded by hosts of friends,
willing to do anything for him, and especially instruct him in his
duty with reference to the selection of societies. For the benefit
of those who do not yield to this private electioneering, this
Statement of Facts is made. It amounts, however, to little more
than a 'good time,' as there are very few who wait to be
influenced by 'facts' they know will be so distorted. The
advocates of each society feel bound, of course, to present its
affairs in the most favorable aspect. Disputants are selected,
generally with regard to their ability as speakers, one from the
Junior and one from the Senior Class. The Presidents of each
society also take part."--_N.Y. Daily Times_, Sept. 22, 1855.

As an illustration of the eloquence and ability which is often
displayed on these occasions, the following passages have been
selected from the address of John M. Holmes of Chicago, Ill., the
Junior orator in behalf of the Brothers in Unity at the Statement
of Facts held September 20th, 1855.

"Time forbids me to speak at length of the illustrious alumni of
the Brothers; of Professor Thatcher, the favorite of college,--of
Professor Silliman, the Nestor of American literati,--of the
revered head of this institution, President Woolsey, first
President of the Brothers in 1820,--of Professor Andrews, the
author of the best dictionary of the Latin language,--of such
divines as Dwight and Murdock,--of Bacon and Bushnell, the pride
of New England,--or of the great names of Clayton, Badger,
Calhoun, Ellsworth, and John Davis,--all of whom were nurtured and
disciplined in the halls of the Brothers, and there received the
Achillean baptism that made their lives invulnerable. But perhaps
I err in claiming such men as the peculium of the Brothers,--they
are the common heritage of the human race.

'Such names as theirs are pilgrim shrines,
Shrines to no code nor creed confined,
The Delphian vales, the Palestines,
The Meccas of the mind.'

"But there are other names which to overlook would be worse than
negligence,--it would be ingratitude unworthy of a son of Yale.

"At the head of that glorious host stands the venerable form of
Joel Barlow, who, in addition to his various civil and literary
distinctions, was the father of American poetry. There too is the
intellectual brow of Webster, not indeed the great defender of the
Constitution, but that other Webster, who spent his life in the
perpetuation of that language in which the Constitution is
embalmed, and whose memory will be coeval with that language to
the latest syllable of recorded time. Beside Webster on the
historic canvas appears the form of the only Judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States that ever graduated at this
College,--Chief Justice Baldwin, of the class of 1797. Next to him
is his classmate, a patriarchal old man who still lives to bless
the associations of his youth,--who has consecrated the noblest
talents to the noblest earthly purposes,--the pioneer of Western
education,--the apostle of Temperance,--the life-long teacher of
immortality,--and who is the father of an illustrious family whose
genius has magnetized all Christendom. His classmate is Lyman
Beecher. But a year ago in the neighboring city of Hartford there
was a monument erected to another Brother in Unity,--the
philanthropist who first introduced into this country the system
of instructing deaf mutes. More than a thousand unfortunates bowed
around his grave. And although there was no audible voice of
eulogy or thankfulness, yet there were many tears. And grateful
thoughts went up to heaven in silent benediction for him who had
unchained their faculties, and given them the priceless treasures
of intellectual and social communion. Thomas H. Gallaudet was a
Brother in Unity.

"And he who has been truly called the most learned of poets and
the most poetical of learned men,--whose ascent to the heaven of
song has been like the pathway of his own broad sweeping
eagle,--J.G. Percival,--is a Brother in Unity. And what shall I
say of Morse? Of Morse, the wonder-worker, the world-girdler, the
space-destroyer, the author of the noblest invention whose glory
was ever concentrated in a single man, who has realized the
fabulous prerogative of Olympian Jove, and by the instantaneous
intercommunication of thought has accomplished the work of ages in
binding together the whole civilized world into one great
Brotherhood in Unity?

"Gentlemen, these are the men who wait to welcome you to the
blessings of our society. There they stand, like the majestic
statues that line the entrance to an eternal pyramid. And when I
look upon one statue, and another, and another, and contemplate
the colossal greatness of their proportions, as Canova gazed with
rapture upon the sun-god of the Vatican, I envy not the man whose
heart expands not with the sense of a new nobility, and whose eye
kindles not with the heart's enthusiasm, as he thinks that he too
is numbered among that glorious company,--that he too is sprung
from that royal ancestry. And who asks for a richer heritage, or a
more enduring epitaph, than that he too is a Brother in Unity?"

S.T.B. _Sanctae Theologiae Baccalaureus_, Bachelor in Theology.

See B.D.

S.T.D. _Sanctae Theologiae Doctor_. Doctor in Theology.

See D.D.

STEWARD. In colleges, an officer who provides food for the
students, and superintends the kitchen.--_Webster_.

In American colleges, the labors of the steward are at present
more extended, and not so servile, as set forth in the above
definition. To him is usually assigned the duty of making out the
term-bills and receiving the money thereon; of superintending the
college edifices with respect to repairs, &c.; of engaging proper
servants in the employ of the college; and of performing such
other services as are declared by the faculty of the college to be
within his province.

STICK. In college phrase, _to stick_, or _to get stuck_, is to be
unable to proceed, either in a recitation, declamation, or any
other exercise. An instructor is said to _stick_ a student, when
he asks a question which the student is unable to answer.

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