A Collection of College Words and CustomsHall, Benjamin Homer
History
A Collection of College Words and Customs
Hall, Benjamin Homer
College students -- United States -- Language; English language -- United States -- Slang; Slang
The custom of obliging the Freshmen to run on errands for the
Seniors was done away with at Dartmouth College, by the class of
1797, at the close of their Freshman year, when, having served
their own time out, they presented a petition to the Trustees to
have it abolished.
In the old laws of Middlebury College are the two following
regulations in regard to Freshmen, which seem to breathe the same
spirit as those cited above. "Every Freshman shall be obliged to
do any proper errand or message for the Authority of the College."
--"It shall be the duty of the Senior Class to inspect the manners
of the Freshman Class, and to instruct them in the customs of the
College, and in that graceful and decent behavior toward
superiors, which politeness and a just and reasonable
subordination require."--_Laws_, 1804, pp. 6, 7.
FRESHMANSHIP. The state of a Freshman.
A man who had been my fellow-pupil with him from the beginning of
our _Freshmanship_, would meet him there.--_Bristed's Five Years
in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 150.
FRESHMAN'S LANDMARK. At Cambridge, Eng., King's College Chapel is
thus designated. "This stupendous edifice may be seen for several
miles on the London road, and indeed from most parts of the
adjacent country."--_Grad. ad Cantab._
FRESHMAN, TUTOR'S. In Harvard College, the _Freshman_ who occupies
a room under a _Tutor_. He is required to do the errands of the
Tutor which relate to College, and in return has a high choice of
rooms in his Sophomore year.
The same remarks, _mutatis mutandis_, apply to the _Proctor's
Freshman_.
FRESH-SOPH. An abbreviation of _Freshman-Sophomore_. One who
enters college in the _Sophomore_ year, having passed the time of
the _Freshman_ year elsewhere.
I was a _Fresh-Sophomore_ then, and a waiter in the commons' hall.
--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XII. p. 114.
FROG. In Germany, a student while in the gymnasium, and before
entering the university, is called a _Frosch_,--a frog.
FUNK. Disgust; weariness; fright. A sensation sometimes
experienced by students in view of an examination.
In Cantab phrase I was suffering examination _funk_.--_Bristed's
Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 61.
A singular case of _funk_ occurred at this examination. The man
who would have been second, took fright when four of the six days
were over, and fairly ran away, not only from the examination, but
out of Cambridge, and was not discovered by his friends or family
till some time after.--_Ibid._, p. 125.
One of our Scholars, who stood a much better chance than myself,
gave up from mere _funk_, and resolved to go out in the
Poll.--_Ibid._, p. 229.
2. Fear or sensibility to fear. The general application of the
term.
So my friend's first fault is timidity, which is only not
recognized as such on account of its vast proportions. I grant,
then, that the _funk_ is sublime, which is a true and friendly
admission.--_A letter to the N.Y. Tribune_, in _Lit. World_, Nov.
30, 1850.
_G_.
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