A Collection of College Words and Customs

A Collection of College Words and
Customs

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Title: A Collection of College Words and Customs
Author: Benjamin Homer Hall
Release Date: July 9, 2004 [EBook #12864]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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A
COLLECTION
OF
COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS.
BY B.H. HALL.
"Multa renascentur quæ jam cecidere, cadentque Quæ nunc sunt in honore, vocabula."
"Notandi sunt tibi mores." HOR. Ars Poet.

REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
B.H. HALL,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

INTRODUCTION.
The first edition of this publication was mostly compiled during the leisure hours of the
last half-year of a Senior's collegiate life, and was presented anonymously to the public
with the following
"PREFACE.
"The Editor has an indistinct recollection of a sheet of foolscap paper, on one side of
which was written, perhaps a year and a half ago, a list of twenty or thirty college phrases,
followed by the euphonious titles of 'Yale Coll.,' 'Harvard Coll.' Next he calls to mind
two blue-covered books, turned from their original use, as receptacles of Latin and Greek
exercises, containing explanations of these and many other phrases. His friends heard that
he was hunting up odd words and queer customs, and dubbed him 'Antiquarian,' but in a
kindly manner, spared his feelings, and did not put the vinegar 'old' before it.
"Two and one half quires of paper were in time covered with a strange medley, an
olla-podrida of student peculiarities. Thus did he amuse himself in his leisure hours,
something like one who, as Dryden says, 'is for raking in Chaucer for antiquated words.'
By and by he heard a wish here and a wish there, whether real or otherwise he does not
know, which said something about 'type,' 'press,' and used other cabalistic words, such as
'copy,' 'devil,' etc. Then there was a gathering of papers, a transcribing of passages from
letters, an arranging in alphabetical order, a correcting of proofs, and the work was
done,--poorly it may be, but with good intent.
"Some things will be found in the following pages which are neither words nor customs
peculiar to colleges, and yet they have been inserted, because it was thought they would
serve to explain the character of student life, and afford a little amusement to the student
himself. Society histories have been omitted, with the exception of an account of the
oldest affiliated literary society in the United States.
"To those who have aided in the compilation of this work, the Editor returns his warmest
thanks. He has received the assistance of many, whose names he would here and in all
places esteem it an honor openly to acknowlege, were he not forbidden so to do by the
fact that he is himself anonymous. Aware that there is information still to be collected, in
reference to the subjects here treated, he would deem it a favor if he could receive
through the medium of his publisher such morsels as are yet ungathered.

"Should one pleasant thought arise within the breast of any Alumnus, as a long-forgotten
but once familiar word stares him in the face, like an old and early friend; or should one
who is still guarded by his Alma Mater be led to a more summer-like acquaintance with
those who have in years past roved, as he now roves, through classic shades and honored
halls, the labors of their friend, the Editor, will have been crowned with complete
success.
"CAMBRIDGE, July 4th, 1851."
Fearing lest venerable brows should frown with displeasure at the recital of incidents
which once made those brows bright and joyous; dreading also those stern voices which
might condemn as boyish, trivial, or wrong an attempt to glean a few grains of
philological lore from the hitherto unrecognized corners of the fields of college life, the
Editor chose to regard the brows and hear the voices from an innominate position. Not
knowing lest he should at some future time regret the publication of pages which might
be deemed heterodox, he caused a small edition of the work to be published, hoping,
should it be judged as evil, that the error would be circumscribed in its effects, and the
medium of the error