Don't talk like a frosh: a guide to Yalespeak

This is a dictionary of Yale lingo. Cut it out and stick it in your pocket, but take it out before you wash your pants.

Bagging: You're in bed. It's 9:45 a.m. You had a class at 9:30. Maybe you'll make it next week.

Beer Goggles: People start to look more interesting when you've had something to drink. If you hook up as a result of this phenomenon, you've been looking through beer goggles.

Blue Book: Although no longer completely blue, this Bible of class listings and descriptions is your shopping guide to academics.

The Bookstore: Barnes & Noble's idea of a college student's paradise, complete with Jamba Juice and silk Yale lingerie.

The Bowl: One of the oldest stadiums in the universe and desperate for a face lift. It can hold 75,000 spectators, but usually it's more like 1,000.

Bursar: The Bursar and your parents should become good friends. If not, you might get put on "Bursar's hold." This means that you think you're a Yale student, you feel like a Yale student—but somehow, you're not.

Bursar Billable: Free!—until your parents get the bill and start to complain.

CCL: Cross Campus Library, underground home of weenie-bins and lots of '70s furniture. Almost as popular a place for socializing as for studying. Also, late hours mean lots of snoozing studiers.

The Co-op: Where you can buy a 79-cent eraser for $2.50 and charge it to your parents. Conveniently located next to the Chapel Square Mall.

Couch Duty: There are two people in your bedroom and you are not one of them. Guess where you get to sleep? Also known as "sexile."

CR/D/F: Taking a class "Credit/D/Fail" means doing just enough work to get a C-, or doing too much work, getting an A, and feeling like a dork. Used to be CR/F. Then, all you needed was a D-. Those were the days.

The Daily: The Daily Caffé on Elm Street, not to be confused with the Yale Daily News. Long night ahead of you? Stop by for a croissant and double shot latte.

Dean's Excuse: No need to choose between a wild night on the town and that seminar paper. Just practice your fake cough, stop by your Dean's office, and postpone it.

The Doodle: The Yankee Doodle, a time-tested hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop. This hamburger shack honors Yalies who stuff themselves with butter-topped burgers in the Doodle Challenge—the current record is 24.

DS: Directed Studies. Also known as Deep Shit and Directed Suicide. Now when someone mentions Kant, you can say in all honesty, "Metaphysics of Morals? I hated Metaphysics of Morals!"

DUH: Acronym still used to refer to the old Department of University Health, even though they changed the name to University Health Services about 17 years ago. Have a headache? According to these professionals, you either have mono or you're pregnant.

Durfee Sweet Shoppe: This bursar-billable coffee and snack shop is located in the basement of Durfee. A common place for students, especially freshmen, to hang out, chat, and watch TV on weeknights.

Feb Club: A party every night for the whole month of February—if you can find it before the police break it up.

Gecko: A schizophrenic new club—is it a cigar bar? a pool hall? a beer dive? a dance club? a bird? a plane?

GESO: A scary organization of grad student TAs which wants to become a full-fledged labor union. An endless source of controversy and a thorn in the side of the Yale Administration since the NLRB has joined the fight.

Gut: An easy class that takes the pressure off a busy schedule and fulfills distributional requirements. See "EE 101," "Physics for Poets," or "Clapping for Credit."

Legacy: A Yalie who is here because his or her parent or other miscellaneous relative went here. They help the curve and heavily populate colleges like Branford and Davenport.

LGBT Co-op (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender): Sponsor of dances wild enough to attract students of all orientations. Not to be confused with the Yale Co-op.

Machine City: A subterranean mecca connecting CCL and Sterling, it's home to study groups, TAs' office hours, lone coffee-swillers, and vending machines that fulfill your wildest junk-food fantasies.

Mory's: An Old Blue exclusive establishment where Yalies drink from "cups" filled with champagne-based colored concoctions. It even has its own song.

Naples: Far from the city in Italy, this pizza joint features dancing on weekends and bad home-brewed beer. Yalies (especially freshmen) once flocked here on Thursday nights, but now the dance floor is almost always empty because of the popularity of Gecko.

Problem Set: An annoying weekly assignment that you're inevitably faced with in any Group IV or econ class. This thankless task will keep you up until 3 a.m. on Sunday nights, but will only count for about 1/50 of your grade.

Reading Period: A whole week with no classes? You'll laugh, you'll goof off, you'll cry when finals come around on Monday.

Science Hill: A half-mile from Old Campus, this is God's way of punishing Group IV majors who would otherwise get no exercise.

Shopping Period: Couldn't decide between Ornithology and Introductory Kiswahili? Go on a shopping spree, and make sure the TAs speak English.

SOM: Trade chicken tenderbites for a turkey club and Snapple. Although it is a trek up Prospect Street, SOM's cafeteria allows you to pick $6.50 worth of real food, an option available for undergrads at all grad school cafeterias.

Spring Fling: Campus-wide party that takes place the weekend before reading week. Held on Old Campus, last year's Fling featured Yale bands, the Indigo Girls, and an unusual amount of midday drunkenness.

The Stacks: You can get lost forever in Sterling Memorial Library's tower of books. It's also an alleged haven for amorous trysting.

TYLER MERTES/YH The convenience store formerly known as "WaWa."

Swing Space: Officially Boyd Hall (or "Boyd'we get screwed," according to displaced students), this swingin' new dorm temporarily houses Berkeleyites while their college undergoes renovations.

TA: Teaching Assistant. They grade you in large lecture courses based on how enthusiastically you participate in (or attend) 9:30 a.m. Friday sections.

Tang: An intramural beer-drinking competition. Current chug-a-lug champs: Silliman (men) and Calhoun (women). Grueling training practices start months in advance, and spilling is not allowed.

Toad's: This New Haven hot spot attracts all kinds of great musical performers—you know, like the Radiators and the Molly Maguires. The Saturday night dance party is a weekly fixture for those lookin' to get jiggy wit it.

Tyng: The college intramurals prize. Saybrook won last year for the first time in 35 years.

WaWa: Technically called "Krauszer's," this 24-hour food mart is still referred to by its former name. Fill up for a long night of studying or mitigate tomorrow's hangover with a quick visit.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH What to do when you wanna be a weenie? Go find a weenie bin.

Weenie Bin: Similar to isolation tanks, the weenie bins are study carrels in CCL. They also serve as nap rooms and the sites of strange sexual escapades.

The Whale: Feels like a hockey rink, looks like a whale.

YCC: The Yale College Council, a student-government equivalent that prompts a deluge of pestering and postering just before the elections.

YDN: The Yale Daily News. Yale's daily newspaper. Don't work for them; it'll stunt your growth. Forsake their stuffy building for our comfortable, cozy office.

The Yale Herald: The campus' favorite weekly paper with lots of pages, photos galore, news, a calendar of events, comics, sports, and more. We also publish free telephone directories and valentines. Plus, we're cuter and we have more fun. Join us.

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