Chapter 37

SMALLS, or SMALL-GO. At the University of Oxford, an examination in the second year. See LITTLE-GO; PREVIOUS EXAMINATION.

At the _Smalls_, as the previous Examination is here called, each examiner sends in his Greek and Latin book.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 139.

It follows that the _Smalls_ is a more formidable examination than the Little-Go.--_Ibid._, p. 139.

SMASH. At the Wesleyan University, a total failure in reciting is called a _smash_.

SMILE. A small quantity of any spirituous liquor, or enough to give one a pleasant feeling.

Hast ta'en a "_smile_" at Brigham's. _Poem before the Iadma_, 1850, p. 7.

SMOKE. In some colleges, one of the means made use of by the Sophomores to trouble the Freshmen is to blow smoke into their rooms until they are compelled to leave, or, in other words, until they are _smoked out_. When assafoetida is mingled with the tobacco, the sensation which ensues, as the foul effluvium is gently wafted through the keyhole, is anything but pleasing to the olfactory nerves.

Or when, in conclave met, the unpitying wights _Smoke_ the young trembler into "College rights": O spare my tender youth! he, suppliant, cries, In vain, in vain; redoubled clouds arise, While the big tears adown his visage roll, Caused by the smoke, and sorrow of his soul. _College Life, by J.C. Richmond_, p. 4.

They would lock me in if I left my key outside, _smoke me out_, duck me, &c.--_Sketches of Williams College_, p. 74.

I would not have you sacrifice all these advantages for the sake _of smoking_ future Freshmen.--_Burial of Euclid_, 1850, p. 10.

A correspondent from the University of Vermont gives the following account of a practical joke, which we do not suppose is very often played in all its parts. "They 'train' Freshmen in various ways; the most _classic_ is to take a pumpkin, cut a piece from the top, clean it, put in two pounds of 'fine cut,' put it on the Freshman's table, and then, all standing round with long pipe-stems, blow into it the fire placed in the _tobac_, and so fill the room with smoke, then put the Freshman to bed, with the pumpkin for a nightcap."

SMOUGE. At Hamilton College, to obtain without leave.

SMUT. Vulgar, obscene conversation. Language which obtains

"Where Bacchus ruleth all that's done, And Venus all that's said."

SMUTTY. Possessing the qualities of obscene conversation. Applied also to the person who uses such conversation.

SNOB. In the English universities, a townsman, as opposed to a student; or a blackguard, as opposed to a gentleman; a loafer generally.--_Bristed_.

They charged the _Snobs_ against their will, And shouted clear and lustily. _Gradus ad Cantab_, p. 69.

Used in the same sense at some American colleges.

2. A mean or vulgar person; particularly, one who apes gentility. --_Halliwell_.

Used both in England and the United States, "and recently," says Webster, "introduced into books as a term of derision."

SNOBBESS. In the English universities, a female _snob_.

Effeminacies like these, induced, no doubt, by the flattering admiration of the fair _snobbesses_.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. II. p. 116.

SNOBBISH. Belonging to or resembling a _snob_.

SNOBBY. Low; vulgar; resembling or pertaining to a _snob_.

SNUB. To reprimand; check; rebuke. Used among students, more frequently than by any other class of persons.

SOPH. In the University of Cambridge, England, an abbreviation of SOPHISTER.--_Webster_.

On this word, Crabb, in his _Technological Dictionary_, says: "A certain distinction or title which undergraduates in the University at Oxford assume, previous to their examination for a degree. It took its rise in the exercises which students formerly had to go through, but which are now out of use."

Three College _Sophs_, and three pert Templars came, The same their talents, and their tastes the same. _Pope's Dunciad_, B. II. v. 389, 390.

2. In the American colleges, an abbreviation of Sophomore.

_Sophs_ wha ha' in Commons fed! _Sophs_ wha ha' in Commons bled! _Sophs_ wha ne'er from Commons fled! Puddings, steaks, or wines! _Rebelliad_, p. 52.

The _Sophs_ did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the Fresh, as they call us.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.

The _Sophs_ were victorious at every point.--_Yale Banger_, Nov. 10, 1846.

My Chum, a _Soph_, says he committed himself too soon.--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 118.

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 Moriæ_, 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 Ægrotat, 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.