MIT slang list (1962)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Voo Doo, MIT's humor magazine, has some old issues in an online archive:
<http://web.mit.edu/voodoo/www/archive/>.  The issues are in PDF files
with searchable text (though there's no search facility and the text
hasn't been indexed by Google).

The 1962 slang list below has some interesting entries -- for instance,
"grungy", antedating OED's 1965 cite.  Also, "tool(ing)", "gronk", and
"hairy", each of which has an entry in the Jargon File:

http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/T/tool.html
http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/gronk.html
http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/H/hairy.html

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http://web.mit.edu/voodoo/www/archive/pdfs/1962-Jan.pdf
Voo Doo Magazine (MIT), Jan. 1962, pp. 10-11

Here it is, gang! Cut it out and send it home to Mom, or to the hometown
girlfriend. It will help them to understand your peculiar way of talking,
when you get home, for it is .....

Voo Doo Illustrated Dictiontary [sic] of MIT


Tooling - The ingestion of useless information.

Tool - One who tools excessively.

Horny - Being desirous of Female companionship.

Grungy - Grubbiness to an extent known only to Techmen and Hoboes.

IHTFP - An expression of loyalty towards the Institute, meaning "Institute
Has The Finest Professors"

Bomb - When performed on a quiz, excellence; when performed on the "East
Campus Fence", extreme excellence.

Flush - At M.I.T., this is the antithesis of "bomb"....those who advocate
an end to nuclear tests should therefore consider the alternative.

Screw - A fastener having helical threads and a slotted head.

Gronk - To adjust a device so as to render its original function
inoperable; i.e., to "gronk" a pay telephone.

Springfield Oval - a type of sandpaper currently being used for printing
purposes by the tech.

Bee and Pea - Buildings and Power, sometimes erroneously called "Physical
"Plant."

Bull - An animal secretly harbored in building 14, the mascot of the
Humanities Department.

The Ninth Level - As anyone who has tried to dial this on an Institute
extension has discovered, The Ninth Level is a level of communication
attained only by one Ludwig Beethoven.

Flunking Out - a system whereby M.I.T. makes room in the dorms for next
year's freshmen.

Hairy - Intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.

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-- Ben Zimmer