Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-10
SLANG OF TIE MIDDIES
OF LINGO SPOKEN
AT THE NAVAL ACADEMY.
Words That Have Been Coined by the
Cadets and Which Have Been
Long Current

The Naval Academy was established in
1S45. In the very first year of its existence
new word, synonymous with midshipmen
appeared. It was REFERS. Its appropriate
ness to the men who reefed sails was no.
ticeable. This historic word is found in a
letter that the late Commodore LETTERS. U.
s. N, wrote when he was a member of the
first class of midshipmen sent to the Naval
Academy. The next birth was twins. When
the new midshipmen came to the Naval
Academy 1t became a necessity to have
designation for the two sets. The mid
shipmen promptly coined them. The older
midshipmen were oldsters. and the new
ones youngsters. This term remained as
a distinction to the last arrivals down to
score of years ago. In the meantime the
word plebe had been introduced as an ap-
pellation of contempt for the fourth-class
men. This word came to use when the
the years 1S61-1S66. Plebe and youngster
contended long for the mastery, when
natural selection closed the contest, young
ster becoming the special title OF third
class men, those who dated the fourth
class men one year, and plebe being in the
vernacular the name OF the latest arrivals.
Ladies and Officers.
Ad is admiral superintendent, and anchor
midshipman who has dropped to the bot
of the abbreviation for the annual exami
nation. Femmes Is the word constantly
used for the ladies in common conversa-
ton, and peaches designates the fairest of
the fair sex, and a gold brick Is girl who
can neither talk. dance nor look pretty.
Bat means that the thing to which the
verb or adjective Is applied has been well
done; bazoo is literary production of
plebe or fourth-class man at the order of
an upper class man. 1t also means lud1-
crous message sent by an upper class man
to another upper class man through means
of fourth-class man. Biff Is to do a
thing well. Bilge is to be dropped, dis
missed or be obliged to resign. bigger is
dismissed cadet. or one who has been
required to resign. Bone means to study.
Bones is the nickname of physiology and
hygiene; math for mathematics, and skinny
for physics. Boy Is a term applied to
servants and never to midShipmen. Bust
is to fail at recitation or an examination.
A buZZard is the insignia of rank of
cadet petty of1icer-an eagle perched on an
anchor. Boojam is four in studies-a
perfect mark.
Dewberry is one who encroaches upon
another persons dates. 1t also means to
obtain unlawful information in recitation
or an examination. Doggy is Interpreted
to mean swell Drag means to drag a
femme to a hop" or escort her there. 1t
also means to make much from nothing,
also to receive an Inhalation from cigar,
cite. and. noun, is defined pull.
certain kind of bread pudding is desig-
mated duff and fend is lone who bins
anything exceeding we'll" Fume is to
smoke: gobbled is being caught in scrape;
graft Is bluff, and grease means a boot
lick, and upper class may get
grease; that is, become popular by report
ing a ratey midshipman. so it was stated
by Midshipman Meriwether in mis- trial.
Greaser was long ago given as term of
derision to the Engineer Corps of the navy
by the midshipmen of the line, and in the
remote period of the origin of the new
tongue, gyrene stood for marine, who was
also loosely called a sea soldier. The
bugle has been changed in the midship-
mems vocabulary to the gugag; and a
handout is described as grub from the
officers hop" Hit means to do something
WELL and is synonymous with biff and trap
and frappe. 1.-The hustlers'' Is the Naval
Academy's scrub team in foot ball.
"Insides."
Insides has been assigned to mean the
tobacco that goes to make up a cigarette.
Jimmy Legs Is the facetious title of the
master-at-arms, who on shipboard answers
to the chief Of police on shore, and that
marine official is not at all agreeable to mis-
chievous midshipmen such as generally make
up the personnel of the corps The plain
word Of sportive youth jump means that
the midShipman has been run by lhaZer
or reprimanded by an officer or instructor
in a rough or severe manner June bug Is
the title of a midshipman entering in June,
and to knock a thing Is to do 1t well.
May plebe is one who enters the Naval
Academy in May, and a moke is a colored
servant; mystery is hash, and a navy girl
is young lady friendly to and popular
with the midshipmen. Pap Is. the daily
conduct report; parkie Is a wooden muse,
that Is, one low in his studies, given to
writing verses. Push means to smoke; rag
is to report one. and. also, 'to rag an in
his recitations) Is to view them surrepti-
tiously; rate means to exceed in rank. or
to be entitled to a privilege; ratey is to
refuse to abide by the rates; rats Is an ex-
preston of disapprobation: rhino Is a
chronic grumbler; savez is bright. and
wooden dull: slush is an excessive form of
hattery or obsequiousness: snag is to catch
one breaking the regulations; soiree is
party Of plebes engaged in the exercise
Of hazing; spoon is an upper class man
who Is friend Of a fourth class man;
spooning means to associate with the fair
sex; and to stab Is to make a wild guess
at anything; star is a midshipman who
gets above $40 in his final examinations
for the year: spuds are potatoes. Sux has
several meanings-not difficult; swell. very
stylish; also applied to the cloth blouse.
Striper Is a midshipman who wears stripes
the insignia of official cadet rank. Tobs
signifies tobacco two-five the passing mark
in examinations; unsat, unsatisfactory in
studies; zip, the lowest possible mark; zero,
a total failure.
Boing for stripes, trying to stand high in
hopes of receiving stripes; chppy crew,
the second racing boats crew; Christmas
tree, a list posted in December containing
the names of midshipmen that are in dam
ger of being dropped; choke a huff, to cause
blush; first-class benches, the benches at
the northwestern intersection of the main
and middle walks, Naval Academy. used
exclusively by the f1rst-class men; filming
out. the act of putting ones little fingers on
the seam Of his trousers and holding the
hands and fingers out; fussing With the
girls. waiting on the ladies; hit the grit, to
hurry up.
A Jaina Story of Domestic Discipline.
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