Flooze, flush, and flaking out: Princeton slang in the 20th Century

Legendary Classics prof J. T. Katz is offering a course in Language at Princeton this semester which addresses all sorts of Princetonian linguistic questions and quibbles. These range from large issues concerning how language is used in and around campus, to subjects rather smaller in scale (do you “bicker” a club or, like the Daily Princetonian suggests, “bicker for” it?).

So, drawing on J. L. Axtells The Making of Princeton University, here’s our guide to Princeton slang over the years. If you ever find yourself time-travelling back to the 1900s – or if you’re a legacy trying to sound cool around your great-great-grandpa – these terms are sure to come in clutch!

THE CLASSICS

• Campus, n. This is actually kind of a big one: Princeton is the first university in the world where the word “campus” was first recorded as being used to describe the college buildings and grounds.
• Quad, n. Axtell describes this word as a “favorite of Woodrow Wilson.” Who knew.
• Precept, n. While “precept” may now refer to something like a small discussion group associated with a larger lecture, initially it was a unique feature of Princeton academic life – students would meet and their wise professor would impart to them everything he thought an educated gentlemen ought to know.

IN CLASS

• To fizzle, v. (c. 1850): To fail to produce the right answer in class. Bad.
• To stump, v. (c. 1850): To not even attempt an answer. Worse.

About to pound the books so she doesn’t fizzle in precept

SEX AND ROMANCE

• Nutsy, adj. (1920s): Attractive. The highest compliment one could bestow on a young woman was calling her a “plenty nutsy babe.”
• Flooze, n. (1920s): A member of the opposite sex, imported in from local girls’ schools for socials and dances (see: “cattle drives”).
• Quiff, n. (1920s): A girl to whom one is sexually attracted. See also: “witch,” “flooze,” and “spook.”
• Cattle drive, n. (c. 1955): A social or mixer held by the university so that sex-starved young men could meet girls from women’s colleges.
• Import, n. (c. 1970): When Princeton became a co-ed school, women who were unimpressed with their male classmates would invite “imports” from nearby schools to attend the socials and dances with them.
• Wife, n. (1920s): Not your actual wife or, at the time, even a female. Your “wife” was your roommate – a.k.a. the person you sexiled when a plenty nutsy quiff came to visit.
• Flush, n. (1970s): If you “stuck out your neck” and made an awful faux-pas, or if you were just a “wonk” or a “toad” who didn’t manage to impress your mate of choice, you were likely to be “flushed,” or rejected.

Two plenty nutsy babes who would hum right in

DRINKING

• Touching it, v. (c. 1930): Having a few drinks.
• Hooker, n. (c. 1930): This word had a different meaning in Princeton in the 1930s than it does now: it referred to a drink.
• Sponge, n. (c. 1900): Someone who can hold their alcohol, a heavyweight.
• Dippy with the grog, adj. (c. 1900): Slightly inebriated, tipsy.
• On the ball, adj. (c. 1930): On the way to being drunk. See also: “rosy,” “tanked,” “gilled,” “looped.”
• Blotto, adj. (c. 1940): Rather drunk, perhaps even black-out.
• York, v. (1950s): To vomit due to inebriation.
• Flake out, v. (1960s): Passing out or losing consciousness from excessive alcohol consumption.

BICKER

• Axed, adj. (1930s): Being rejected from an eating club. See: “swassed.”
• Swassed, adj. (1960s): The equivalent to the modern-day “hosed,” a term which only came into use in the early 1980s. See: “axed.”
• Hum right in, v. (1960s): Being accepted into an eating club. Hooray!

REUNIONS

• Honey man, n. (c. 1900): An old alumnus  who repeats other people’s jokes and probably uses a lot of the slang on this list and thinks it’s cool. Which, let’s be honest, it is.