Letters

Das in Dog

TO THE EDITOR:

The other evening I took a group of freshman advisees to my camp near Sunapee. As we drove down the Fourth N. H. Turnpike back of Mascoma Lake on a lovely winter afternoon, with glistening snow fields sloping up to wooded hills, we passed a cluster of North Country farm buildings and one boy from the city remarked:

"I'm all over these red barns you have up here."

"What was that?" I inquired.

"I go for these quaint old barns big." he replied.

The car full of young men who had just finished midyear exams moved along quietly for a while. Then I said: "Jack, what will you get in English, do you think?"

"Oh, that's my best course, sir. Looks like a bomb to me. But I sure got handled in Math. I thought it would be hook for sure but the exam was tricky and I'd settle right now for a dog."

Another freshman spoke up: "Everybody knows my roommate is a brain. Just getting out of Dick's House he took that tough exam in Socy and thinks he'll get an ace."

"Lucky guy to be smart," groaned a western drawl from the back seat. "For sure I got a zip in French 1. I'll never pass that course.

That evening when the charcoal broiled steaks vers devoured and we were enjoying coffee, or mostly a third tall glass of milk, I asked for enligbtenment. Seems an ace is an a bomb is a B, a hook is a C (hook plus or minus), a dog is a D, and a zip (or eagle) is an E.

I wonder if the editors of our excellent magazine might round up other samples of undergraduate slang to bring persons like myself who have only been on the campus a few decades up to date, and other alumni too?

Hanover, N. H.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For more on student lingo of today, see Page 31 in this issue.

"Fabulous Summer"

To THE EDITOR:

That wonderful cattle boat story by Charles F. Haywood '25 brings vividly to my mind the unequaled summer of 1920 when my roommate, Frank B. Morey '20, and I went to New York with high hopes of signing on in the galley crew of some trans-Atlantic ship. We were successful in becoming second-class waiters on the Red Star liner Kroonland, the crew of which was also enhanced by the presence of Jack Hubbell '21 and Rynie Rothschild '21, both of whom became expert in the washing of dishes.

It was a fabulous summer because all four o£ us became deserters by jumping the ship in Antwerp and spending several weeks (but practically no money) in Belgium, France, Switzerland and England, finally returning as first-class waiters on the Princess Matoika, a World War I transport. She was crewed to a surprising extent by Ivy Leaguers, boys from Yale, Brown, etc., being engaged in various and sundry jobs, and it was a summer no one o£ us will ever forget. It's too bad that our current senior classes do not have a similar opportunity.

Philadelphia, Pa.