A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 33

Whenever I needed advice or a.s.sistance, I did not hesitate, through any fear of the charge of what, in the College cant, was called "_fis.h.i.+ng_," to ask it of Dr. Popkin.--_Memorial of John S.

Popkin, D.D._, p. ix.

At Dartmouth College, the electioneering for members of the secret societies was formerly called _fis.h.i.+ng_. At the same inst.i.tution, individuals in the Senior Cla.s.s were said to be _fis.h.i.+ng for appointments_, if they tried to gain the good-will of the Faculty by any special means.

FIVES. A kind of play with a ball against the side of a building, resembling tennis; so named, because three _fives_ or _fifteen_ are counted to the game.--_Smart_.

A correspondent, writing of Centre College, Ky., says: "Fives was a game very much in vogue, at which the President would often take a hand, and while the students would play for ice-cream or some other refreshment, he would never fail to come in for his share."

FIZZLE. Halliwell says: "The half-hiss, half-sigh of an animal."

In many colleges in the United States, this word is applied to a bad recitation, probably from the want of distinct articulation which usually attends such performances. It is further explained in the Yale Banger, November 10, 1846: "This figure of a wounded snake is intended to represent what in technical language is termed a _fizzle_. The best judges have decided, that to get just one third of the meaning right const.i.tutes a _perfect fizzle_."

With a mind and body so nearly at rest, that naught interrupted my inmost repose save cloudy reminiscences of a morning "_fizzle_"

and an afternoon "flunk," my tranquillity was sufficiently enviable.--_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 114.

Here he could _fizzles_ mark without a sigh, And see orations unregarded die.

_The Tomahawk_, Nov., 1849.

Not a wail was heard, or a "_fizzle's_" mild sigh, As his corpse o'er the pavement we hurried.

_The Gallinipper_, Dec., 1849.

At Princeton College, the word _blue_ is used with _fizzle_, to render it intensive; as, he made a _blue fizzle_, he _fizzled blue_.

FIZZLE. To fail in reciting; to recite badly. A correspondent from Williams College says: "Flunk is the common word when some unfortunate man makes an utter failure in recitation. He _fizzles_ when he stumbles through at last." Another from Union writes: "If you have been lazy, you will probably _fizzle_." A writer in the Yale Literary Magazine thus humorously defines this word: "_Fizzle_. To rise with modest reluctance, to hesitate often, to decline finally; generally, to misunderstand the question."--Vol.

XIV. p. 144.

My dignity is outraged at beholding those who _fizzle_ and flunk in my presence tower above me.--_The Yale Banger_, Oct. 22, 1847.

I "skinned," and "_fizzled_" through.

_Presentation Day Songs_, June 14, 1854.

The verb _to fizzle out_, which is used at the West, has a little stronger signification, viz. to be quenched, extinguished; to prove a failure.--_Bartlett's Dict. Americanisms_.

The factious and revolutionary action of the fifteen has interrupted the regular business of the Senate, disgraced the actors, and _fizzled out_.--_Cincinnati Gazette_.

2. To cause one to fail in reciting. Said of an instructor.

_Fizzle_ him tenderly, Bore him with care, Fitted so slenderly, Tutor, beware.

_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XIII. p. 321.

FIZZLING. Reciting badly; the act of making a poor recitation.

Of this word, a writer jocosely remarks: "_Fizzling_ is a somewhat _free_ translation of an intricate sentence; proving a proposition in geometry from a wrong figure. Fizzling is caused sometimes by a too hasty perusal of the pony, and generally by a total loss of memory when called upon to recite."--_Soph.o.m.ore Independent_, Union College, Nov. 1854.

Weather drizzling, Freshmen _fizzling_.

_Yale Lit. Mag._, Vol. XV. p. 212.

FLAM. At the University of Vermont, in student phrase, to _flam_ is to be attentive, at any time, to any lady or company of ladies.

E.g. "He spends half his time _flamming_" i.e. in the society of the other s.e.x.

FLASH-IN-THE-PAN. A student is said to make a _flash-in-the-pan_ when he commences to recite brilliantly, and suddenly fails; the latter part of such a recitation is a FIZZLE. The metaphor is borrowed from a gun, which, after being primed, loaded, and ready to be discharged, _flashes in the pan_.

FLOOR. Among collegians, to answer such questions as may be propounded concerning a given subject.

Then Olmsted took hold, but he couldn't make it go, For we _floored_ the Bien. Examination.

_Presentation Day Songs_, Yale Coll., June 14, 1854.

To _floor a paper_, is to answer every question in it.--_Bristed_.

Somehow I nearly _floored the paper_, and came out feeling much more comfortable than when I went in.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 12.

Our best cla.s.sic had not time to _floor_ the _paper_.--_Ibid._, p.

135.

FLOP. A correspondent from the University of Vermont writes: "Any 'cute' performance by which a man is sold [deceived] is a _good flop_, and, by a phrase borrowed from the ball ground, is 'rightly played.' The discomfited individual declares that they 'are all on a side,' and gives up, or 'rolls over' by giving his opponent 'gowdy.'" "A man writes cards during examination to 'feeze the profs'; said cards are 'gumming cards,' and he _flops_ the examination if he gets a good mark by the means." One usually _flops_ his marks by feigning sickness.

FLOP A TWENTY. At the University of Vermont, to _flop a twenty_ is to make a perfect recitation, twenty being the maximum mark for scholars.h.i.+p.

FLUMMUX. Any failure is called a _flummux_. In some colleges the word is particularly applied to a poor recitation. At Williams College, a failure on the play-ground is called a _flummux_.

FLUMMUX. To fail; to recite badly. Mr. Bartlett, in his Dictionary of Americanisms, has the word _flummix_, to be overcome; to be frightened; to give way to.

Perhaps Parson Hyme didn't put it into Pokerville for two mortal hours; and perhaps Pokerville didn't mizzle, wince, and finally _flummix_ right beneath him.--_Field, Drama in Pokerville_.

FLUNK. This word is used in some American colleges to denote a complete failure in recitation.

This, O, [signifying neither beginning nor end,] Tutor H---- said meant a perfect _flunk_.--_The Yale Banger_, Nov. 10, 1846.

I've made some twelve or fourteen _flunks_.--_The Gallinipper_, Dec. 1849.

And that bold man must bear a _flunk_, or die, Who, when John pleased be captious, dared reply.

_Yale Tomahawk_, Nov. 1849.

The Sabbath dawns upon the poor student burdened with the thought of the lesson, or _flunk_ of the morrow morning.--_Ibid._, Feb.

1851.

He thought ...

First of his distant home and parents, tunc, Of tutors' note-books, and the morrow's _flunk_.