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277 CHAPTER 8 LEGENDARY LOCATIONS, LAUGHS, AND HORRORS passing through the elaborate gates positioned at the college’s border with its neighbors typically creates the impression of entering a mythical kingdom. Past the bustle of streets and stores one finds on almost every campus a winding path through nature and around proud edifices often showing medieval faces. In this commercial-free zone, there seems to be a unity of purpose, a march of thought. The pantheon of distinctive images meant to inspire passersby stretches from the dormitories around the library and past the halls of academe. Giving focus to the domain are campus markers —clock and bell towers,columns,obelisks,statues,friezes,and quadrangles. Students coming to a campus feel a need to adjust to this environment by connecting themselves to those who have come before. The continuity provided by the“real story”of folklore allows them to understand the personality of a place, to learn the lessons of the ancients, and to know the portents ahead. When campus residents relate folk names and legends to newcomers, they humanize imposing buildings and make them socially accessible. Among the most frequently encountered collegiate nicknames are those told in jest for schools and buildings. Some of these nicknames reach well back in collegiate history. A source from 1851 lists “Brick Mill” being used for the University of Vermont (Hall 1968, 38); today, “mill” is more often attached to large public universities dubbed“diploma mills.”Other common ones heard today are Zoo Mass for the University of Massachusetts, Suitcase U. for Kent State, Silo Tech for Iowa State, and Moo-U for Michigan State. These often change over time. Franklin and Marshall College has attracted multiple monikers,including Fast and Mushy, Frank and Marsha, and Fumble and Mumble. Music students at the University of North Texas refer to the Music Recital Hall as the Purple Palace; at Millersville, when you go to study at the Helen A. Ganser Library, you’re going to visit the Hag. 278 LEGENDARY LOCATIONS, LAUGHS, AND HORRORS With universities commonly going by initials such as UK for the University of Kentucky (not to be confused with KU for the University of Kansas), inevitably college folk fill in the meanings of the letters. The expensive private Los Angeles institution USC (University of Southern California) is widely known as “University of Spoiled Children.” USC followers might chime in with variations such as“University of Second Choice”or“University of South Central,” and jab the rival public UCLA with “University of Caucasians Lost Among Asians” and “University of California for Low Achievers.” Other rivalries are frequently expressed in college initials, such as references in South Carolina to CU (Clemson University) as“Cow University”because of its large college of agriculture, while Clemson’s supporters in the Piedmont retort that the initials of the University of South Carolina, whose mascot is the gamecock , stand for “University of Sick Chickens” (Eisiminger 1978, 583–84). The University of Texas goes by the initials of UT, but Texas A&M students refer to their nemesis as “t.u.” (intentionally lowercased) to stand for just another Texas university. If some of these folk names are localized, others cross campus lines. Many science buildings are known as bughouses, chemistry buildings are chem halls,and student centers are unions or stud buildings.In colleges with examination rooms,the name“sweatboxes”is commonly applied.More than one instructional technology office is located in a basement area to keep equipment cool, and such offices are dubbed dungeons. References abound to quads for the rectangular grassy areas where students meet. Recreational centers are clipped in slang to“the rec” with an obvious play on the word“wreck.” Fears and joys of campus life come out in narratives that can edge toward laughter or tears. Whether ghostly legends or bawdy jokes, they raise emotions , entertain and teach, and offer release in the grind of life around the sobering college landscape. They allow the expression of feelings, values, and hopes. In the special imaginative frame that folklore provides, fears and joys are translated into symbols and telling events, and given plenty of room to operate. The stories may be told as true, but more often as half-truth with the elaboration of a twice-told tale.That does not detract from their value.Indeed, it adds to it, for the “truth” of the narratives lies in the belief and sentiment expressed—the cultural perception, if you will—in this “unofficial...

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