Top 10 (Pepperdine) language and lingo failures
By JESSICA ABU-GHATTAS
Print this article
Share this article
Published: Thursday, February 25, 2010
Updated: Thursday, February 25, 2010
Walking around campus leaves ears highly susceptible to improper lingo. Not sure if your Pepperdine slang is uncouth? Check out some samples.
Also, if you like my weekly Top 10, look for it, and more, on my personal blog. Astoldbyjess.tumblr.com.
1. Fail. Something can’t be a fail. It can, however, be a failure, a failed attempt and the list goes on…
2. Mixer. Did you know that every gathering of people at Pepperdine is actually a mixer? Attention event coordinators: Sometimes, there are parties. Sometimes kick-backs. Get-togethers. Luncheons. Banquets. Galas. Soirees. And why mix, eh? Why not blend? Let’s twist. Let’s shimmy. I’ll RSVP “No, thank you” until I see language reform.
3. Convo? “Is that for Convo credit…?” Let’s face it. We go to a school that offers credit for sitting in a tree and reading the Bible, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’re all guilty of it, but the curious exclamation — “Convo?”— says “I’m only interested in anything remotely spiritual if it satisfies my Chapel requirement.”
4. Tabling. Verb; to table. It never occurred to me that “table” could refer to a physical activity before witnessing it at Pepperdine. Naturally, it refers to the act of sitting at a table, usually in the Caf, and soliciting or promoting a cause.
5. Texting. The correct form is actually “to send a text message.” As of now, text does not have a verb form.
6. AKB. The Benton, Andy. You know, he prefers to be referred to as Andrew K. Benton, and as president of Seaver College, he deserves it.
7. HAWK. Nothing works me up more than this common misspelling. Howard A. White Center, not Kenter. Come on folks, you go there every day. Spell it right.
8. The Caf. At some point in Pepperdine’s history, students decided “The Waves Cafe” was too cheesy and royal a term for our communal watering hole and invented this abrupt abbreviation. I suppose in this instance the “Waves Cafe” is the true failure. Can’t say giving it a nickname was a bad idea.
9. The Oasis. Yes, because it’s surrounded by vast desert, drought and famine. There are no nearby sources of sustenance, and the arid three-minute walk from your dorm left you just famished. Then miraculously, like a mirage, a pizza and sandwich stand appeared, cheerful Sodexo employees waving you in with palm leaves. Who thought of this ingenious title?
10. The “stairway to heaven”. It’s is not a method of getting to the CCB— it’s a Led Zeppelin song.
