THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240025
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
CONNIE EBLE, a linguistics teacher at the University of North Carolina, is - to borrow a couple terms from her students - either a ``granola'' or a ``groover.''
Both words mean she is out of style.
She would never think of using the term ``go for sushi'' if she hankered to kiss somebody, for instance. That's another phrase of college-student slang.
For 25 years, Eble has been collecting slang terms from her students and has included them in a new book: ``Slang & Sociability: In Group Language Among College Students,'' published recently by the University of North Carolina Press.
Eble, who has been called the premier authority on college slang, has compiled 10,000 examples of slang, all collected from undergraduates at UNC from 1972 to '93.
Slang is usually dismissed as being here today and gone tomorrow. But not all slang is ephemeral. ``Bones'' as slang for dice, for example, was used by Chaucer in the 14th century, Eble says. And the slang term is still used today.
She cautions that her collection may not be a representative sample of offensive slang - racist or vulgar - because students who have given her slang words and definitions may have practiced self-censorship.
Here are a few I liked:
Air Hebrews: sandals.
Barbie: painstakingly fashionably dressed and groomed female.
Birkenstock buddy: environmentalist.
Brain burp: random thought.
Buzz crusher: anything that destroys a feeling of euphoria.
Cheese whiz: someone who thinks that he or she is impressive but is not.
Dangling modifier: a single, long, flashy earring.
Donut hole: someone with no social skills.
Easter bunny: benefactor, someone who does a favor.
Fake and bake: to get a tan in a tanning booth.
Goth: someone who dresses in black and listens to avant-garde music.
Nuke and puke: microwavable meal.
Osmosis amoebas: farewell (``adios amigos'').
Sofa spud: couch potato
Trendinistas: political or social activists who combine heightened political consciousness with stylish clothing.
Whatever floats your boat: expression of acceptance.
Eble never knows what her students will come up with next.
``I got one today that was surprising. It was `hubba-hubba,' '' she said. That once-hip expression of more than 50 years ago, denoting someone who is sexually desirable, seems to be coming back. ``I'd have bet it was dead as doornail,'' she said.
Perhaps the two most enduring slang terms among collegians are ``cool'' and ``hot,'' she noted.
Most of Eble's students are women. She has been surprised by the number of abusive terms for women that she has collected.
``Coyote date'' is a good example. A coyote date is defined as ``a woman who is so ugly that when her companion for the night wakes up the next morning and she is asleep on his arm, he would rather chew off his arm than wake her up.''
Why not reverse the sexes for that story, if you are a woman, so that female chews the arm off? ``I think women students simply pass along the sexist lexicon,'' Eble said. ``It makes me shudder to think how abusive some of it might be.''
Eble has many favorites. She has a particular soft spot for ``Talk to Ralph on the big white telephone.'' That means to vomit into a toilet, if you haven't already guessed.
Looks like it's as good a time as any to ``dust'' (leave), as the undergrads say. by CNB