Sophie Henry

If there’s one thing I’ve learned since coming to Yale, it’s that Yalies really like to keep things brief. Here at Yale, anything and everything can be given a nickname or turned into an acronym. And once something sticks, it really sticks. As someone who didn’t really get the full first-year experience at Yale — thanks, COVID-19 — it took me a little while and a lot of bullying from upperclassmen to get used to all the Yale lingo. But after enough time, I picked it up. You get used to it. I think every other sentence a Yalie says has some sort of word or phrase that would sound weird to people outside of the Yale community. Or maybe I should call it the Yale Hub? Just kidding — the Yale Hub is an actual platform that the University tried to make a “Thing,” and I hate to tell them that it’s not really working. 

But back to business. I’m here to teach you about Yale lingo. Let’s start from the beginning.

I’m sure your Bulldog Days hosts tried to tell you that their residential college was the best, but to be honest everyone is kind of lying to themselves. No residential college, or “resco,” is perfect, though Ben Franklin and Pauli Murray have AC, so they’re giving the rest of us a run for our money. Every resco has its ups and downs, and as a TDer — TD stands for Timothy Dwight — I would like to reiterate that TD is not the worst one, contrary to whatever you may have heard from your BDD parents or other prefrosh. There’s no gothic architecture, but at least we’re not Morse and Stiles! From what I’ve heard, the word “resco” is actually a little controversial. All the Yalies who know what Yale is supposed to be like, also known as pre-pandemic Yalies, hate it, which just means that we should use it even more. The origins of resco lie within the class of 2024, and it’s up to you guys to continue our legacy. Regardless of whether you get placed into JE — Jonathan Edwards College — or Dport — Davenport College — don’t feel too bad. Make the most out of it!

Once you settle into your resco, you’ll find yourself wishing there was more time. One night you might be studying into the late hours in some random classroom in HQ — the Humanities Quadrangle, everyone’s favorite place during finals season. If you’re up for partying on a weekday, you might participate in Woads, or Wednesdays at Toad’s. And after all that dancing and shouting, you’ll probably end up at Gheav, or Good Nature Market, a place for the hungry and drunk to gather and buy some sandwiches. When you actually show up to class, you might be forced into a round of icebreakers where all of your classmates have to make up fun facts about themselves and talk about their always subject-to-change majors. Because of the pandemic, there are a lot of super sophomores, super juniors, and super seniors. Never fear — it just means that they’re probably a little older than you and found something fulfilling to do during their gap year instead of suffering through Zoom University. Honestly, good for them. If you find yourself feeling lost, which is totally normal and somewhat inevitable, you have your first-year counselor, or FroCo to help you out, as well as your HOC, or head of college, and your resco dean. Even if this all seems daunting, you’ll get used to the thrum and rhythm of college life. You’ll have p-set — problems set — sessions in Bass, you’ll talk to your English professor in LC — Linsly-Chittenden Hall — about your all of your life problems and maybe your next paper, you’ll make the dreaded climb up Science Hill, unless you have a scooter or one of those slightly dangerous electric skateboards. Seriously — people fall off those things. You’ll try your best to avoid the Yague — short for the Yale plague — until you realize the cough isn’t getting better despite the copious amount of cough drops you’re taking, you’ll chill on XC, or Cross Campus, when it’s above 60 degrees, you’ll wonder why midterm season starts within the first two weeks of the semester and never ends until reading week. And soon enough, you’ll have all of this Yalie talk under your belt. Just trust me.