Being relatively new, I noticed a lot of funny slang being thrown around on here that I've never heard before. So, let’s have fun with it. I got this idea talking to one of my high school friends who when to Toronto.

Mac Slang!!!
List/define some funny phrases or words that you’ve come to use while at Mac, or some things that you used to say in high school.

Sketch – As in sketchy, meaning dodgy. I always used to use “dodgy,” cause I liked how you could break it up. Okay, it might not make sense, but if you heard it, you'd understand. It sounds so great. I’m getting into sketch now out of sheer peer saturation.
E.L.M – Techniquely, it started here, but whatever. I used to go E-L-M, and I still do, but I’m going with elm more and more now, since that’s all I hear.

Used to say, but not so much now:
Soft – But only to imitate someone who said it all the time. Basically means easy and can apply to anything whatsoever. I still catch myself saying it when I talk to people who came with me.

I've always used "sketchy" or "sketch", never "dodgy" lol

I guess all the acronyms we use for buildings and offices on campus count as slang.

One of my housemates from North York uses the phrase "chop girls" to mean picking up girls.

LOL. I didn't know 'sketch' was a Mac thing (I use it all the time, but I didn't in highschool... interesting...). Come to think of it, when I went home to Toronto and I was talking to my friends about Hamilton, they laughed at my word sketch, like it wasn't a normal thing to say.

My friend and I have a couple first year classes together, we're in second year, and whenever we spit out building acryonyms like it's nothing, people look at us funny. They'll catch on eventually though.

Originally Posted by britb

Being relatively new, I noticed a lot of funny slang being thrown around on here that I've never heard before. So, let’s have fun with it. I got this idea talking to one of my high school friends who when to Toronto.

Mac Slang!!!
List/define some funny phrases or words that you’ve come to use while at Mac, or some things that you used to say in high school.

Sketch – As in sketchy, meaning dodgy. I always used to use “dodgy,” cause I liked how you could break it up. Okay, it might not make sense, but if you heard it, you'd understand. It sounds so great. I’m getting into sketch now out of sheer peer saturation.
E.L.M – Techniquely, it started here, but whatever. I used to go E-L-M, and I still do, but I’m going with elm more and more now, since that’s all I hear.

Used to say, but not so much now:
Soft – But only to imitate someone who said it all the time. Basically means easy and can apply to anything whatsoever. I still catch myself saying it when I talk to people who came with me.

I don;t think sketchy is a mac-only thing. We used it way the hell back in Bowmanville. Now that's saying something. Then again, Oshawa IS right beside us.... Haha. There is no other word to describe it. =P

Never heard anyone use soft in that way, heh.

Actually, when I got here in first here... I've NEVER heard the term "keener." Even PROFESSORS use the term. o_O

It might not be in the whole university - maybe some programs say it more than others. That would be a fun thread too, going into faculty-specific slang. I haven't been in Sciences long enough to know any, though.

Yeah, I forgot about keener - I only heard about in the grade 12, after the university fair. I wonder if they picked it up there. It would be funny if they did.

People in high school (admittedly, they were a little infactuated with the idea of being in IB) used to say "that's so IB" or something like that instead, since we were in the program. Now when I say people either no idea what the heck IB is or they just kinda glare. I can't blame the ones for glaring, I know a quite few people from the progam who are arrogant pricks. On a side note, I wonder how many people from IB are at Mac, it would be a neat figure to see. I actually think being in IB hurts your chances, but that's a rant for another time.

Building acronyms was a good one. I said 'BSB' to my mom yesterday, and she asked me what it was. I said "the big white one we went into first, you know, with the small lockers." The student centre is "the big one in the front," since whenever they come up they park in the lot in front of the business school (M, I THINK). But a lot of the time I just say "the engineering building" or 'the psych building." No idea why, just a habit, I guess. It's not like I need to save time talking, since I'm not very talkative in class anyway...

Wow, that went on...I'm really desperate not to read 40 pgs of history. X.x

Sketchy is definitely not Mac slang, I used to hear it everywhere in Toronto and Brampton long before I got to Mac. Keener on the other hand seems to be University slang in general, not Mac specific. Heck, I have a homework organization app for my iPhone called Keener; it's definitely something not unique to our school, but like most people, I never heard the term before University.

I remember I always used to say "Kinese" as a shortform for Kinesiology. After about a week of hearing everyone say "Kin" I started abbreviating it as such.

Probably not a Mac-specific thing, but I never said it before.

Not to mention...why do we call it "Mac" anyway? Isn't it MCMaster? That's another one of those things I acquired from people around campus.

Also, some club/society abbreviations...MSU, SHEC, OPIRG, MBC, MSA, MSC, etc.

Keener is an old, old word. Like thats what my parents used to use. o.O

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

Keener is an old, old word. Like thats what my parents used to use. o.O

Lol, funny how it's used everywhere now.

Funny, last week my bf asked me what a keener was, he's from the states. Maybe it's a Canadian thing? I've heard it on a couple Canadian shows.

Annnd yup, urban dictionary says Canadian slang, not that it's totally reliable but hey.

It might be really be Canadian. If you think about it, it doesn't match up with American slang, at least not where I've been. I could never imagine someone in Bufffalo saying it, but that's just me. It might be their accent. Anyone been to Rochester? They sound straight outta FLA, for some reason.


Here's one: ELM and SOLAR both stand for "pain in the ass."

It might not be slang but I find it's really popular here to say: fail, win, epic and FML. All very popular terms. lol But they're pretty popular everywhere right now.

Not to mention...why do we call it "Mac" anyway? Isn't it MCMaster? That's another one of those things I acquired from people around campus.

I've always wondered that too!

Originally Posted by Mowicz

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Not to mention...why do we call it "Mac" anyway? Isn't it MCMaster? That's another one of those things I acquired from people around campus.
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Yeah, I've wondered this too. It's like how McDonald's and their Big "Macs"...

Similarly, why do we call organic chemistry "orgo" when there isn't a second "o". In some places, it's called "o-chem", which to me makes more sense. Also, my friends were talking about this class they were taking called "****", and I had no idea what it was. It's a biochem analysis course or something.

Originally Posted by Mowicz

I remember I always used to say "Kinese" as a shortform for Kinesiology. After about a week of hearing everyone say "Kin" I started abbreviating it as such.

Probably not a Mac-specific thing, but I never said it before.

Not to mention...why do we call it "Mac" anyway? Isn't it MCMaster? That's another one of those things I acquired from people around campus.

Also, some club/society abbreviations...MSU, SHEC, OPIRG, MBC, MSA, MSC, etc.

All those things you listed are acronym's, not abbreviations.

I think people use orgo because it sounds like something dirty and they think it's funny. Same idea with ****, whatever that is.