TCAT (noun)
pronounced "tee cat"
Definition: bus system that runs through Tompkins County.
Attested: I first heard this word during orientation when I was deciding what type of bus pass to purchase.
Example: "If you want to be able to ride the bus all over campus and to downtown Ithaca, buy the TCAT bus pass."
Etymology: This word is an acronym for Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit. It is a bus service, less restrictive than the Cornell campus system, that runs throughout the campus as well as off campus in the Ithaca area.
- Heidi Nguyen
T.J. Duane
Dwane, /dwen/, rhymes with Twain
Definition: T.J. Duane is the PA of Clara Dickson Hall. He enjoys the music of the 1980's and is a senior in the Hotel School. He is the head TA of Human Development 150 and is in general a nice but creepy person.
Attested: During the first week of orientation here at Cornell all of the RAs and PAs introduced themselves tot he students living in their halls. It was at this time I met T.J. He says that he really loved the music of the 1980's and he wanted to talk to everyone who lives in Dickson.
Example: "T.J. is such a creepy guy, what is up with him?"
Etymology: T.J. Duane is well known to many people living on North Campus. As the Program Administrator of Dickson he meets a lot of people. He is not to be confused with Duane Westhoff who is the RHD of Dickson who is openly gay and not creepy at all. Also, T.J.'s real name is John Thomas which are the reversed initials of T.J. which is also a little creepy. For more information about creepy T.J. visit his website.
- Matt Fellman
Tombs (noun)
tooms, /tums/; rhymes with booms
Definition: a twenty-four hour study lounge located on the bottom floor in Dickson Hall
Attested: I first heard this term when a floor mate of mine was said to be studying in the tombs of Dickson.
Example: "It is too quiet in the tombs to do anything except read. The sounds of a pen running across your paper makes the other people studying upset; it is just too loud for the tombs."
Etymology: Dickson is a house filled with generally quiet people, and the quiet study lounge for the building is so quiet it is scary. There could be up to 30 people in the room but still it is just dead silence or the occasional cough, or the sound of a moving chair. Because the room is so eerie and quiet it has come to be known as the tombs.
- Matt Fellman
Tool (noun)
rhymes with "cool" or "pool"
Definition: someone who tries to be something they are
not; someone who lets people use them
Attested: My first encounter with the said term was in
August 1998 at one of my first frat parties.
Example: The normally reserved girl turned into such a TOOL
when she walked into the frat party wearing little and
amourously involving herself with every frat boy.
Etymology: This derogatory term most likely dirived from
the normal definition of "tool", an instrument used or
worked by hand. Like a regular instrument, this person is
working for another's wishes, but in this case, hoping to
get something in return. The term implies that the person
is reducing oneself from a person to an item. This could
also be the reason why the definition was extended to
someone who tries to be something they are not; a person is
not an instrument.
-Amy Gorman
Townie
rhymes with "brownie"
Definition: A true resident of a college town
Attested: I heard this back in high school, since I lived n a college town
Example: "Lets go hit on some townies"
Etymology: The term is merely the word town with a suffix that means one
who is. Townies are often scary folks that tend not to get along with the
college students at the college. They will always look upon the students
with disgust, with is quite often reciprocated by the students.
- Dave Britton
Towny (noun)
rhymes with "frowny"
Definition: a person who lives in Ithaca.
Attested: I first heard this expresion used by one of the older kids on the swim team in reference to a local.
Example: Some of the townies that walk around in the commons are very unusual.
Etymology: This word is used by college students at Cornell and Ithaca College to refer to the locals. Most of the students are from out of town while the locals are from Ithaca. Thus, towny became an abbreviated way of refering to someone who lives in the town of Ithaca.
- John Moyer
T&R Center in Dryden
Definition: acronym for Teaching and Research Center, located in Dryden, NY.
Attested: I first visited the T&R Center when I was a sophomore in high school.
Example: "The research taking place at the T&R Center in Dryden is at the
cutting-edge of the
industry, for dairy, beef, and sheep.
Etymology: Cornell owns three research facilities in Dryden: dairy, beef, and sheep.
Research focuses
on improving management practices n farms and health improvements. The
dairy unit
boasts a milking herd of 1000 cows. They are milked in a parlor with 10
stall on each
side, referred to as a double-four herringbone parlor. Other research
focuses on nutrition,
and groups cows by types of feed to measure their performance based on
different feeds to
find which enhance production. The center is well know by farmers across
New York and
Cornell animal science majors. The research conducted there has given way
to many
positive improvements in the dairy, beef, and sheep industries.
- Katie Cody
Tray (verb).
trei; rhymes with "hay"
Definition: to descend libe slope with a tray borrowed
from a Cornell Dining Hall
Attested: I first encountered this term when a friend
suggested "traying" as an amusing form of entertainment
during the winter.
Example: "Hey, u guys have trays?? We should go traying
soon before the snow melts!"
Etymology: This term must be unique only to Cornell
students and certain staff members. Nowhere else will
college students borrow trays simply to go sledding and
then call it traying. This term is only used by those
Cornellians who use a meal plan and thus have access to
Cornell Dining Halls.
- Jesse Yao