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This place is weird. Trinity term ends one week from today. Just about everywhere you go in the city, you see people walking around with paint and flour in their hair. And eggs all over the ground.
I asked JI about this tradition today. Apparently it is just what Oxonians do when they are finished with their exams. He did not know why. Before coming to do his graduate studies here, JI was an undergraduate at Cambridge... and he pointed out that the Cambridge students[*] do not have such a tradition. It may be heretical for me to contemplate, but this may actually prove that the students at Cambridge are smarter than those at Oxford.
Apparently, there are other difference, too. At Cambridge, the students sit for their exams in casual dress. At Oxford, they must wear something called a "subfusc" -- basically a dark suit with a white shirt and a white bowtie, with a gown worn around it all. And a carnation in the suit -- white for first years, pink for seconds, and red for thirds. The change in colour symbolizes the accumulation of blood shed that is supposedly required for advancing in one's studies.
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wolfpeach has pointed out that the change in carnation colour corresponds to advancing through a set of exams, not through years. So one starts an exam set with white, goes to the penultimate one with pink, and finished up with red... thus signifying that they are done and it is now okay to splatter them with stuff.]
Ah, tradition! (cue Tevye) Besides the observation of these customs, there are some statutes that are still on the books, but are no longer observed. For instance, apparently part of the dress code -- no longer usually enforced -- calls for students to wear a sword when they sit for their exams. Another statute entitles a student to request a quart of beer be provided halfway through the exams. I do not know if it is a myth or fact, but JI told me the story of a recent[**] student who invoked the statute and requested his beer. However, he was then fined because he was not wearing a sword. Ifcheshcat and I do settle in the UK and raise children here, and if one of them eventually attends University at Oxford, you can damn well bet that I am buying them a sword and making them request the beer that is rightfully due them!
[*] "Cambridgians"? I don't really know what the Cambridge counterpart to "Oxonians" should be.
[**] "Recent" == "20th century"
I asked JI about this tradition today. Apparently it is just what Oxonians do when they are finished with their exams. He did not know why. Before coming to do his graduate studies here, JI was an undergraduate at Cambridge... and he pointed out that the Cambridge students[*] do not have such a tradition. It may be heretical for me to contemplate, but this may actually prove that the students at Cambridge are smarter than those at Oxford.
Apparently, there are other difference, too. At Cambridge, the students sit for their exams in casual dress. At Oxford, they must wear something called a "subfusc" -- basically a dark suit with a white shirt and a white bowtie, with a gown worn around it all. And a carnation in the suit -- white for first years, pink for seconds, and red for thirds. The change in colour symbolizes the accumulation of blood shed that is supposedly required for advancing in one's studies.
[ETA:
wolfpeach has pointed out that the change in carnation colour corresponds to advancing through a set of exams, not through years. So one starts an exam set with white, goes to the penultimate one with pink, and finished up with red... thus signifying that they are done and it is now okay to splatter them with stuff.]Ah, tradition! (cue Tevye) Besides the observation of these customs, there are some statutes that are still on the books, but are no longer observed. For instance, apparently part of the dress code -- no longer usually enforced -- calls for students to wear a sword when they sit for their exams. Another statute entitles a student to request a quart of beer be provided halfway through the exams. I do not know if it is a myth or fact, but JI told me the story of a recent[**] student who invoked the statute and requested his beer. However, he was then fined because he was not wearing a sword. If
cheshcat and I do settle in the UK and raise children here, and if one of them eventually attends University at Oxford, you can damn well bet that I am buying them a sword and making them request the beer that is rightfully due them![*] "Cambridgians"? I don't really know what the Cambridge counterpart to "Oxonians" should be.
[**] "Recent" == "20th century"
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