The Duke dictionary

Duke lingo can get confusing. We're here to help.
Duke lingo can get confusing. We're here to help.

From FDOC to LDOC: a dictionary of Duke terms

Here at Duke, we’ve got plenty of acronyms, nicknames and bizarre lingo. But don’t worry—we’re here to (mostly) help you figure it out.

ABP—Au Bon Pain. A staple in any co-ed’s diet with sandwiches and soups galore.

Bursar Account—Charging anything and everything to your parents (one bowl of froyo at a time).

Fall Break—Time off during the worst part of your semester, and your new best friend (see Unexpected Snow Days).

FDOC—First Day of Classes, where every freshman is “nervous, but excited.”

Food Points—The magical online account that pays for your meals (see Not Real Money).

Flex Points—Money for laundry, Solo cups and other things that you still want to charge to your Bursar account.

Flex v. Food Points—A system that will take you all of O-Week to master, but that you’ll have to explain to your parents every semester for the next four years.

Freeman Center—The best-kept (sorta) secret on campus: they take meal swipes. Great for when you need your latke fix.

Full Duke—The freshman that shows up on campus the first day bedecked in gear (even his socks are covered in little Blue Devils).

K-Ville—The coldest and dirtiest place on campus where you create the most beautiful memories. Grab your tent, your face paint, your closet friends and tell your parents to watch for you on TV.

LDOC—Last Day of Classes. The only time it’s ever acceptable to wander around campus with one shoe on and a suspicious liquid in your Sigg water bottle.

Mad Hatter—Not just a character from Alice in Wonderland, but a café with good food, good study spaces and mediocre WiFi.

MP—Marketplace, the freshmen watering hole. It’s not the worst food you’ve ever had (see Marketplace Halfway Through Second Semester), but it’s far from the best.

NetID—The entryway to everything you hate: printing, checking your grades and paying tuition.

O-Week—Orientation Week for all freshmen. It’s full of firsts: first time living on your own, first visit to Shooters and first chance to snag photos with the new class of basketball players.

PUMP—The place under Marketplace. Your one-stop shop for cereal, junk food and energy drinks when you have that unfinished midterm paper due tomorrow morning.

Segregation in Brodie—The East Campus gym, where it’s expected for girls to streamline upstairs for the ellipticals while guys head straight for the weights in the back.

Shoots—Shooters II Saloon. The place to be on any given Wednesday or Saturday… that is if you don’t mind western-themed nightclubs and dirt. But hey, we’re not complaining.

SLGs—Selective Living Groups. Think of all of the people who would show up to your family reunion (your hipster cousin, your brainy sister, your drunk uncle, etc.) and you might begin to get a glimpse into all of the different SLG personalities.

Vondy—Von der Heyden Pavilion attached to Perkins Library. The place to see and be seen when you want to (pretend to) study.

WaDuke—The Washington Duke Inn, aka where to have your parents (and/or upperclassmen friends with an overabundance of food points) take you so you can remember what real food tastes like. Sayonara Marketplace!

Whole Foods—The store just across the street, but way out of your budget.

WNS—Wednesday Night Shooters. Because we are typically too ashamed to say the whole thing on a Thursday.

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