The USNA Slang Is Changing - Feeling Old

CoBoarder

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1) Dropping my DS Plebe off after Christmas break and I asked if the "JIMMY LEGS" would give me a ticket for parking in faculty parking spot. He didn't know the term. Hmmm

2) I asked him if he had a "DRAG" lined up for a dance this semester . . . . Didn't know the term. Hmmm

3) How about a "CANNON BALL RUN", seen anyone 1st semester pull one off? Blank stare

4) I'm singing "Navy Blue and Gold" after the Navy victory over UVA and the mids aren't singing the same words drilled into my head wearing slippers and a B-Robe every night . . . turns even the alma mater changed (not to mention slippers and B-Robe aren't issued).

Wow . . . . . thought I'd never be one of those "when I was a Plebe" dads but I never expected the language or Navy Blue and Gold to change. Hmmm
 
1) Dropping my DS Plebe off after Christmas break and I asked if the "JIMMY LEGS" would give me a ticket for parking in faculty parking spot. He didn't know the term. Hmmm

2) I asked him if he had a "DRAG" lined up for a dance this semester . . . . Didn't know the term. Hmmm

3) How about a "CANNON BALL RUN", seen anyone 1st semester pull one off? Blank stare

4) I'm singing "Navy Blue and Gold" after the Navy victory over UVA and the mids aren't singing the same words drilled into my head wearing slippers and a B-Robe every night . . . turns even the alma mater changed (not to mention slippers and B-Robe aren't issued).

Wow . . . . . thought I'd never be one of those "when I was a Plebe" dads but I never expected the language or Navy Blue and Gold to change. Hmmm

Most of that was long gone when I arrived for duty as a BattO in the late 90’s. Blue and Gold got changed a few Supes ago.

Even the mids-now-alums we sponsored come back and are aghast at Plebes being allowed naps, and AC... I am sure the Class of ‘21 (19) grads grumbled about what classes in the 30’s were getting away with.
 
1) Dropping my DS Plebe off after Christmas break and I asked if the "JIMMY LEGS" would give me a ticket for parking in faculty parking spot. He didn't know the term. Hmmm

2) I asked him if he had a "DRAG" lined up for a dance this semester . . . . Didn't know the term. Hmmm

3) How about a "CANNON BALL RUN", seen anyone 1st semester pull one off? Blank stare

4) I'm singing "Navy Blue and Gold" after the Navy victory over UVA and the mids aren't singing the same words drilled into my head wearing slippers and a B-Robe every night . . . turns even the alma mater changed (not to mention slippers and B-Robe aren't issued).

Wow . . . . . thought I'd never be one of those "when I was a Plebe" dads but I never expected the language or Navy Blue and Gold to change. Hmmm
All of the high school students at CVW were called DRAGs by the midshipmen. Funny, how things change! I guess we all become a "when I was a ____" at some point!
 
Okay, I'll bite.

Does "Cannonball Run" have something to do with the baked apples?
The only thing I've ever heard about that was if one Mid eats all 12 (at the table), they get a "Carry On" for the rest of the semester.
And of course... the runs.
 
The lyrics to Navy Blue and Gold were changed about 15 years ago to make them "gender neutral." So, instead of "Now college men from sea to sea," it's "colleges from sea to sea." And instead of "sailor men in battle fair," it's "sailors brave . . ." I think those are the only changes.

I must admit that I still sing the old lyrics . . . those were the ones drilled into me and I find myself stumbling over the new words. It's not a huge deal for me either way. And, in another couple of decades, the overwhelming majority of grads won't have known any words but the current ones.

And, folks, PLEASE, let's not turn this into a PC issue. The above is merely an explanation . . . not an invitation to debate.

Now, as for the lack of B-robes . . . that does it for me!

There's also a new abbreviation that we never used: "DTA" for DownTown Annapolis.
 
They still give bathrobes to select visiting guest speakers at Forrestal lecture, and I think the MidStore still has them. Now if Under Armour made them in performance material...

I first heard “DTA” around 2000.
 
Yes DTA was new to me as well.

You're right Cannonball Run was eating all 12 Baked Apples and Hard Sauce.
 
DS was still called a drag back in September! Maybe the term hadn't been applied to a date yet tho....
 
They may not use the term "Jimmy Legs" today b/c, for a time after 9/11, they used USMC enlisted personnel as security and the term may thus have disappeared. These days, I recall seeing both military and civilian at various times. But the civilian security guys/gals are young, fit and trim -- not like the older, somewhat out-of-shape gentlemen that were the norm in the Jimmy Legs days.
 
And you marched in formation to class, uphill both ways, in blinding snow, on Saturday mornings...
 
And you marched in formation to class, uphill both ways, in blinding snow, on Saturday mornings

Actually, and as you probably know, mids did march to class until the late 1960s/early 1970s. And they had classes on Saturday mornings well into the 1970s I believe. Now, I wouldn't say the front part of the Yard contains any hills . . .
 
They still give bathrobes to select visiting guest speakers at Forrestal lecture, and I think the MidStore still has them. Now if Under Armour made them in performance material...

I first heard “DTA” around 2000.

Unless they’ve gone back to it since I graduated, I’m pretty sure they’ve done away with the bathrobes for speakers too. All 4 years I was there they always gave away blue and gold jackets.
 
Ditto on the b robe. We never had slippers but got flip flops. We never wore them though.
 
Unless they’ve gone back to it since I graduated, I’m pretty sure they’ve done away with the bathrobes for speakers too. All 4 years I was there they always gave away blue and gold jackets.
We just recently started giving bathrobes to VIP speakers. Usually admirals or high ranking public officials. Admiral McRaven got one with his stripes sewed on. It was pretty cool.
 
That’s what I was thinking of - it was bathrobes for years, then jogsuits, now back to b’robes appropriately embroidered. I saw ADM Stavridis get one at a Forrestal Lecture last year. They are always a big hit, and invariably they put them on right there.
 
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