University of Oxford slang: The Oxford “-er”
Much of the Oxford slang listed below probably started in public schools, and Cambridge has its own variants, such as “bedder" for the person who cleans bedrooms.
Some university slang such as bedsitter, brekker, champers, footer, rugger, slacker, and soccer became more generally used. Others such as “wagger pagger bagger” (used in the novel Sandford of Merton in 1903) understandably did not catch on.
People continued to use the slang after they left university: for instance “Brigger” for “Brigadier” was used by Simon Raven, a Cambridge man, during the Second World War.
The –er ending was later used for other words not exclusive to the University: for example “starkers” (1923), “crackers” (1928), “preggers” (1942), “bonkers” (1943), and “spaggers” (1960).
Right: The illustration on this postcard is by
(Arthur Henry) Graham Hoggarth (1882–1964),
who read Modern History at Keble College and
would probably have used Oxford slang himself
in the early Edwardian period.
It is dated 1906, and in normal English would read:
‘What do you do for exercise nowadays?’
‘Oh! I help whenever there’s a bonfire.’
Punch (18 May 1895):
It is inevitable, if you converse with a young Oxonian of immature intellect, that he will murder the Queen's, or (as he would call it) Quagger's, English by some such expression as “What a beastly sensagger!” or invite you to “stagger for the dagger” (i.e. stay for the day). But competent authorities are inclined to think that this laborious form of undergraduate wit, or “wagger,” is doomed to speedy “extigger.”
Jackson's Oxford Journal (19 August 1899) explains the rule for creating this kind of Oxford slang:
Take any word in common use; knock the end off and add “er.” If it should sound acceptable, it suffers no further mutilation. If it is still harsh and cacophonous, see what it will look like by striking off its head and the casual removal of an intermediate syllable. All these processes appear to have been gone through in order to produce “Soccer” from Association. Rugby was more fortunate. It had only a tail to lose.
Glossary of University of Oxford slang ending in –er |
|
Adders |
Addison's Walk (in Magdalen College) |
Aeger |
Aegrotat (Latin: “He is sick”: A degree awarded to a student to ill to take Finals) |
All Soggers |
|
Bedder |
Bedroom (not, as in Cambridge, someone who cleans bedrooms) |
Bedsitter |
Bedroom and sitting-room combined |
Bodder |
|
Bonner |
Bonfire |
Brekker |
Breakfast |
Britter |
|
Buller |
|
Bumpers |
Bumps race (in rowing) |
Canader |
A Canadian |
Champers/Shampers |
Champagne |
Colleckers |
|
Congratters/Gratters |
Congratulations |
Congregagers praggers |
Congregational practice |
Constituter |
A constitutional walk |
Coronaggers |
Coronation* |
Cuppers (name still used) |
Intercollegiate sports (played in competion for a cup) |
Dagger or Deaner |
Dean of a college, sometimes abbreviated to “the Dag” |
“Dagger” can also mean “day”, e.g. in the phrase “stagger for the dagger” |
|
Degrugger |
Degree |
Dialekker |
Dialectical Society |
Divvers or Diviners |
Divinity examination |
Ekker or eccer |
Outdoor exercise |
Footer |
Football |
Fresher |
Freshman (used from early in the Victorian era) |
Giler |
|
Gladder |
William Ewart Gladstone (former President of the Ugger) |
Jaggers |
Jesus College Oxford or its men |
Lekker/Lecker/Leccer |
A lecture |
Maggers' Memugger |
|
Mugger |
Master (of a college) |
Padder |
Paddington station (the London destination of GWR trains from Oxford) |
Pragger jogger |
A practical joke |
Pragger Wagger |
The Prince of Wales |
Progger or Proggins |
One of the two Proctors of the University |
Quaggers |
The Queen's College Oxford or its men |
Radder |
Radcliffe Camera (known in more recent years as the Rad Cam) |
Roller |
Roll call (at morning chapel) |
Rudders |
Rudiments (of Divinity) |
Rugger |
Rugby football |
Sensagger |
Sensation |
Sigger-sogger |
Sing-song |
Sitter |
Sitting room |
Slacker |
Someone who shirks work |
Soccer |
Association football |
Stagger |
Stay (as in the phrase “stagger for the dagger”) |
Staggers |
|
Stragger |
Stranger |
Testugger |
Testamur (Latin, We testify: Certificate awarded on passing an examination) |
Toggers |
|
Tosher |
An unattached (non-collegiate) student (corruption of the word “unattached”) |
Ugger, The |
The Union (the Oxford Union, a private debating club of the University) |
Wagger pagger bagger |
Waste paper basket |
Wekker |
Waistcoat |
Wuggins Wugger |
A member of Worcester College |
Many personal names were also adapted in this way, such as |
|
* Primarily the coronations of Edward VII in 1903 and George V in 1911, but according to Prince Michael of Kent, the term “Coronaggers” was still used by boys at Sunningdale Prep School in 1953 for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (see Daily Telegraph of 30 April 2022)
Left: This postcard shows one of the University's two Proctors (in full academic dress of sub-fusc, bands, and cap & gown) and two of his Bulldogs waiting around the corner of Balliol College to catch a student who is strolling nonchalantly at night along Broad Street.
The printed caption to this card is:
“The ‘Broad’ Way which leads to Destruction”
and the person (Herle) who on 1 June 1904 sent the card has added by hand underneath:
“The ‘Proggins’ and the ‘Bullers’. ”
The bowler-hatted constables of the private police force of the University which manned the streets of Oxford by night from 1829 to 2003 were known as Bulldogs.
See also:
Professor Simon Horobin:
“The linguistic life of an Oxford student”
and
