Bedders, Bulldogs and Bedells: A Cambridge Glossary [Paperback]

Frank Stubbings (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521479789 | ISBN-13: 978-0521479783 | Publication Date: January 27, 1995 | Edition: Rev Enl Su

This is a new edition of Frank Stubbings' Bedders, Bulldogs and Bedells: A Cambridge ABC, first published by the author in 1991. It has now been revised, enlarged by a number of new entries, and adorned with a selection of illustrations. Like the first edition, the book aims to explain lucidly and readably the many special words and usages current in the Cambridge academic milieu. What are bedders, bulldogs, bedells? What is a tripos? What is a gyp-room? What (in the past) was a ten-year man? What was the Wooden Spoon? Puzzled visitors, freshmen, even dons, may find here first aid and refreshment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

' ... a mine of information about the complexities of Cambridge life presented with erudition and wit.' Cambridge

Book Description

What are bedders, bulldogs, bedells? Like the first edition (1991), this newly revised and enlarged text aims to explain the many special words and usages current in the Cambridge academic milieu. Puzzled visitors and professors as well as students will be entertained and enlightened.

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Rev Enl Su edition (January 27, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521479789
• ISBN-13: 978-0521479783
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,679,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming and enlightening, February 15, 2001

By 

R. J. O'Hara - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bedders, Bulldogs and Bedells: A Cambridge Glossary (Paperback)

This charming small volume is an alphabetical dictionary of terms common to and distinctive of Cambridge University in England. Stubbings is a Classicist by profession, and he explains both the origins of the terms (many of which come from Latin of course) as well as their present and past meanings. Far from being a simple dictionary, many of the entries are delightful small essays on some aspect of university life, from colleges to fellows, from gowns to orators, from scholars to sizars.

While many of the terms in the volume refer to practices and offices that no longer exist, others are very much alive today, and some deserve wider currency. My own favorite is the verb "to be progged" (to be caught by a proctor while committing some offense).

If you are fond of life in the academic world, or of the history of education, or of odd dialects and strange vocabularies, you will derive much pleasure from this volume. It is a window into a rich and often quirky social environment that is very different from the bureaucratized and slogan-filled universities of today.

By the way, "bedders" are (or were) college bedmakers, largely supplanted today by modern custodians of one sort or another; "bulldogs" are university constables; and "bedells" were once the attendants of the head of the university but now their office involves little more than carrying the university mace on ceremonial occasions.