Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

There were four of us (third-form squits) in Barnes A alone in 1972. The only LE entrant I recall was a non-foundationer (or he might have been LF - same age-group, but slow stream.....).

The word squit has been discouraged now. I imagine, like most words that are slang, that it will cease to be used in a few years. Very few seniors now would be able to decifer many of the old words - like bockering - that were common currency a few years ago.

onewestguncopse wrote:The word squit has been discouraged now. I imagine, like most words that are slang, that it will cease to be used in a few years. Very few seniors now would be able to decifer many of the old words - like bockering - that were common currency a few years ago.

Why is it being discouraged? Is it a rude word? If not, what is the harm in it? Only three or four days ago I heard someone at CH say to another pupil 'in my squit year....', both of them knew what it meant, I knew immediately what they meant, so what's the harm in it? If it is a rude word, though, I can see why it will have to be discouraged.

Just googled it - apparently the polite meaning is " a lowly,insignificant person". The more usual meaning is " a very loose stool" ( not the 3-legged variety!), a cross between squelch & ..... I leave it to your imagination!

But I don't think it's offensive in the CH context. It's possible to be a bit too "PC".

I'm bemused by 'bockering'. My Google results :-

"1. (n). Someone or something that is especially cute or adorable. Usually used in reference to children or boyfriends.

(adj). Having the qualities of a bocker.

(v). The act of doing something to make someone more of a bocker.
That little girl is such a bocker!

So this bocker kid goes up to his mom and says...

I totally just bockered up my boyfriend's hair.

2. Devonian equivalent of "B*gg*r"
"What be you two bockers 'bout bezides nort?"
(Trsl) "What are you two doing, apart from nothing at all?"

3. Word to define a subject that has no definition.

Also used after the word chicken for even more confusion.
What is that? It's a bocker!

Chicken bockers all over the place.

GG n00b chicken bocker sit down "

So which is it, in the CH context?

anniexf wrote:Just googled it - apparently the polite meaning is " a lowly,insignificant person".

I'm guessing that is why it is discouraged. Thanks for finding that out, how comes I never think to google these things?

Kerren, who/what used to be bockers then? I've never heard that word in relation to CH.

see onewestguncopse's posting above....

Bockers were the staff in Dining Hall who put the food on the table and generally did cleaning things ina nd around kitchens...of course there were house trades and these were done by the pupils..puting the empty plates, plastic mugs etc on the cart for the bocker to take away. Many couldn't speak englsih either...some fun there was had...bit like manuel in Fawlty Towers

All good stuff really.

Richard Ruck wrote:There were four of us (third-form squits) in Barnes A alone in 1972. The only LE entrant I recall was a non-foundationer (or he might have been LF - same age-group, but slow stream.....).

Just a query, Richard. I started in Sept 1978 but you were still there as I remember your colossal presence and trombone playing in the band. So were you Oxbridge seventh term or did you leave in 1979?

Thanks for the explanation, Chaz

CHAZ wrote:

Richard Ruck wrote:There were four of us (third-form squits) in Barnes A alone in 1972. The only LE entrant I recall was a non-foundationer (or he might have been LF - same age-group, but slow stream.....).

Just a query, Richard. I started in Sept 1978 but you were still there as I remember your colossal presence and trombone playing in the band. So were you Oxbridge seventh term or did you leave in 1979?

Yes, I was attempting to get into Oxford. Failed, though, and went to Edinburgh instead. One of my A Levels was Latin, which took an extra year anyway, and the Scholarship term for the Oxbridge was tacked onto the end, so I was aged 18 years and 8 months when I finally left at Christmas 1978.

CHAZ wrote:Bockers were the staff in Dining Hall who put the food on the table and generally did cleaning things ina nd around kitchens...of course there were house trades and these were done by the pupils..puting the empty plates, plastic mugs etc on the cart for the bocker to take away. Many couldn't speak englsih either...some fun there was had...bit like manuel in Fawlty Towers

All good stuff really.

In my day, the Bockers were the Estate Workers - Farm Workers - General Maintenance etc. I still remember the time, late 1950's when one decided to end his life by hanging himself in the tube !.

So, are we about to lose the terms, Crug, Flab, Kiff and all the other lovely evocative words that resound of 'Housey' ?

Another blow against the true ethos of CH ?

Sad news, JR - many of them were lost decades ago!

In fact, I don't even remember the term 'bocker' given as an example by onewestcopse. But that's probably just my memory!

I dare say, however, that there are plenty of new slang words completely incomprehensible to us oldies, regardless of how much they are 'discouraged'...

J.R. wrote:So, are we about to lose the terms, Crug, Flab, Kiff and all the other lovely evocative words that resound of 'Housey' ??

Crug had disappeared by my time, John. Flab and Kiff, on the other hand, were in everyday use.