USC Slang

The following is a list of things you really need to know before coming to USC. The more comfortable you are with USC customs and terminologies, the better off you'll be.

The 2-9

The 29th Street Café is a nice place to meet people for drinks. The steak sandwiches are good, along with the Buffalo wings. The outdoor patio is always packed at night.

The 9-0

This is one of the more decent names that students have given the 901 Club. Weeknights are crazy. It usually gets too crowded for dancing, but after a few $1 shots and a Long Island Iced Tea, everything seems to be okay. Despite popular belief, whatever happens at the 9-0 does not remain at the 9-0. It has been rated one of America's best college bars by Playboy magazine.

Commons

The area at the center of campus with the Bookstore, the ticket office, the USCard office, the USC post office, the Career Services Center, the pharmacy, the campus bar, Traditions, and several restaurants with indoor and outdoor seating.

I rish Car Bomb

A shot of Bailey's dropped into a half-pint of Guinness. This is one of the most dangerous drinks out there. They taste like chocolate milk shakes, and they go down easily, but when the effects kick in, they are generally stronger than anyone would like them to be. Take it nice and easy.

OASIS

This is the Web site where you can check academic progress, get grade reports, and check financial information

The Parking Structure (a.k.a The Vault)

Where students park their cars when they can't get an on-campus parking pass. It is across the 110 Freeway two blocks east of campus.

The Row

Extending the entire three blocks that make up 28th Street, this is where most of the fraternity and sorority houses are. You can make it to class in 10 minutes on foot, in five on a bike or skateboard. You can rest assured that there is always mild drinking and marijuana smoking going on at certain houses on the Row, and Thursday nights are wild, when there are typically three or four parties going on at any given time. Girls can get in to any of the fraternity parties. Guys usually need to be on a guest list to get in, but the rules are easily bent if you know the right people.

Sake Bomb

A beloved college drinking ritual. Propping a shot of hot Sake atop two chopsticks resting on a half-filled glass of beer, you slam your fists on the table, knocking the shot into the glass, creating a warm and easily chuggable dose of alcohol. They go down easily, so beware.

Thematic Option (TO)

Also known as “Traumatic Option,” TO is a two-year undergraduate honors program that satisfies all general education requirements. It is offered to all incoming freshmen with a Verbal SAT I score of 650 or higher. Students picks from the best teachers at USC with early registration priority.

Trojan

A 1912 newspaper article likened the fans at a USC football game to the Trojan army. The name has stuck and so has the spirit of the student body.

The U.V.

The outdoor shopping center across Jefferson Boulevard.

(The U.V., continued)

Here you will find a supermarket, hair salons, a movie and video game store, a music store, Footlocker, Starbucks, Radio Shack, and a small post office, among other things.