An Explanation by Snively '11
I always end up writing about underwear!
Several years ago (I believe it was 3 but it may have been 2) there was an MIT student who didn’t have quite enough credits to graduate. This happens (especially because HASS requirements are so weird), so they opted to stay another year in order to finish up and graduate.
One day, towards the end of this student’s senior year, a small skirmish took place on the dorm’s e-mail list between this senior and an undergraduate in the dorm. Things got heated, words were exchanged, and then this happened:
Undergraduate
This whole argument is silly.
Well, thanks for bringing it up then.By the way, congratulations on graduating.
Senior
Wow, way to make an insulting, totally useless reply to the entire dorm.Undergraduate
uhh, he is graduating, right?and graduating people, i presume, won’t be staying in the dorm over the summer. so, if my two assumptions are true, i admire [name]’s heroism for taking time out of his busy final study schedule to make sure that the portion of summer residents who watch movies are happy.
oh, if you’re not graduating (whether you’re not a senior or otherwise), sorry, that’s all i meant by the comment.
Senior
No, I’m not graduating.
Yes, I’m in the dorm for the summer.
Yes, I’m in the dorm next year.Anything else?
Interested in my personal life?Undergraduate
What color underwear do you have on right now?
[For the record, it was blue, with penguins.]
From then on, every e-mail sent to the Burton-Conner dorm e-mail list (bctalk [at] mit [dot] edu) MUST be signed with the sender’s underwear color. It has become a tradition. By signing with your underwear color you are saying “My e-mail is worth reading. I am willing to tell you my underwear color if you’ll read my e-mail, that’s how worth reading it is.”
Soooooooo . . . . for all of you prefrosh that came to CPW and hung out around Burton-Conner, you may have seen some snazzy light blue shirts floating around. Maybe they looked a little something like this?
These shirts, our unofficial dorm shirts, have the line “What color is YOUR underwear?” on the back. This is not because we are creepy sexual deviants hitting on you.
This is just because we want to know your underwear color.
-Snively
gray
(Thanks to the commenter who provided the exact transcript)
But the real question is: gray, or grey?
Ah, that is truly the question indeed. I refuse to e-mail bctalk today to avoid restarting that discussion. Or maybe I’ll just change underwear first.
For those of you wondering what we’re talking about, the following email was sent out to bc-talk last night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxfe8YTd6N4
berry
-grey or gray(still haven’t resolved this)
And it prompted no less than 6 responses as to the proper usage of grey versus gray. Apparently it’s a country by country thing. I say grey, which is apparently unpatriotic. Yup, Firefox is telling me I’m wrong.
Hahahah, Burton-Conner does sound quite interesting~ I didn’t get to spend much time there at all….
striped: ~1/16 inch per dark blue stripe, ~1/32 inch per light blue stripe.
On the yellow Student Information Review Form, what do we put for MIT ID#? Did the class of 2013 ever get these ID numbers?
I wouldn’t mind staying at MIT for another year.
Thank you. This explains a lot.
-Nicole
white (sorry, I’m boring)
Woooops I’ve put there the ID number that appeared on my financial aid award letter… top right corner: Your MIT ID: […]
so that’s what I copied into the Student Information Review form
Interesting how things at B-C have evolved over time, with the same flame wars going on.
Re: grey vs. gray, I’m definitely with Shannon on this one – I use grey way more than gray when talking about the color. Maybe it’s a Michigan thing?
–mikey
light blue, with dark blue and white stripes
rofl. Only here would I find this post popping up on my RSS feed.
-Cody
blue with black stripes
I think it’s because we’re near Canada… apparently it’s a UK/US divide. (shrug)
Also, you all should live in Burton Conner. It’s freakin’ suite! (… we live in suites. Okay, stopping now.)
shanahan
blue and white stripes
Grey.
@Shannon: i’m with snively. it’s gray. i’ve only seen grey when it’s in someone’s name (sylar gray is an exception)
Mary
black
I suggest a poll.
Darn it! I’ve just asked a bunch of michigander (ok bad convenient sampling haha) and they say grey…i feel alone :p
but then I forgot the measure for radiation. i guess it’s a matter of preference and whether you like british or american spelling. i’ve gotten both grey and gray in michigan.
this is my final post. i’m sorry for all the consecutive posts. :]
As usual when faced with a problem of unknown solution, I checked to see what Wikipedia had to say on the subject: “Grey (International and some parts of the U.S.) or gray (Some U.S. only – see spelling differences) describes the tints and shades ranging from black to white.” From what I see, this would tend to mean that if you’re using “gray”, you’re not wrong, but you’re obviously not from Britain.
Oh, and I prefer EAsT camPUS myself.
-JLAB
Tye-dye.
Oh! I was on Conner 5, and my host Suzie Greenman wore that shirt. It makes *so* much more sense now. Haha.
~Emily
Nude. (Not really. That’s just the color. :-D)
grey. in case anybody is wondering
I prefer gray. I don’t like e’s. =(
Purple.
i think “grey” looks better than “gray” for some reason.
what if you’re not wearing any underwear? just wondering.
pink.
Gray = American
Grey = British English
Grey is the British spelling, Gray is the American spelling, but both I prefer “Grey” personally. It looks better to me.
Boring old white.
I say Gray, though I have seen quite a few people (mostly those from Great Britain) use Grey.
~David
White.