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Elan School / ELAN DICTIONARY
« on: December 21, 2010, 06:21:04 PM »
Copied from: http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=29840&start=2175#p390446
The Elan Dictionary
(terms with pages open in a new window for convenience)
Acquiring Guilt- knowingly breaking Elan rules
“Act as if”- “blindly follow our rules as if they were true, regardless of what you may actually believe”
Acting Out- not following the rules
The Annex- a place we sometimes went for gym, it was a building off campus; it was great to go there because we got to get into a bus, this was a big deal
Announcements (see Basics)- a sitting resident would raise their hand until COD called on them, they would ask to make an announcement and if answered with a yes, they would approach the front of the dining room and loudly exclaim “Can I have everyone’s attention please!”, at this point every resident in sight was expected to instantly stop whatever they were doing, including talking (mid-sentence) and look up to the resident making the announcement; a typical announcement was “Quiet down please, the house is too loud”, in the process of making one announcement 20 or 30 people would be booked by zones for not pausing quick enough
Bagel Day
Ban (5 foot) or (10 foot)- used against two or more residents, this LE meant that you had to be at least that many feet from one another at all times, 24 hours a day, under the punishment of being booked; this was an LE usually reserved for those accused of having a serious contract, this could also be effectively used to keep two or more new residents in check if they are all independently considered to be split-risks; other residents loved this because it gave them a chance to book you if you broke it by even 6 inches
Basics- book incidents, drop slips, relate, get your stuff accepted
Baseball- a sport the boys played once a week during the summer, house vs. house, one of the few times you realized their were other people on the complex, you would be booked for not wearing your ‘house shirt’ on that day
Basketball team-
Basketball Court
Bathroom, using the
Bathroom Stall doors
Bathroom Privs
“Be aware?”- asking a third party to “witness” an interaction
Bedbox- a 12 inch long/6 inch wide/4 inch deep plastic box which was housed every resident’s “personal stuff”, this included your soap dish, toothbrush, toothpaste, and anything else you “earned” the right to have, you were only allowed to have whatever you could fit into the box, and the lid had to fit
Big Brother/Sister
Big Kitchen- attached to the Elan 3 building, it was run by an adult chef who turned out the meals for the complex with the help of an EMBC resident
Blast- a punishment reserved for member of the X’s, a quick knocking session where the lower rank was yelled at very loudly, usually for a security flaw, and given an LE; many people could be blasted at once
The Book- an actual notebook carried around by a high strength know as SOD, students would approach SOD and “book” other students; a student could get booked for anything (even something positive, though this rarely, if ever, happened); you could book multiple students at once and more than one student could book a single student; since students had to book others on a daily basis, the book itself could consist of over 300 incidents daily; the book was handed over to a staff member who would judge each incident and write a consequence (see LE) depending on the nature of the incident; each incident required a dealing crew, and it would be taken out as either a VR, VRtt, or the rare tt; the book was supposed to be a tool for the children to be able to hold one another accountable, but was more often used as a weapon to torment and get back at one another; it was further proof that you were always under surveillance; you didn’t find out until the following day what you were booked for, and every day you were booked at least once, only once if you were lucky
Booked in school, getting- you could get booked by teachers for offenses like talking back, falling asleep, or getting on their bad side; it was very bad to get booked in school and would lead to very serious consequences
Booking Incidents (see Basics)
Bottom Bunk Privs
Bright L.E.- a learning experience usually reserved for split-risks and new residents with “images” or attitude problems; it involved a bright pair of short shorts (usually pink), and a bright short sleeve t-shirt (usually orange)
Bring-ups- a basic request written on a small piece of paper which had to be reviewed and then accepted by multiple people above you in the house structure, once you had the proper signatures, you had to raise your hand and hand the “slip” to COD, who would eventually take it back to the staff office to be answered with either a Y or a N; staff would hand it back to COD, eventually, and eventually it would make its way back to you; a very common bring-up was to use the bathroom or request a glass of water
Brunch
Business Office (location)
Business Office Crew (BO)- a group of students in charge of the business aspects of the house; like how many candy-packs and sodas needed to be ordered and who would received them
Call- a loud exclamation made by a staff member or student which is then echoed across the house by the zones
Candy Packs- formerly cigarette packs, a candy pack was a pack of gum and a couple tootsie-pops; these were handed out to those who earned them that week
Cardinal Rules- no sex, no drugs, no violence; breaking a cardinal rule could set your time in Elan back to zero, lead to a 3-house GM, Ring, or long stint in The Corner
Challenge- not agreeing with another student’s pull-up, you had to do it anyway and then wait 20 minutes before you could “challenge” it; “Challenge it in 20!” was a common come-back for anyone who reacted to an order you gave them
Chief!- a “call” which was echoed loudly by the zones, meaning that a very serious and potentially dangerous and/or violent action was currently occurring or about to occur; the Chief was one of the only people in the house allowed to answer violence with violence at his or her discretion
Chief (rank)- Chief of police, chief of security, the house bad-ass, the guy or girl you did not want to mess with
Chief Key- opens the lock to the back closet, where the flashlights and zipties are housed
Class- highest ranking strength sits by the door
Clean & Deal- occurring 3 or 4 times a day, the period of time reserved for cleaning the house and taking out dealing crews to bring down the book
Cleaning Elan One and Switchboard- every day two people were chosen to sweep, dust, and mop the offices at Elan One and at the Switchboard, they were given a very strict time-limit
Clipboard-
Clothing- we were allowed only the bare minimum of clothing and it could not represent a brand or portray a personal image; all of our clothing fit into our one drawer with jackets and shoes in the closet
Clothing Chart- every day a resident was in charge of cataloguing what every resident of the house was wearing, this made it easy to see if anyone was wearing dark-on-dark and making sure they were dealt with and taken back into the dorms to change; the clothing chart had to be finished before breakfast ended; if someone split, they were easier to find based on knowing their clothing in advance
COD- Coordinator on Duty; every day a Coordinator was chosen to run the house from morning to night, anything that went wrong that day was considered that students fault, especially security flaws or problems with the schedule; if there were only two Coordinators because the others were shutdown or demoted, then those two had to switch every other day
COF
Communications Office
Communications Office Crew (CM)
Concept Christmas- since the staff wanted to be home for Christmas, the students in the house had to celebrate “Christmas” up to a week earlier and then treat December 25 like any other normal day
Conditioner
Contract aka Contracting-Out- acting loose with a certain person, not treating another resident the way you are forced to treat all the others, being friendly with somebody else, having an inside joke with somebody else, not getting your feelings off for a certain person for too long
Coordinator (rank)- the first rank in the house where you are allowed to bring-up for Graduation Dates
Coordinator Meeting- at the end of everyday, COD goes back to the Staff Office with the other Coordinators to discuss Worker of the Day and
Coordinator 6-pack- formerly known as Coordinator carton (of cigarettes), being a Coordinator got you a 6-pack of soda every week, some used them as rewards to give to workers
“Cop to your guilt!” aka “Cop to it”- being handed a blank piece of paper and told to fill it up with your “Guilt” and the LE’s you feel like you deserve for having that particular Guilt
The Corner aka isolation- being forced into one of the offices which is then cleared out to become an isolation room, you are put into a wooden chair a few inches away from the corner of the room and watched by an SP who catalogs everything that you do or say
Corrupt, being- knowingly acquiring guilt and/or abusing your power, especially while in a position of Strength or High-Strength
Couch Privs-
Cross Country
Dark-on-Dark- wearing dark pants or shorts and a dark shirt at the same time, any clothing which would make you easily blend into the forest if you ran away
“Deal!”- an order to become a part of a 4-person dealing crew(s)
Dealing Crew- 4 people (both Strength and Non) forced to give out VR’s and/or tt’s to a resident(s) who was booked or who did something which would require a dealing crew; most dealing crews ended with an LE which was then told to the person on the zone whose job it was to keep a written record of the punishments
De-licing- a treatment you had to use when first entering Elan, or when coming back from a visit, you immediately went to a shower upon entering the house and were given a “treatment” to wash your hair with; this also gave staff the time to go through your pockets and otherwise search whatever you entered the house with
Demoted- losing your job and being forced into a lower position
Department Head (rank)- the leader of a crew, in charge of the Ramrods and Workers of your crew, you mainly answer to the Coordinator of your crew
Department Head of the week?
Dichotomy or In dichotomy- Elan-speak for “in rank” or according to your position on the house structure sheet; we would pass out the food in dichotomy, we also Knocked in dichotomy
Dining Room- the biggest room in my house, where most of the day was spent
Dining Room charts- a student-made chart which was later approved by staff, changed weekly, which recorded where everyone had to sit in the dining room; people were moved around a lot to prevent Contracts from forming
The Dorms- where we all slept, the place where we never were
Dorm accepted, getting your
Dorm changes- every week we all had to switch beds and/or dorms, we had to move all of our clothing and our bedbox to the new bed and/or dorm
Dorm charts- a student-made chart which was later approved by staff, changed weekly, which recorded where everyone had to sleep; people were moved around a lot to prevent contracts from forming
Drawer- we all had an assigned drawer in our dorm, it was about as big as a bedbug, all of our clothes had to be tightly rolled up to fit
Dropping Slips (see Basics)- we had to take a small slip of paper, write TO: (name of resident who gave us a feeling) FR: (name of resident dropping the slip) and a letter representing one of the 5 basic feelings with a circle around it (see Five Basic Feelings); these slips were recorded at the end of everyday and apparently used to form Encounter Group rosters
e4 meal (corner student)- the meal for the corner student, it was supposed to represent (e)ssential four, which was Elan-speak for just give them barely enough, we all starve, but make them really feel it
Echos, zone- Zones were supposed to “echo”, or loudly scream, all calls so that a call made in one part of the house would reach the entire house within seconds; this added even more screaming to a house already filled with too much
Education Privs- if you are in The Corner, you have lost your right to an education, if you remain in The Corner for many, many months in a row, you may bring up for education privs
The Elan Philosophy- a bunch of psychobabble written on a piece of wood hanging from the front of the dining room, the Elan Philosophy was read by a student every single morning and night and by every new resident on their first day
E.M.B.C.- (e)arly (m)orning (b)reakfast (c)ook
Encapsulate it- absorb it, be it, believe it
Encounter Group-
“Everything Blows!”- in the dorms: lights out, no sudden movements, no sitting up in bed, no getting out of bed, no more talking, if someone sneezes, you better not say “God bless you”; go to sleep, or else
Exercise Privs- you are not allowed to so much as do a single sit-up in Elan without first earning the right
Expeditor (rank)- the first rank of Strength, your first taste of security detail
Eyes as in “Having Eyes for someone”- being sexually interested in someone
Facial Hair Privs- only Full Coordinator or above could earn facial hair
Falling asleep while pulling- shotdown
Fi-fi-
Fire Hazard-
Five basic feelings- A for anger, I for intimidation, J for jealousy, L for loneliness
Flashlights- kept locked in a closet only the chief has the key to, only
Floor, the- a term used for “the house”, the place where we performed for “the program”, not in the dorms
Front closet aka broom closet
Full Coordinator- a position in the house almost never reached by anyone, it meant that you did such a good job as a Coordinator that you were promoted, it meant that you did not have to be COD as often and that you were now in charge of the other Coordinators
Gamey aka “Playing Games”- being sexually suggestive
General Meeting- everyone in the house getting
“Get your feelings off!”- let the screaming begin, talking loudly isn’t correct, screaming is correct
G.I.- scrub with a sponge
G.I. toilets/movie/mops/trashcans/1hr/2hr/
Glamorizing-
Graduation
Graduation Dates
Guilt
Guilt Letter
Guru (rank)
Gym- once a week
Haircut day- every few months someone came in and cut everyones hair, only the most basic cuts were allowed so as not to enhance anyone’s image
Haircut privs-
Head count, make a- performed multiple times throughout the day, Headcounts was called to the dining room to read the names of the house population, a verbal response was needed from each student before moving on to the next name; those not there required confirmation from a Coordinator or staff
Headcounts
High Strength- Shingle Expeditor rank and above
Hitting the pan- doing all the house dishes in rapid succession
Hogtie(d)- using tiptoes on the hands, then feet, then zipping those two sections together behind the back of the child, and laying them on their stomach
Holding a zone- temporarily guarding a zone, for example: to let the person assigned to the zone get their feelings off without leaving the zone unprotected
Holding Big Brother/Sister-
Holding the SP-
Hospital Corners-
“House in the Dining Room!”-
House Meeting
House trips
House Wake Up!- screamed loudly every morning at 7am sharp, this is how we all woke-up, every morning
House Wake Up! General Meeting!- waking up the house instantly to a General Meeting
Hygiene Time
Image aka Imaging Out- whatever made you you before Elan, this included your style, aka yo, prep, hippie, etc…
Jewelry Privs
Kitchen (location)
Kitchen Crew (KC)
Knock! aka Knocking (see Dealing Crew)
Knee pads- a small piece of material you could request to use while doing a long stint of GI’ing, it was meant to protect the bones in your knees from the hard tile floors you were going to spend many hours kneeling on
Laces, loosing- your shoelaces were taken away, making it next to impossible to attempt a split
The Lake
Laundry Day
L.E.
Letter privs
Lights Blow!- no more lights in the dorms, you can still talk or sit up in bed, but you cannot leave your bed without being considered a split-risk
“Line-up!”
“Little Red Schoolhouse”
Long sleeve shirt privs
Loose
Maine Visit
The meal aka meal kicks/blows
the Meal, taking out-
MMR- news, weather, poem; title page and content page
Morning Meeting
Music Privs- music must be earned
New Resident- anyone who has been in Elan for under 4 months
Night Guard- in the woods
Nightman- in the house
Non-Strength
On campus visit
One on One- a male and female left alone, this was never allowed
Out of Dining Room Privs
“Out there”- the normal world, the one you kind of remember before spending so long at Elan that it seems like THAT world is the made up fantasy
Outside Time
Parent Group
Personal Food- anything that comes to you in a package from home and is accepted and allowed by staff
Personal Food Closet (PFC)- the closet which housed everyone’s personal food, this closet was always locked, the coordinator of kitchen had the key?
Personal Pillow- those in very high positions were allowed to have their own pillow, instead of the horrible one provided by Elan
Philosophies
Phone Call (weekly)- 20 minutes, once a week, with an SP listening
Phone Call Privs
Phone Conference (1st)
Pizza & Soda
Plaque
Positive talking to- the black swan of Elan, a truly odd occurrence where you were booked by someone for doing something positive
Production (time)
Production (noun)
Production of the Week
Program, the
Pull-Up- a direct order, not to be confused with a suggestion
Pulling (night owl) or (corner student) or (big-brother/sister)
Pulling sleep
Pulling tray
Ramrod (rank)
Ramrod of Service Crew
Razor cards
Razor Rabbit
Reacting
Reading Privs- reading a book outside of school
Rec trips
Re-entry (rank)
Re-entry (dorms/building)
Relate aka Relating- talking about “the program” and other areas of interest Elan finds beneficial for your progress
Resident of the Week
Restraints aka zipties- plastic zipties used to handcuff a child’s hand and/or feet; multiple zipties usually have to be used, 2 or 3 on the wrist’s alone
The Ring
Road Race
Roaming Expeditor
Scarborough Downs
Schedules
School
Seconds in dichotomy
Senior Shingle Expeditor(rank)
Service Crew (SC)
Shampoo
Shaving
Shaving Cream
Shingle Expeditor(rank)
Shotdown
Showers, 4 minute- the highest strength are allowed to shower in the morning, and the remainder are forced to shower at night
Shower, pulling- after a person pulled, they could take a shower, and since the rest of the house had a
Sideways- alluding to something in an in-direct way
Signing Out- technically you are allowed to “sign yourself out” the day that you turn 18 and are legally an adult, technically
Slipbox- a box in the front of the dining room where you put your slips, you must ask COD before you can get out of your seat to approach it
Snack- a bag of chips/ a piece of fruit at nighttime after school
Soccer
SOD- Shingle on Duty
SOF- Shingle on the Floor
Split aka Split-Risk aka Splitting- running away, trying to leave the dining room or dorms at night/house/complex/county/state/SP
Split Risk- new residents and/or students who have not fully comformed to the will of “the program”
Staff- a motley crew of untrained and overpaid adults
Staff Office (SO)- the office where staff resided
Static Group- a group meant for talking, instead of screaming
Strength- Expeditor rank and above
Strength Soda- a soda that you got every week for being a strength
Student of the Week- the best student for that week, as chosen by the teachers and accepted by the Coordinators and staff
Study Hall- every Friday from 7pm-11pm, this was our only time outside of class to do ‘homework’
Stuff accepted, getting your- bedbox, drawer, bed
Support Person (SP)- a student chosen to be in charge of another
“Switch!”- yelled by the school-zones to indicate change of class
Switchboard (separate building)
Theme of the Day- a “theme” chosen everyday by COD; ex: What Goes Around Comes Around
“Tighten Up!”- stop being loose; stop being funny; why aren’t you being serious all the time? this is Elan, focus on “the program” and nothing else, period
Tours- meticulously scheduled and then given by a chosen “poster-child”; they are told how to answer questions, where to go, when to go, where not to go, when not to go, what not to say, what not to do, what not to expose
Track Team
Trackers, student- a group of very trusted, strong, and fast high-strength who are given flashlights and sent out of the house to search through the woods for a runaway; bring them back or else
Vegetarian Substitute- a veggie burger, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you bring-up
VR
VR talking to
Weekend Movie(s)
Weekend packet
Weekend trips
Window Privs
Writing Privs
Worker (rank)
Worker of the Day- chosen at the end of the day by COD and accepted by a staff member, given a soda
X’s (crew)
X’s Office
Zones
Zones, school
The Elan Dictionary
(terms with pages open in a new window for convenience)
Acquiring Guilt- knowingly breaking Elan rules
“Act as if”- “blindly follow our rules as if they were true, regardless of what you may actually believe”
Acting Out- not following the rules
The Annex- a place we sometimes went for gym, it was a building off campus; it was great to go there because we got to get into a bus, this was a big deal
Announcements (see Basics)- a sitting resident would raise their hand until COD called on them, they would ask to make an announcement and if answered with a yes, they would approach the front of the dining room and loudly exclaim “Can I have everyone’s attention please!”, at this point every resident in sight was expected to instantly stop whatever they were doing, including talking (mid-sentence) and look up to the resident making the announcement; a typical announcement was “Quiet down please, the house is too loud”, in the process of making one announcement 20 or 30 people would be booked by zones for not pausing quick enough
Bagel Day
Ban (5 foot) or (10 foot)- used against two or more residents, this LE meant that you had to be at least that many feet from one another at all times, 24 hours a day, under the punishment of being booked; this was an LE usually reserved for those accused of having a serious contract, this could also be effectively used to keep two or more new residents in check if they are all independently considered to be split-risks; other residents loved this because it gave them a chance to book you if you broke it by even 6 inches
Basics- book incidents, drop slips, relate, get your stuff accepted
Baseball- a sport the boys played once a week during the summer, house vs. house, one of the few times you realized their were other people on the complex, you would be booked for not wearing your ‘house shirt’ on that day
Basketball team-
Basketball Court
Bathroom, using the
Bathroom Stall doors
Bathroom Privs
“Be aware?”- asking a third party to “witness” an interaction
Bedbox- a 12 inch long/6 inch wide/4 inch deep plastic box which was housed every resident’s “personal stuff”, this included your soap dish, toothbrush, toothpaste, and anything else you “earned” the right to have, you were only allowed to have whatever you could fit into the box, and the lid had to fit
Big Brother/Sister
Big Kitchen- attached to the Elan 3 building, it was run by an adult chef who turned out the meals for the complex with the help of an EMBC resident
Blast- a punishment reserved for member of the X’s, a quick knocking session where the lower rank was yelled at very loudly, usually for a security flaw, and given an LE; many people could be blasted at once
The Book- an actual notebook carried around by a high strength know as SOD, students would approach SOD and “book” other students; a student could get booked for anything (even something positive, though this rarely, if ever, happened); you could book multiple students at once and more than one student could book a single student; since students had to book others on a daily basis, the book itself could consist of over 300 incidents daily; the book was handed over to a staff member who would judge each incident and write a consequence (see LE) depending on the nature of the incident; each incident required a dealing crew, and it would be taken out as either a VR, VRtt, or the rare tt; the book was supposed to be a tool for the children to be able to hold one another accountable, but was more often used as a weapon to torment and get back at one another; it was further proof that you were always under surveillance; you didn’t find out until the following day what you were booked for, and every day you were booked at least once, only once if you were lucky
Booked in school, getting- you could get booked by teachers for offenses like talking back, falling asleep, or getting on their bad side; it was very bad to get booked in school and would lead to very serious consequences
Booking Incidents (see Basics)
Bottom Bunk Privs
Bright L.E.- a learning experience usually reserved for split-risks and new residents with “images” or attitude problems; it involved a bright pair of short shorts (usually pink), and a bright short sleeve t-shirt (usually orange)
Bring-ups- a basic request written on a small piece of paper which had to be reviewed and then accepted by multiple people above you in the house structure, once you had the proper signatures, you had to raise your hand and hand the “slip” to COD, who would eventually take it back to the staff office to be answered with either a Y or a N; staff would hand it back to COD, eventually, and eventually it would make its way back to you; a very common bring-up was to use the bathroom or request a glass of water
Brunch
Business Office (location)
Business Office Crew (BO)- a group of students in charge of the business aspects of the house; like how many candy-packs and sodas needed to be ordered and who would received them
Call- a loud exclamation made by a staff member or student which is then echoed across the house by the zones
Candy Packs- formerly cigarette packs, a candy pack was a pack of gum and a couple tootsie-pops; these were handed out to those who earned them that week
Cardinal Rules- no sex, no drugs, no violence; breaking a cardinal rule could set your time in Elan back to zero, lead to a 3-house GM, Ring, or long stint in The Corner
Challenge- not agreeing with another student’s pull-up, you had to do it anyway and then wait 20 minutes before you could “challenge” it; “Challenge it in 20!” was a common come-back for anyone who reacted to an order you gave them
Chief!- a “call” which was echoed loudly by the zones, meaning that a very serious and potentially dangerous and/or violent action was currently occurring or about to occur; the Chief was one of the only people in the house allowed to answer violence with violence at his or her discretion
Chief (rank)- Chief of police, chief of security, the house bad-ass, the guy or girl you did not want to mess with
Chief Key- opens the lock to the back closet, where the flashlights and zipties are housed
Class- highest ranking strength sits by the door
Clean & Deal- occurring 3 or 4 times a day, the period of time reserved for cleaning the house and taking out dealing crews to bring down the book
Cleaning Elan One and Switchboard- every day two people were chosen to sweep, dust, and mop the offices at Elan One and at the Switchboard, they were given a very strict time-limit
Clipboard-
Clothing- we were allowed only the bare minimum of clothing and it could not represent a brand or portray a personal image; all of our clothing fit into our one drawer with jackets and shoes in the closet
Clothing Chart- every day a resident was in charge of cataloguing what every resident of the house was wearing, this made it easy to see if anyone was wearing dark-on-dark and making sure they were dealt with and taken back into the dorms to change; the clothing chart had to be finished before breakfast ended; if someone split, they were easier to find based on knowing their clothing in advance
COD- Coordinator on Duty; every day a Coordinator was chosen to run the house from morning to night, anything that went wrong that day was considered that students fault, especially security flaws or problems with the schedule; if there were only two Coordinators because the others were shutdown or demoted, then those two had to switch every other day
COF
Communications Office
Communications Office Crew (CM)
Concept Christmas- since the staff wanted to be home for Christmas, the students in the house had to celebrate “Christmas” up to a week earlier and then treat December 25 like any other normal day
Conditioner
Contract aka Contracting-Out- acting loose with a certain person, not treating another resident the way you are forced to treat all the others, being friendly with somebody else, having an inside joke with somebody else, not getting your feelings off for a certain person for too long
Coordinator (rank)- the first rank in the house where you are allowed to bring-up for Graduation Dates
Coordinator Meeting- at the end of everyday, COD goes back to the Staff Office with the other Coordinators to discuss Worker of the Day and
Coordinator 6-pack- formerly known as Coordinator carton (of cigarettes), being a Coordinator got you a 6-pack of soda every week, some used them as rewards to give to workers
“Cop to your guilt!” aka “Cop to it”- being handed a blank piece of paper and told to fill it up with your “Guilt” and the LE’s you feel like you deserve for having that particular Guilt
The Corner aka isolation- being forced into one of the offices which is then cleared out to become an isolation room, you are put into a wooden chair a few inches away from the corner of the room and watched by an SP who catalogs everything that you do or say
Corrupt, being- knowingly acquiring guilt and/or abusing your power, especially while in a position of Strength or High-Strength
Couch Privs-
Cross Country
Dark-on-Dark- wearing dark pants or shorts and a dark shirt at the same time, any clothing which would make you easily blend into the forest if you ran away
“Deal!”- an order to become a part of a 4-person dealing crew(s)
Dealing Crew- 4 people (both Strength and Non) forced to give out VR’s and/or tt’s to a resident(s) who was booked or who did something which would require a dealing crew; most dealing crews ended with an LE which was then told to the person on the zone whose job it was to keep a written record of the punishments
De-licing- a treatment you had to use when first entering Elan, or when coming back from a visit, you immediately went to a shower upon entering the house and were given a “treatment” to wash your hair with; this also gave staff the time to go through your pockets and otherwise search whatever you entered the house with
Demoted- losing your job and being forced into a lower position
Department Head (rank)- the leader of a crew, in charge of the Ramrods and Workers of your crew, you mainly answer to the Coordinator of your crew
Department Head of the week?
Dichotomy or In dichotomy- Elan-speak for “in rank” or according to your position on the house structure sheet; we would pass out the food in dichotomy, we also Knocked in dichotomy
Dining Room- the biggest room in my house, where most of the day was spent
Dining Room charts- a student-made chart which was later approved by staff, changed weekly, which recorded where everyone had to sit in the dining room; people were moved around a lot to prevent Contracts from forming
The Dorms- where we all slept, the place where we never were
Dorm accepted, getting your
Dorm changes- every week we all had to switch beds and/or dorms, we had to move all of our clothing and our bedbox to the new bed and/or dorm
Dorm charts- a student-made chart which was later approved by staff, changed weekly, which recorded where everyone had to sleep; people were moved around a lot to prevent contracts from forming
Drawer- we all had an assigned drawer in our dorm, it was about as big as a bedbug, all of our clothes had to be tightly rolled up to fit
Dropping Slips (see Basics)- we had to take a small slip of paper, write TO: (name of resident who gave us a feeling) FR: (name of resident dropping the slip) and a letter representing one of the 5 basic feelings with a circle around it (see Five Basic Feelings); these slips were recorded at the end of everyday and apparently used to form Encounter Group rosters
e4 meal (corner student)- the meal for the corner student, it was supposed to represent (e)ssential four, which was Elan-speak for just give them barely enough, we all starve, but make them really feel it
Echos, zone- Zones were supposed to “echo”, or loudly scream, all calls so that a call made in one part of the house would reach the entire house within seconds; this added even more screaming to a house already filled with too much
Education Privs- if you are in The Corner, you have lost your right to an education, if you remain in The Corner for many, many months in a row, you may bring up for education privs
The Elan Philosophy- a bunch of psychobabble written on a piece of wood hanging from the front of the dining room, the Elan Philosophy was read by a student every single morning and night and by every new resident on their first day
E.M.B.C.- (e)arly (m)orning (b)reakfast (c)ook
Encapsulate it- absorb it, be it, believe it
Encounter Group-
“Everything Blows!”- in the dorms: lights out, no sudden movements, no sitting up in bed, no getting out of bed, no more talking, if someone sneezes, you better not say “God bless you”; go to sleep, or else
Exercise Privs- you are not allowed to so much as do a single sit-up in Elan without first earning the right
Expeditor (rank)- the first rank of Strength, your first taste of security detail
Eyes as in “Having Eyes for someone”- being sexually interested in someone
Facial Hair Privs- only Full Coordinator or above could earn facial hair
Falling asleep while pulling- shotdown
Fi-fi-
Fire Hazard-
Five basic feelings- A for anger, I for intimidation, J for jealousy, L for loneliness
Flashlights- kept locked in a closet only the chief has the key to, only
Floor, the- a term used for “the house”, the place where we performed for “the program”, not in the dorms
Front closet aka broom closet
Full Coordinator- a position in the house almost never reached by anyone, it meant that you did such a good job as a Coordinator that you were promoted, it meant that you did not have to be COD as often and that you were now in charge of the other Coordinators
Gamey aka “Playing Games”- being sexually suggestive
General Meeting- everyone in the house getting
“Get your feelings off!”- let the screaming begin, talking loudly isn’t correct, screaming is correct
G.I.- scrub with a sponge
G.I. toilets/movie/mops/trashcans/1hr/2hr/
Glamorizing-
Graduation
Graduation Dates
Guilt
Guilt Letter
Guru (rank)
Gym- once a week
Haircut day- every few months someone came in and cut everyones hair, only the most basic cuts were allowed so as not to enhance anyone’s image
Haircut privs-
Head count, make a- performed multiple times throughout the day, Headcounts was called to the dining room to read the names of the house population, a verbal response was needed from each student before moving on to the next name; those not there required confirmation from a Coordinator or staff
Headcounts
High Strength- Shingle Expeditor rank and above
Hitting the pan- doing all the house dishes in rapid succession
Hogtie(d)- using tiptoes on the hands, then feet, then zipping those two sections together behind the back of the child, and laying them on their stomach
Holding a zone- temporarily guarding a zone, for example: to let the person assigned to the zone get their feelings off without leaving the zone unprotected
Holding Big Brother/Sister-
Holding the SP-
Hospital Corners-
“House in the Dining Room!”-
House Meeting
House trips
House Wake Up!- screamed loudly every morning at 7am sharp, this is how we all woke-up, every morning
House Wake Up! General Meeting!- waking up the house instantly to a General Meeting
Hygiene Time
Image aka Imaging Out- whatever made you you before Elan, this included your style, aka yo, prep, hippie, etc…
Jewelry Privs
Kitchen (location)
Kitchen Crew (KC)
Knock! aka Knocking (see Dealing Crew)
Knee pads- a small piece of material you could request to use while doing a long stint of GI’ing, it was meant to protect the bones in your knees from the hard tile floors you were going to spend many hours kneeling on
Laces, loosing- your shoelaces were taken away, making it next to impossible to attempt a split
The Lake
Laundry Day
L.E.
Letter privs
Lights Blow!- no more lights in the dorms, you can still talk or sit up in bed, but you cannot leave your bed without being considered a split-risk
“Line-up!”
“Little Red Schoolhouse”
Long sleeve shirt privs
Loose
Maine Visit
The meal aka meal kicks/blows
the Meal, taking out-
MMR- news, weather, poem; title page and content page
Morning Meeting
Music Privs- music must be earned
New Resident- anyone who has been in Elan for under 4 months
Night Guard- in the woods
Nightman- in the house
Non-Strength
On campus visit
One on One- a male and female left alone, this was never allowed
Out of Dining Room Privs
“Out there”- the normal world, the one you kind of remember before spending so long at Elan that it seems like THAT world is the made up fantasy
Outside Time
Parent Group
Personal Food- anything that comes to you in a package from home and is accepted and allowed by staff
Personal Food Closet (PFC)- the closet which housed everyone’s personal food, this closet was always locked, the coordinator of kitchen had the key?
Personal Pillow- those in very high positions were allowed to have their own pillow, instead of the horrible one provided by Elan
Philosophies
Phone Call (weekly)- 20 minutes, once a week, with an SP listening
Phone Call Privs
Phone Conference (1st)
Pizza & Soda
Plaque
Positive talking to- the black swan of Elan, a truly odd occurrence where you were booked by someone for doing something positive
Production (time)
Production (noun)
Production of the Week
Program, the
Pull-Up- a direct order, not to be confused with a suggestion
Pulling (night owl) or (corner student) or (big-brother/sister)
Pulling sleep
Pulling tray
Ramrod (rank)
Ramrod of Service Crew
Razor cards
Razor Rabbit
Reacting
Reading Privs- reading a book outside of school
Rec trips
Re-entry (rank)
Re-entry (dorms/building)
Relate aka Relating- talking about “the program” and other areas of interest Elan finds beneficial for your progress
Resident of the Week
Restraints aka zipties- plastic zipties used to handcuff a child’s hand and/or feet; multiple zipties usually have to be used, 2 or 3 on the wrist’s alone
The Ring
Road Race
Roaming Expeditor
Scarborough Downs
Schedules
School
Seconds in dichotomy
Senior Shingle Expeditor(rank)
Service Crew (SC)
Shampoo
Shaving
Shaving Cream
Shingle Expeditor(rank)
Shotdown
Showers, 4 minute- the highest strength are allowed to shower in the morning, and the remainder are forced to shower at night
Shower, pulling- after a person pulled, they could take a shower, and since the rest of the house had a
Sideways- alluding to something in an in-direct way
Signing Out- technically you are allowed to “sign yourself out” the day that you turn 18 and are legally an adult, technically
Slipbox- a box in the front of the dining room where you put your slips, you must ask COD before you can get out of your seat to approach it
Snack- a bag of chips/ a piece of fruit at nighttime after school
Soccer
SOD- Shingle on Duty
SOF- Shingle on the Floor
Split aka Split-Risk aka Splitting- running away, trying to leave the dining room or dorms at night/house/complex/county/state/SP
Split Risk- new residents and/or students who have not fully comformed to the will of “the program”
Staff- a motley crew of untrained and overpaid adults
Staff Office (SO)- the office where staff resided
Static Group- a group meant for talking, instead of screaming
Strength- Expeditor rank and above
Strength Soda- a soda that you got every week for being a strength
Student of the Week- the best student for that week, as chosen by the teachers and accepted by the Coordinators and staff
Study Hall- every Friday from 7pm-11pm, this was our only time outside of class to do ‘homework’
Stuff accepted, getting your- bedbox, drawer, bed
Support Person (SP)- a student chosen to be in charge of another
“Switch!”- yelled by the school-zones to indicate change of class
Switchboard (separate building)
Theme of the Day- a “theme” chosen everyday by COD; ex: What Goes Around Comes Around
“Tighten Up!”- stop being loose; stop being funny; why aren’t you being serious all the time? this is Elan, focus on “the program” and nothing else, period
Tours- meticulously scheduled and then given by a chosen “poster-child”; they are told how to answer questions, where to go, when to go, where not to go, when not to go, what not to say, what not to do, what not to expose
Track Team
Trackers, student- a group of very trusted, strong, and fast high-strength who are given flashlights and sent out of the house to search through the woods for a runaway; bring them back or else
Vegetarian Substitute- a veggie burger, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if you bring-up
VR
VR talking to
Weekend Movie(s)
Weekend packet
Weekend trips
Window Privs
Writing Privs
Worker (rank)
Worker of the Day- chosen at the end of the day by COD and accepted by a staff member, given a soda
X’s (crew)
X’s Office
Zones
Zones, school