- BSWB is used mainly during Orientation week when all of the new Rice students learn all the College cheers and anti-cheers, they are taught what it stands for and when to use it specifically. BSWB is however used frequently outside of O-week and can often be overheard by numerous Brown residents and alumni who were once a part of Brown (and of course still are). BSWB is an acronym used by students frequently to describe how happy they are with Brown, and how much they appreciate and enjoy staying at Brown.
BSWB
acronym
BSWB is an acronym for 'Brown Shit were bad', it is used by Rice students to describe how great Brown and it's residents are. Brown is the best college and this term expresses how great and amazing Margaret Root Brown college is.
Etymology : BSWB is an acronym for 'Brown shit were bad', Brown comes from Margaret Root Brown College, Margaret Brown who was the wife of Rice benefactor Herman Brown, who, with his brother George, established The Brown Foundation. Margaret Root Brown college is often shortened to Brown. Shit comes from Old English 'skit' which means to separate, divide or part from the body, meaning excrement parting from within the body. It also comes from the Old English word 'scitte', which means to purge and tis is also related to the purging of excrement. Shit now only refers exclusively to excrement. Were comes from Old English and is the past plural of the word 'wesan', it is now second person singular. Bad comes from Old English as well and potentially originated from baeddel which means inferior or defective it also gives off a sense of being evil. Over time the term became associated with the supernatural and the dangerous, it has kept most of its meaning and means inferior, of poor quality, not good and often times is used to refer to evil people or the supernaturally dangerous.
Source : "BSWB BSWB BSWB!!!!" Overheard during Orientation week at Rice, August 2008.
Last modified: 3 December 2008