SketchyAlum

1. The alum that results from those frosh chem experiments
2. An alumnus of HarveyMuddCollege who comes back to scare the froshies

• No, no... not to scare the froshies...

Wow. Way to alienate all of your friends who happen to be a little bit older than you. Fucker.

 Ding!

• Would you at least concede that alumni hitting on frosh is a BadIdea? Not all alumni are sketchy, but those who bug the frosh certainly are, and this Wiki node is for them. --an alum who does not wish to be considered sketchy either.
  • Yes, alumni hitting on/sleeping with the frosh isn't a good idea, but talking with the frosh? Going out to dinner off campus? Playing poker in the lounge at four in the morning? All good and fun things that I remember doing. I've been called sketchy, by people who I counted as friends, but if they can't even accept that I come around to visit now and then? Just no. So, in conclusion, get the hell off my lawn, and alumni shouldn't hit on frosh, because really? The poor kids are 18, and they're not even going to be that good in bed. Leave them alone, and try to get in the pants of someone your own age. And for the rest of you, stop being bastards.
    • As far as I'm aware, alums have been called SketchyAlums for ages, just because. It doesn't seem to actually imply, in most cases, anything that "alum" doesn't mean by itself. Yes, it pokes some fun at them, but really, we should be able to handle fun poked at us. I certainly won't be "alienated" when I'm the one being called sketchy, as long as I know I'm not actually being sketchy. And I will, likewise, call alums SketchyAlums because that's what they're called, whether they're sketchy or not (in much the same way that the HaloFrosh are still "the HaloFrosh", even though most of us haven't been frosh for a couple years now (and in fact, many of them don't even play HaLo much anymore)).
      • It's not really that I'm hurt about any of it, it's that people come around to visit once and they get called sketchy, and that's generally known as rude. I've lost significant respect for people who seem to think that graduation from this school automatically adds sketch. And Frances is right, it's being used more now. I used to reserve the word "sketchy" for the random guy who had graduated a year ago who was still going around and giving backrubs to the frosh. So, no, it's not "just because" and it's not "that's just what they're called" because there's a line here, and most of us definitely haven't crossed it.
        • I suspect there's also a difference between jokingly being called sketchy on a regular basis because you are around on a regular basis and having people point and yell "Sketchy!" when you come back on an occasional visit.
      • I'd like to point out for the record that there are alumni younger than I am, and yet people would probably think it sketchier if those alumni hit on the frosh than if I did. Strange world, innit? --StephGrush (who is OlderThanDirt?)

Has the usage of "sketchy" changed over the last few years? It's being thrown around much more this year than it was last year, and I'm not sure whether the percieved (or intended) impact of the word has varied similarly. Thoughts? --FrancesHocutt

• In my experience the meaning of the word "sketchy" varies slightly according to geographic location. I'm not exactly sure how the meaning is different, but it definitely seems to have stronger negative connotations in some places than others.

Well, the November 18, 2005, edition of The Student Life notes:

Sketch is sleazy, “sketch is the food at Frank, the stuff labeled ‘meat casserole,’” said Alysia Bosworth ’07. For some, sketch almost seems to be a lifestyle. It’s that odd area of questionable origins that can seem both enticing and repellant at the same time. The use of sketchiness as a term connoting sleaziness is not unique to Pomona. By most accounts, the word gained its current meaning a few years back on the East Coast, and has since migrated to Southern California.

Speaking as a (former) Pennsylvania resident, I never heard the term "sketchy" used much back in high school. I only really encountered it here at Mudd, so my view of the term is shaped heavily by how others are using it. --MartinPyne

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CategorySketchy