Once I was done with my second education, I was fortunate enough to attend a university of engineering, from which I got a decent instruction in a variety of topics, including computer science. I even got an engineering degree out of it!
It was a period of my life of which I have fond memories of: a new environment, living in a flat on my own, interesting courses, new friends, having a car, … It was also a period of great changes and adjustments, with a lot of social unknowns and novelties. Like most (all?) tertiary education schools, there were a lot of more-or-less silly traditions, like:
- Everyone had a nickname based on a pun on their family name, to prevent having 53 people named Pierre and 87 named Jean.
- Every yearly batch of student was called a "promotion", and had a number associated. As I joined the batch that was supposed to be the 10th one to graduate, I was in the "Promo 10".
- Every Promo organised a huge party on specific milestones: 1111 days before their diploma, 1000 days, 500 days and 200 days. The 200 days one was always at an approximate date to keep it a surprise, and it had a random theme. I remember waking up to see a crashed X-Wing in front of one of the school's bars, waddling ankle-deep in sand during an Egyptian-theme one, having ~50 people dressed as zombies invade the classroom, … fun has been had in great quantities.
- The "party clothe" was a burgundy lab coat with our nickname on the back as well as a drawing, the blazon of the school embroidered on the right shoulder, the flag of our homeland/region on the left one, as well as anything else that tells what you've been up to/you like/… Here is a picture of mine:
But there is one tradition that I want to talk about in detail here: the eleven push-ups. It's a clever solution to bullying, as well as a great way to convey traditions and good-manners.
Communication is hard, and it's sometimes delicate to convey to someone that they made a faux pas or are being a dick, without alienating them, especially when they're about to enter their twenties in this brand new environment. Enter the eleven push-ups! The idea is ridiculously simple: everyone with a Promo number bellow yours could ask you to perform 11 push-ups, but they have to do them with you.
If you couldn't do push-ups, you were absolutely allowed and even encouraged to do knee ones instead: the goal wasn't to get you buffed, but to have a task that is just annoying enough to give you time to think. Of course, being a silly tradition, it was used for silly reasons as well: there was nothing humiliating in doing the push-ups, and people would often cheer and count them with you. You took my seat while I went to grab a beer? Eleven push-ups. You didn't say "thank you" to the bartender? Eleven push-ups. You can't take a "no thank you" answer from the pretty lady you're talking to? Eleven push-ups, and odds are that I'll forget how to count properly along the way and we'll end up doing a lot more instead. You expressed mild distaste for a cheese from my region? Eleven push-ups, …
The fact that it "spread the load" is a nice fundamental property: If you're only annoying a single person, they'll tire as much as you since you'll both be doing the same amount of exercise. But if you're being a massive dick, odds are that several people will take turns at push-ups with you.
Having the giver perform them as well mitigates abuses from old cranks: since older students are wiser [citation needed], if a crank was being abusive, some older chaps will be more than happy to curb their enthusiasm by piling some extra push-ups on them.
Now, you might be wondering "why eleven?" It's based on a stupid French pun that is hard to translate: the beginning of "On s'fait chier" ("we're bored as fuck") exclamation is pronounced like the number 11 ("onze") because French is a terrible language.