Those cougs....

Although I've thought about it before, it dawned on me once again how weird us BYU students are with the way we refer to the buildings on campus. I was looking at my schedule for next semester and realized that all my classes are in the McKay building (one of the only buildings called by its actual name). Even the Wilkinson's Center is referred to as "the Wilk."

Better still though, is how the names of some of the buildings somehow morphed into just letters alone.

For instance; JSB, JFSB, JKB, SWKT, RB, MOA, MARB, IPF, CANC, HFAC, etc. (for those of you non-cougs, JKB would stand for Jesse Knight Building). The oddest thing about this is how we randomly decided that the JSB, JFSB, RB, IPF, and RB can be pronounced with the letters alone. Yet, SWKT, CANC, MOA, etc. are all transformed into "words" that are definitely not in the English dictionary.

Funny story about how these little initials got me into a very awkward situation once.

Before I was married, I got locked out of our apartment. No one else was close except for Dani who was at work. I had my car so I called her and asked if I could come pick up the keys from her on campus (which is where she works). Even though I had a general idea of the building, I wasn't exactly sure which one it was. She gave me the building initials and I figured since I'd been a coug for so long I could figure it out (riiiiiggggghttt).

Well, I walk into a building called the Faculty Office Building, or FOB. However, I thought I was looking for a building with the initials of SOB (nice). I see a friendly looking man who jokingly asked me if I wanted to be an economics major (apparently an econ professor). I happily told him I already had my career path all laid out, and with a smile, told him I was actually only there to look for my roommate who worked in the SOB for the economics department. At the same moment that he looked at me quite awkwardly, I realized that there was a reason the initials SOB seemed so familiar, and it wasn't because that's what Dani had told me over the phone.

My thoughts: "Holy crap. This is really awkward. I practically just swore in front of this professor."

Friendly Professor: (Smiles) "Dear, I think you are in the right place. However, this is the FOB, not the SOB. I don't think there's a building like that on campus."

My face = Really red.

ME: "Oh, gosh. Yeah, thanks! I'm sure I'll find her!"

Little did I know I was about 10 feet down the hall from her office.

So I walked into Dani's office and relayed the ridiculous story to her. Laughing, she asked me who it was. Of course I had no idea and for some ODD reason, never got the chance to ask this poor man what his name was. She pointed to a picture on the wall with the entire Economics Department faculty on it. I quickly found his picture, pointed to it, and then she busted up laughing.

Dani: "HAHAHA, He's a general authority! He's in one of the quorums of the seventy!"

Moral of the story:

BYU would NEVER have a building with the initials of SOB. Who am I?!?

p.s. Don't you love that the Testing Center isn't called by it's actual name OR initials!? Just the terrifying "testing center." Sorry Heber J. Grant. When the building named after you gets turned into the dreaded testing center, everyone seems to forget about you and the actual name of your building.