Book Review: Turd Ferguson & the Sausage Party: An Uncensored Guide to College Slang

Turd Ferguson (or "That Guy"): An individual one does not wish to become. Often one's drunken persona who decides things like exposing oneself in public or driving drunk are good ideas.

Sausage Party: A gathering of many more men than women. Also known as a Sausage Fest, Weenie Roast, Meat Market, or Froman Fest (from Abe Froman, “The Sausage King of Chicago” from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

College life is hard to define. I used to have this argument every week during layout sessions for the SUNY Potsdam Racquette. Just what the hell was college life anyway? We had a “college life” section of the paper that was this giant amorphous blob of articles with no clear theme as to what the section was supposed to be. So when I see books advertising a collection of college slang and stories from students, I immediately think, “Well, whose college slang? Whose stories?” Does what this book say about college life reflect all of us and our time at college? Is the slang used at private colleges in the southwest the same as what state college students say in the northeast?

Compiled by Ben Applebaum and Derrick Pittman of CollegeStories.com, Turd Ferguson & The Sausage Party is a compilation of stories and phrases submitted by college students throughout the country. While there are other books out there that profess to collect and define college slang, Turd Ferguson speaks to college students with no pretense or air of superiority. The slang and stories presented in the book are no different from what you would hear at a party or from one of your classmates on any given day, and that is Turd Ferguson’s greatest strength. The book has a “for college students by college students” feel and provides for a quick and entertaining read.

I decided to give Turd Ferguson a test run at a recent get-together. I hypothesized that the group’s reaction to the book would determine if it met the standard for college entertainment. If you’re not familiar, the standard for college entertainment is that when people are introduced to a new item of attention, they drop what they’re doing and share it with each other. That’s how you know you have a success on a college campus. Most of the time students are bombarded with substandard crap that they couldn’t care less about. This isn’t student apathy as many people claim; it’s just a reaction from a generation of students who are constantly bombarded with advertisements and entertainment. Turd Ferguson not only meets the standard for college entertainment, it exceeds it. Everyone stopped watching Animal House long enough to thumb through the book and recite some of the terms they enjoyed the most.

Article Author: Brandon J. Mendelson

Brandon J. Mendelson is acolumnist for the Albany Student Press and Blogger for the Albany Times Union. You can follow Brandon's college survival guide at The Graduate Student Survival Guide

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