Mids are not crazy, it's just their lingo

It all begins as soon as they arrive, when Induction Day is shortened to I-Day, and they begin their indoc. Above all, they need to use their grape, get some gouge and try not to hit the wall. And, if there is a merciful god, somebody, somewhere, someday, somehow will put an end to chopping.

If all these strange words seem like gibberish or typos, they aren't. They are Midspeak, the language midshipmen pick up early in their careers at the Naval Academy and keep for a lifetime.

"When she and some other plebes come to the house, it is like they are using another language," said Gina Godesky of Severna Park, mother of...