glossary

A funny glossary of commonly used
Girl Scout Terms

Badge - A small, round patch on a girl's sash that she can't remember what she did to get.
Bridging - A ceremony in which girl is given her honorable discharge from the troop.
Brownie - Short girl in brown dress which is either 2 sizes too big or 1 size too small.
Bronze Award - The highest honor a Girl Scouts Parents can earn.
Buddy System - Pairing of girls which guarantees they will never be in the same place at the same time.
Cadette - Tall girl who would rather be caught dead than seen in uniform. Candelighting - Ceremony in which a Girl Scout demonstrates that she cannot light a match.
Cluster - An area of council, with no specific function or responsibilitys, ruling over several Neighborhood / Service Units.
Color Guard - Group of Girl Scouts tripping over each other while banging flag poles into door jambs.
Council - A smarter group of adult leaders who get PAID to do Girl Scouts.
Court of Awards - Ceremony parents attend to make sure their daughter got more badges than the neighbor's daughter.
Court of Honor - Mythical part of the patrol system.
Daisy - Very short girl with blue smock covering all food, paint, and grubby hand stains on regular clothes.
Dish Bag or Ditty Bag - two wash cloths sewn together with wide enough stiches that a fork will fall out.
Fly-Up - Brownie ceremony similar to Bridging ceremony, but girls are booted out of the nest as well.
Friendship Circle - Girls standing in circle trying to out-squeeze each other's hands.
Girl Scout Handshake - really funny dance in which girls guess which hand is their left and which three fingers of their hand are in the middle.
Girl Scout Sign - Girl holding up 3 fingers so she has something to look at while saying her promise.
Girl Scout Week - A week on the calendar, sometime in March, that overstressed leaders can't seem to think of anything special to do to celebrate it.
Gold Award - project in which a girl can demonstrate her ability to get others to do her work.
Investiture - Ceremony in which girl forgets her promise after practicing it at least 25 times that afternoon.
Junior - Medium size girl dressed in green with sash falling off shoulder.
Juliette Low's Birthday - Oct. 31 - Usually called Halloween because that's more "fun".
Kaper - Fancy name to trick the girls into cleaning the latrine.
Kaper Chart - Poster board announcing, for all to see, who gets to clean the latrine.
Leader - A wide-eyed smiling nut-case.
Motto - Be Prepared, but any experienced leader actually knows it's Be Flexible.
Neighborhood/Service Unit - A geographical subdivision of a council with a fancy name to confuse new leaders as to where they belong.
Patrol - Group of 6 - 8 girls who used to be best friends.
Quiet Sign - Handsignal invented by leader with laryngitis.
Ranger - Man in charge of scout camp -- can see gum wrapper under a tent 50 yards away.
Scout's Own - A ceremony where no-one contributes anything and everyone wonders what is coming next.
Service Team - Group of adults that muddles along trying to convice everyone else they are great administrators.
Silver Award - An easier project then the Bronze Award (not trying that again!)
Sit-Upon - A mat or pad, usually somewhere else when you really need it. S.W.A.P.S. - A craft that Mom's make to show off their daughter's crafting ability.
Thinking Day - Special Guiding and Scouting day when leaders worldwide wonder why they are spending more than an hour a week on somebody elses' girls.
Troop - Large group of girls dedicated to making leader insane.
Try-It - Triangular piece of colored cloth on a girl's sash/vest that shows she's been showing up to meetings.
Wishy-Washy Kit - A toilet kit that never gets used.
WAGGGS - What leaders do with their index fingers to girls that are misbehaving.(no really it stands for World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts)