With the Homecoming Dance just a day away, students are keeping the do’s and don’ts of dancing etiquette in mind for the big night. The “don’ts” are listed in the UC High Student/Parent Handbook, but they are not explained quite well enough for many students to understand. The handbook contains a plethora of dance terms including “moshing,” “freaking,” “grinding,” and the all-encompassing “moves of a sexual nature.” Although most students can figure out the general meaning of these terms, not many can really pinpoint their exact definitions.

“I don’t know any specific differences, but I know they involve getting up close and personal (body-wise). I’m guessing ‘moshing’ is ‘grinding’ and ‘freaking’ [taken] to the next level,” said Senior James Natanauan.  However, the handbook states that “Students who are dancing inappropriately (especially ‘freaking’) will be taken to a time-out room…” leading one to believe that freaking is the worst offense. If it elicits being thrown into the time-out room, it’s safe to assume that that freaking pushes the boundaries of the world of dancing in a not-so-family-friendly direction.

Students are not advised to look into a traditional dictionary for the explanation of these words, as the definition of grinding is most definitely not “the reduction to powder or small fragments” in this case. Some students may turn to Urban Dictionary to find the true meaning of these terms, as it is the website devoted to defining words that Webster’s Dictionary isn’t quite ready for. According to the website, moshing can be defined as “a dangerous genre of dancing…usually done in crowded areas by pushing, shoving and jumping.” Freaking and grinding (also coined “dirty dancing”) are defined similarly in that they are both an “obscene” dances (sexual in nature) that require a very close proximity between dancers (urbandictionary.com).

While these definitions shed a little bit of light on the meanings of these terms, the exact differences of these words will probably still be a mystery to most students. They should just hope that whatever dance move they’re pulling at Homecoming will not land them a spot in the dreaded time-out room.