This is a page with explanation and definitions of Oxford-specific terms. Let me know if there's anything else that should appear here.
Accommodation and other charges made by Colleges eg. some colleges allow you to charge meals or drinks to your battels.
The Cherwell is one of the student papers. Independent from the university - though given that the people involved in editing/producing it are generally student members of the university the proctors do have more power over it than they would a non-student produced paper.
Congregation is essentially all the fellows of colleges and those with university lectureships. It governs the university under the direction of the Council. Convocation essentially consists of everyone who has graduated with an Oxford degree and members of Congregation. It is responsible for electing the Chancellor and the Professor of Poetry. If you want more info on this, you'd be best off looking through the University statutes yourself
Oxford for PhD - and indeed, I think the Oxford version is more sensible DPhil/PhD are both abbreviations for 'Doctor of Philosophy' and DPhil follows the conventions of the other degrees eg. MPhil for 'Master of Philosophy' and BPhil for 'Bachelor of Philosophy'.
OUSU is governed by its Executive Committee. This is made up of seven full time sabatical officers and twelve part time members (of whom at least two must be graduates). The abbreviation 'exec' normally refers to the part-timers only. The full timers are either recent graduates or taking a year out of their studies. The part-timers combine their role with studying. The full-timers are paid a (very poor) salary. Go look on the OUSU website for more info. The term Exec can also be used in a JCR sense to refer to the main post holders (in my day the Merton JCR exec consisted of the President, VP, Treasurer, the Information and Returning Officer, two welfare officers and two entz officers). All the other posts were 'committee' posts and were considered less important.
Absolute hell on earth, otherwise known as your second public examinations. Taken during your final term and covering all the work you've done since Mods/Prelims. Most, if not all, of your final degree mark is based on your finals performance. The papers tend to be quite close together eg. chemists do two papers a day for three days.
Evening meal in College where everyone wears gowns/smart dress. Generally a more formal affair than any earlier servings of dinner with food being served to you, a Latin grace etc.
A hack is someone involved with student politics - either OUSU/the Union/their JCR/one of the political societies/possibly OU Dramatic Society/ and the term also includes those who write for the student press. The term is, I suppose, intended to be derogatory - with the implication that people are in it for themselves rather than the good of whoever they're claiming they're doing it for, but hacks use the term to describe themselves, so it's not all that derogatory.
Colleges fiercly defend their independence - one of the ways they assert this is through the different titles given to the person nominally in charge of the College - Merton has a Warden, other colleges have a Rector or a Provost. Head of House is the collective term for all those in charge of Oxford colleges
A gossip column in the Cherwell. Tends to feature hacks and can be quite important around election time.
'Junior Common Room' can refer to a couple of different things - firstly it refers to all college members who aren't SCR members eg. graduate and undergraduate students. It can also refer to just undergraduate members. However, beyond that it can refer to a place ie. a room designated for use by the members of the JCR, called the JCR. 'Middle Common Room' refers to graduate students and is also used to refer to a room set aside for their use. In some colleges a MCR is a subset of the JCR with MCR members also being JCR members. 'Senior Common Room' refers to the fellows/governing body/other tutors within a college and to rooms set aside for their use.
Place where the Porters can be found. Generally near the college entrance, where post is left in pigeon holes. Gives rise to the abbreviation'ITL' for 'in the lodge' as a meeting place.
In the context of student politics in Oxford loon has a very specific meaning. A loon is anathema to a hack; though they will be found in the same kinds of places - the Union, writing for the student press etc. Loons are fun loving, generally right wing cuddly tories (but not always). They get kicks out of such schemes such as stealing ballot boxes (well the box should have been chained down), fillibustering debates, heavy & extended drinking sessions etc. But it's all done without malice (95% of the time) - the hacks get upset that their plans are underminded by the evil loons (and to that extent they kind of have a point - loons are as guilty as the rest of us of making sweeping generalisations that aren't based on reality). The loons get off on seeing the hacks upset about their schemes being undermined *not* because they like upsetting people, but because the fact that the hacks are upset illustrates that they Just Don't Get It. Student politics is a game, a joke, something not to be taken seriously. If you ever intend to get involved, I strongly suggest you remember that point
First public examinations - taken at the end of three (or in some subjects two) terms of study. Generally just have to pass them to stay on the course, but if you marks equilvalent to a Third of below your college is likely to be very concerned about you.
In a Union sense, the Officers = President, Librarian, Treasurer, Secretary - generally one runs for one of the latter three from Standing and for President having been Librarian or Treasurer. Newly elected Presidents defer their degrees - so they have a full term with no academic work to prepare for their term, then they run their term and then have a term left to earn money/catch up on missed academic work in the run up to winning the Presidency. The President is not paid - this leads to accusations that only students with wealthy parents are able to get very far because there is no entitlement to student loans while taking a year out.
An Ordinary Member ie. a non-hack (generally used in relation to the Union). In pre Oxford Gossip days one couldn't describe oneself as an OM if one knew what one was. I'm not entirely sure if that rule holds true anymore.
The Oxford Student is one of the student newspapers. This one is published by OUSU, though is supposed to be editorally independent.
A private members' club. Not ever to be confused with OUSU - the students' union. The Union rules can be found somewhere linked to from Daniel's website. Though I don't recommend you read the rules first - you'll get more laughs from reading the Election Tribunal reports (can be found in the same place) and the reports from Disciplinary Committees, they're actually not quite as dry or as complex as they first appear.
Oxford University Students' Union. The University Students' Union, ie. the university level equilvalent of a JCR. Actually does a lot of useful work at a university level, but this is often masked by the tendency of many (not all!) of the people involved to have very left wing views to use their involvement to further their political aims eg. motions to meetings calling for support for Bolivian basket weavers.
Members of Congregation elected by their Colleges for a year. They have responsibility for university discipline (ie. matters that are better dealt with using the university processes rather than college processes. The Assessor is elected using the same process and has particular responsibility for student welfare university-wide.
People employed by the colleges to do all kinds of things - monitor CCTV cameras, distribute post, help people who've lost their keys, lock up colleges in the evenings, summon assistance in the event of emergency, advise tourists etc. Very useful people - it's worth getting to know and befriend them, they can be very helpful.
An square/rectangular area with buildings on all four sides.
The group of people who run Union elections (and generally get roped into assisting to count the OUSU elections). Most people in RO World are loons. I do recommend getting involved in counting at least one Union election - it'll give you a far better handle on STV than you'll get by reading about it and the loons all tend to be quite interesting people. They're usually crying out for extra helpers - and you'll be particularly valued if you're awake enough to count to twenty (most of those who've been heavily involved in running the election are very tired by the time it comes to the count). There's free food and soft drink all night. Definitely something to try if you get the chance.
Being forced by the proctors/your college to leave the university for a year. Generally reserved for serious misbehaviour eg. violence towards students/staff.
In this context - someone who empties your bin, vacuums your floor etc.
Seccies is a terrible abbreviation for 'Secretary's Committee' - generally the first step to power in the Union. There are nine members who help at social events etc. Their role is supposed to consist of little more than clearing up vomit, but I don't know much more about it.
Being forced to leave the university for good by the proctors/your college. Not used very often - generally only for serious misbehaviour after rustication hasn't worked.
Standing Committee is the Union's governing body. It is made up of the President, Librarian, Treasurer, Secretary, President-elect, Treasurer-elect and five elected members (and some 'ex officio' eg. people who were Officers and have completed their term of office). Normally being one of the five elected members of Standing is the step following Seccies. Each of those five people gets given a job helping one of the Officers.
Formal academic dress - for men a dark suit, white bow tie and gown and a mortar board (to be carried, not worn until you graduate), for women, black trousers/skirt (with black tights/socks), black shoes, white blouse, black ribbon tied around your neck, black jacket/cardigan, gown, mortar board/soft cap. Must be worn for matriculation, public examinations, graduation and other important university occassions.
A weekly publication aimed generally at members of congregation, but occassionally containing information on scholarships and other information of general importance: gazette.
University statutes and regulations - really not all that difficult to read and will give you the detail I've missed out here. You might also find the university's governance pages helpful.
Depends who's asking:-) Let me see - ex-Returning Officer's Assistant, one of the OUSU working party on electoral regulations, responsible for abolishing the post of JCR Women's Officer, Freshers' Fair Assistant Organiser, involved with Target Schools, JCR Charities and Rag rep, JCR presidential candidate, JCR Vice President, scrutineer for OUSU elections. By any standard definition I was quite clearly a hack and I'm fairly proud of the things I achieved in each of those roles. However, I was never hackish - certainly I was aware of the CV points that come from doing jobs well, but I didn't take on numerous roles for the sake of CV enhancement. I never knifed anyone. I don't think I ever actually asked anyone to vote for me (ie. I never 'hacked' anyone) - partly because I knew how annoying it was and partly because it just didn't feel like an appropriate thing for me to be doing. I was young and idealistic. I wanted to make my little corner of the world a better place. I suppose I was more of a loon than a hack - loonery fits better with my general outlook, but then again I wasn't really a loon either - doing disruptive things for fun isn't my scene - though I can understand the motivation.