froomer

a word fabricated by certain members of the Pingry School senior class of 2005 to describe other students, specifically those who eat lunch in the Safe Room. The Safe Room is a classroom with couches given over to this purpose as well as holding Psychology classes. Anyone is allowed to be there as long as they are tolerant of everyone else in the room. The implication of the fact that that this word is not used in front of the people it supposedly describes indicates fear of the students who eat there. They can generally be described as wearing clothing not found at the Short Hills Mall and are usually involved in the art departments instead of the more popular athletics. It also has been the base of operations for many incarnations of the Gay-Straight Alliance over the years. These many types of students have found a sort of refuge in the Room from the disapproval of their peers for not following what is expected of them. It has been around for decades of students and will continue to be so despite the bigotry and ridiculously average criticism of a few jealous students. Pingry is a small school and so the "alternative" community is proportionately smaller and therefore can find a haven in a place among people like them, much like a lunch table or any of the many other "hang-outs" throughout the school used by other students. This community can include those with alternative lifestyles, alternative ways of dressing, and who participate in alternative activities, along with any other tolerant students.

Pingry students who are too lazy to say "Safe Room kids" have resorted to the supposedly derrogatory "froomer."

by Jennifer N. Zoephel September 14, 2008

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