the thunch page

thursday lunch at peyton

graduate students only

current thunch tzar: Xuening Bai

webster's 8th collegiate dictionary, copyright (c) 1996 by merriam-webster, inc. 
no part of this information may be copied or reprinted without the express written
consent of the publisher.

1thunch \'thunch\ n [prob. short for thuncheon] (1982)
1: a light meal; esp: one taken in the middle of the day (12:30pm)
2: the food prepared for a thunch (=hoagie )
-- out to thunch slang: out of touch with reality

2thunch vi(1982) :to eat thunch
~ vt :to treat (invite) to thunch
-- thunch-er (thunch guest) n.

history of thunch

thunch is a weekly meeting of the graduate students in the department of astronomy at princeton university. usually we meet at 12:15pm on thursdays in the peyton hall tea room. we partake of hoagies. no one is allowed in who has a ph.d., save one special guest of our choosing.

thunch began in the early seventies. the founders, ellen zweibel and mike shull, were annoyed at having to scavenge for food in the woods behind the ias while the professors dined heartily at tuesday lunch, from which graduate students were excluded. in response, they organized their own lunch on thursdays, catering only to graduate students.

since that time, thunch has hosted foreign ambassadors, congressmen, and nobel prize winners. in comparison, the best tuesday lunch has done is to host nobel prize winners.

current accounts