KNOBS--WHAT DO KNOBS OUTRANK?
From Knob Knowledge
"What do Plebes (Knobs) Outrank? Sir/Ma'am, the President's cat, the Commandant's dog, and all the captains at VMI, Sir/Ma'am." (Source: The Guidon, 1998-1999, p.74)
The Guidon, 1998-1999 uses the term "plebes." The fourth classmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, U. S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy are called "plebes." For many years freshman cadets at The Citadel were called "plebes." At the time of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, many cadets began to get very short haircuts, partly in reaction to the long hair worn by many male students in other American colleges. The short, almost shaven, heads gave rise to the nickname "knobs"--which replaced "plebes" as the designation for freshmen.
(Source: Alex Macaulay, "'An Oasis of Order': The Citadel, the 1960s, and the Vietnam Antiwar Movement," Southern Cultures vol. 11, no. 3 (2005): 44-45) (HN & DH)
