Piled Higher and Deeper (“Ph.D.” backronym)
The college degrees of B.S., M.S., Ph.D. and M.D. are jokingly said to stand for “bullshit,” “more shit” (or “more of the same”), “piled higher and deeper” and “much deeper.” These are humorous back-acronyms or “backronyms.”
“Piled higher and deeper” (also “piled high and deep”) has been cited in print since at least 1932, when it was included in a joke that also defined “B.S.” and “M.S.”
Other Ph.D. backronyms include “Papa Has Dough,” “Permanent Head Damage,” “Pizza Hut Deliveryman,” “Poor, Hungry and Determined,” “Poor, Hungry Doctor,” “Poor, Hungry and Driven” and “Pretty Huge Debt.”
The Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree is sometimes called “Bachelor of Fuck All.” The Bachelor of Science degree is frequently called B.S. (“bull shit”) and the Master of Science degree is called M.S. (“more shit” or “more of the same”), with both referenced in print since at least 1932.
Popular backronyms for the M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration) degree include “Massive Bank Account,” “Master Bullshit Artist,” “Mediocre But Aggressive” and “Mediocre But Arrogant.” M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree backronyms include “Money Doctor” and “Much Deeper.”
Hathi Trust Digital Library
The Dilemma of Liberalism
by Frank H Knight
Ann Arbor, MI, Photo-lithoprint reproduction of author’s manuscript by Edwards Bros.
1933
Pg. ?:
The following pages contain under two headings the content of three talks to student groups at the University of Chicago. The first was given under the auspices of the National Student League November 2, 1932.
Pg. 1:
THE CASE FOR COMMUNISM
From the Standpoint of an Ex-liberal
Pg. 2:
A swain had been away to college, presumably “Ag” college, and “finished” and come home. Asked by a friendly neighbor youth, “Well, what did you get out of college?” he answered, “I got a B.S.” “Oh-h-h-, did you! Congratulations!” (Very much impressed.) But he went back to college again, and again on his return was asked the same question. “What did you get out of college this time?” “An M.S.” “Oh-h-h!” (Very much impressed.) But when the student was out of hearing, they turned to the wise one who exists in every group, who knows everything anyone wants to know, and asked: “What does the guy mean by that,—M.S.? We know what B.S. is, but what is M.S.?” “Well,” said the wise one,“that’s just like B.S. only it means more of the same. “Oh-h-h!” (Very much impressed.) The next time, of course, it was the Ph.D. that the lad brought home, and the boys were very much impressed, but turned to the wise one as before, with a certain air of expectant triumph at having him stumped. “Well-l-l,” he explained in the same condescending, matter-of-course tone, “that’s just the same thing again, only it is more of the same piled higher and deeper.”
24 October 1941, Gallup (NM) Independent, “A Little of Everything” by A. W. Barnes, pg. 4, col. 2:
Now we know what the title “PH.D.” means. Dr. Kercheville of UNM confesses that it really means “Piled higher and deeper.”
21 October 1951, Seattle (WA) Times, “Daffynitions” by Paul H. Gilbert, pg. 13, col. 1:
PH.D.: An education. Piled Higher and Deeper.
24 April 1975, Seattle (WA) Times, “Dirty book is full of holes” by John Hinterberger, pg. E16, col. 4:
Hill, a 1921 graduate of Washington State University, attempts to elicit reader support with a display of his academic credentials. A graduate horticulturalist, he lists his degrees as: B. M., M. S., Ph. D., then slyly informs us that his degrees really stand for “Barnyard Manure, More of the Same, Piled Higher and Deeper.”
Google Books
Season on the Brink:
A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers
By John Feinstein
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
1989
Pg. 293:
At one point he (Bob Knight—ed.) sat with his crew of professors discussing the significance of degrees: “Here’s the way I look at it,” he said, ‘A BS is just what it stands for, an MS is More of the Same, and a PhD is Piled Higher and Deeper.”
Google Books
Curing the Cross-Eyed Mule:
Appalachian Mountain Humor
By Loyal Jones and Billy Edd Wheeler
Little Rock, AR: August House, Inc.
1989
Pg. 87:
Unimpressed
The deacon was proud of the new minister, and he could hardly wait to tell his neighbor, a skeptical farmer, about his. “He’s got a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D.”
“Well, I’m not much on these educated preachers,” the farmer said. “We all know what B.S. stands for. M.S. means ‘more of the same’ and Ph.D. means ‘piled higher and deeper.”’
Buddy Westbrook
LONDON, KENTUCKY
OCLC WorldCat record
Piled higher and deeper : the folklore of campus life
Author: Simon J Bronner
Publisher: Little Rock, Ark. : August House Publishers, 1990.
Edition/Format: Book : English : 1st ed
Summary: Describes college customs, beliefs, jargon, traditions, legends, jokes, pranks, and games
OCLC WorldCat record
Piled higher and deeper : a graduate student comic strip collection
Author: Jorge Cham
Publisher: Palo Alto, Calif. : Piled Higher and Deeper Pub., ©2002.
Edition/Format: Book : English
Google Books
How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper
By Robert A Day and Barbara Gastel
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press
2006
Pg. 50:
(You know what “B.S.” means. “M.S.” is More of the Same. “Ph.D.” is Piled Higher and Deeper. “M.D.” is Much Deeper.)
OCLC WorldCat record
Piled Higher and Deeper The Phd Movie.
Author: Cham, Jorge
Publisher: Piled Higher & Deeper Pub 2012.
Edition/Format: Book : English
Twitter
RocKeSci
@RocKeSci
You know what B.S. means. M.S. is More of the Same. PhD is Piled Higher and Deeper. M.D. is Much Deeper.
#geojokes #RobDay #degrees
8:12 AM - 24 Jul 2015