Recently, I received a friend request on Facebook from a person who was my batch-mate at St Joseph’s College, Tiruchi. I don’t remember having interacted with him but I added him as a friend. A few days ago, we chatted online:
X: Albert, your face is familiar to me. Did you study at St Joseph’s College, Tiruchi?
Me: Yes, I did.
X: In which year did you pass out?
Me: Pass out? I never passed out.
X: I passed out in 1987. You must have passed out in the same year.
Me: Sorry, I have no experience of passing out.
X: Are you kidding? Do you belong to 1984-87 batch?
Me: Yes, you are right.
We come across the phrase ‘pass out’ in newspapers, annual reports, etc in different parts of the country. We hear quite often people in the academia using the term ‘pass out’. They use the phrase ‘passed out students’ to refer to ‘students who have completed their courses or graduated’. What does the phrasal verb ‘to pass out’ mean? It means ‘to faint’ or ‘to lose consciousness’ or ‘to become unconscious’ for a short time. For example:
• The painter was so drunk that he passed out.
• He had an accident this morning and passed out.
• My grandma passes out when she sees blood.
In British English, the phrase ‘pass out’ means ‘to complete one’s initial training in the armed forces’ or ‘to officially complete a course at a military or police college’. In American English, the term doesn’t mean completing a course or a programme in a school or college or university. In Indian English, the phrase is used in the sense of completing any course. Look at the following headlines:
• College that has never seen a student pass out. Here the reference is to a college where no student has passed since its inception. According to the news report, no student of the college has passed in last five years since its first batch sat the examination in 2009.
• Distinguished pass out students. It is a list of “distinguished pass outs who got admissions in reputed educational institutions (IITs, NITs, medical colleges etc.) during the current academic session.
Here is a query from a reader: “This is Dr M Ravi Kumar, a professor in pharmacy. I want to know the appropriate phrase for “passed out” batch or “passed out” student because the dictionary meaning of passed out is fainting. I am unable to find an alternate phrase.”
Yes, many standard dictionaries lists ‘to faint’ or ‘to become unconscious’ as the primary meanings of the term ‘to pass out’. It is a medical term. What are the different ways of expressing the idea ‘passed out students’? Assume one Mr Y was a student of an institute between 2008 and 2012. If he completed his course and passed all the exams successfully, then we say he graduated in 2012. We can use the word ‘alumnus’ to mean that he is an old student. Here are some more examples:
• Students who completed their course in 2013...
• Students of 2008-2012 batch.
• Alumni of 2008-2012 batch.
— rayanal@yahoo.co.uk