Browsing the boards, and various others, I keep coming across the above two expressions. I can infer from context what they mean ie “101” is some sort of primer course in a subject, and “the skinny” is analogous to “the lowdown”. As they both seem to be American expressions can any kind Doper fill me in on the origin of them. Thanks.
University courses are often numbered, with the 100 courses being freshman courses. 101 would be the lowest of the low, the intro course.
Where (and when) I went to school, freshman courses were 300 level, and 200 were remedial. And 300 was the “basic” course.
Well, AFAIK, university courses start in the “100” range (Year 1). So, yes, “101” means the basic course.
As for “skinny”:
Courses at most American colleges and universities are usually given unique numerical IDs within each department. Usage varies from school to school, but typically courses numbered 100-199 are intended for freshmen (first year students), 200-299 for sophomores (second year), etc. Also, low-numbered 100 courses are traditionally survey courses: an introduction to basic concepts for people who do not intend to major in that subject–for example, English 101 is typically a basic rhetoric and composition course, History 101 is usually a general course in world history, Philosophy 101 is usually Intro to Philosophy, etc.
There is obviously huge variations here from school to school, but one thing that’s generally true at any US university is that a 100 or 200 level course is an intoductory course with no (or few) prerequisites while a 300 or above level course is designed for people majoring in that field and are already familiar with the information imparted in 100 and 200 level courses.
Just as a data point, I’ve been to several schools where the first digit of the course number was the number of hours per week. The second two digits indicated the level of the course so 301 would be a three-hour intro course and 189 would be a one-hour graduate course. I don’t think these universities even had 101 courses since one-hour intro courses are rare, but everyone understood the meaning.