Degree

From USAFA Folklore

The term degree is sometimes used to mean "class", as in "two degree" for "second class cadet." The use of degree in this sense was established by the late seventies. It was later shortened to "dig" as in "two dig" or "three dig".

It is not clear when or how exactly this term came into use. Perhaps "2nd class, 3rd class" got shortened to "2/c, 3/c" which became "2°, 3°" which then were read as "two degree, three degree." Another explanation is that the degree symbol "º" was used as a generic shorthand for the individual ordinal suffixes (-st, -nd, -rd, -th), and over time was also pronounced generically as "degree".

Firsties, for whatever reason, are never referred to verbally as "one degrees", but may be referred to as "1º" when written.