It's not the IVY League, it's the Ivy League

Parents Forum
41

<p>Wikipedia says no to the “IV” story. They trace the name to a scornful journalist. Love that.</p>

<p>[Ivy</a> League - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Ivy League - Wikipedia”>Ivy League - Wikipedia)</p>

42

<p>

</p>

<p>Except that A’s is not a contraction. Again, it is the (correct) plural of the capital letter A. Just as it would be in “collecting your A’s and B’s” in school.</p>

43

<p>

</p>

<p>Aren’t there only five? HYPSM… :rolleyes: :cool:</p>

44

<p>

</p>

<p>Actually, your daughter is an alumna of Bard. Alumni is plural. (Sorry, that’s one of my “pet peeves”!)</p>

<p>alumna/alumnae (for women’s colleges)
alumna/alumnus/alumni (for all the rest)</p>

<p>And I hate the term “alums” too! ;-)</p>

45

<p>There were originally seven members of the Ivy League, according to the earliest citation I can find in the New York Times, which is from Dec. 1936:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p><a href=“The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos”>The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos;

46

<p>

</p>

<p>That might earn you a virtual stare from the OP. :)</p>

47

<p>Ha! Xiggi I noticed. Perhaps my extreme cleverness in appending “mother” to the term gives me a pass? My nickname here on CC has always been Alu, so, another mitigating factor.</p>

48

<p>Thanks to Brown, we have been spared the sophistication of the Heptagonal League. Well, perhaps the Ivies should invite MIT to a relabeled Nonagonal League. But then, according to its boosters, only the MITers will understand the depth and beauty of the label.</p>