# Ivy League **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 11, 2001, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivy-league/80791 "2001-09-11T01:40:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivy-league/80791/1 "2001-09-11T01:40:05Z")
RE: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mivyleague.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mivyleague.html) Ken, You have failed to answer the question, “Why do they call it the Ivy League?”. There is no “obvious conclusion” from the article, nor is there even a vague reference to the ivy that grows on buildings. I found the identical article at Ask Jeeves in about thirty seconds. And while you are, in fact, correct, your logic is not. Please, in the future, try a little harder. For the “Straight Dope” try this instead: (from ASK YAHOO) -Incidentally, according to a story on the Ivy League’s official web site ( [http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/extras/local/history.html](http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/extras/local/history.html) ), the “Ivy” part of Ivy League is a reference to the plants that climb all over many of the old campus buildings at each school. The term was inspired by a sarcastic comment from a sports writer assigned to cover a Columbia-Pennsylvania football game. When he received his assignment, he grumbled about “watching the ivy grow.” Another reporter overheard the comment and dubbed the prestigious group of schools “the Ivy League.” (Follow the link for full story) Gavin [Edited by bibliophage on 09-10-2001 at 08:47 PM] ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivy-league/80791/2 "2001-09-11T01:49:47Z")
Welcome to the SDMB and thank you for your comment. For a link to work, the URL has to have a space on either side of it, which I have supplied for you. You may be interested in an earlier thread about this Staff Report. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=76124](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=76124) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivy-league/80791/3 "2001-09-11T02:33:14Z")
**Gavin** If I read your criticism correctly, you think the Ken didn’t mention that “ivy league” came from the ivy on the walls of the institutions? Is my assumption correct? You said > [@](#): > > … nor is there even a vague reference to the ivy that grows on buildings . In the last paragraph of Ken’s article he says > [@](#): > > The passage above doesn’t specifically say sportswriter Woodward was referring to the ivy growing on the walls, but it seems the obvious conclusion. You also said > [@](#): > > You have failed to answer the question, “Why do they call it the Ivy League?”. There is no “obvious conclusion” from the article, Ken said, in his first sentence > [@](#): > > Who’s right? Congratulations, you’re the winner in reply to the questioner asking if the name came from the ivy on the walls > [@](#): > > Others say, as I believe, that the term referred to the ivy that grew on the walls of these hoity-toity institutions. If I have answered in haste and missed something, I apologize. If not, thanks for showing up. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivy-league/80791/4 "2001-09-11T06:16:16Z")
My point was that there was no EXPLANATION to WHY it is called IVY League, thus not answering the original question: “Why do they call it Ivy League?” If you read carefully you will notice that he correctly refutes the statement that Ivy comes from IV, the original four colleges (as there were only three). However, one cannot CONCLUDE from this that Ivy therefore comes from the Ivy on the walls. One must examine further. Think about - and always read carefully. Gavin