# University of Illinois **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 26, 1999, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154 "1999-07-26T15:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 1999, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/1 "1999-07-26T15:16:00Z")
Hey Cecil–Urbana usually comes last and it’s spelled Champaign. * * * Jeff “Computers are useless–they can only give you answers.” – Pablo Picasso ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 1999, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/2 "1999-07-26T15:54:00Z")
Hey Jeff, UIUC stands for University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 1999, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/3 "1999-07-26T21:09:00Z")
Damn, you guys for beating me to this. I was licking my chops to jump all over Cecil on this one, knowing there is no way he could weasel his way out of it. As for the on-going contraversy. The “Twin Cities” are typicaly refered to as Champaign-Urbana when discussing the cities alone, and is the convenion on maps and atlases. My instict is that this is simply due to the use of alphabetical order, although Champaign is the larger city (pop. 173025 / 36344 as of 1995). When refering to the University, you always say UIUC-University of Illinois At Urbana- Champaign. This is likely because the quad, administration buildings, and the balance of all original buildings (1867) are located in Urbana. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 1999, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/4 "1999-07-27T16:56:00Z")
Maybe it’s UIUC because UICU sounds like you are in intensive care. (Having gone to a different Illinois university, I might say ICU is about right but…) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 1999, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/5 "1999-07-27T19:22:00Z")
And also there is a “UIC” – University of Illinois in Chicago, so “UICU” might be a bit confusing. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 1999, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/6 "1999-07-27T19:24:00Z")
By the way – why are we talking about this? When & where did Cecil mention it? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 1999, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/7 "1999-07-27T19:28:00Z")
Read this Cecil clasic column. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4\_026.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_026.html) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 1999, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/8 "1999-07-28T13:26:00Z")
Ah, ok. Thanks. Might I suggest that people in this area do the same thing CKDextHavn suggested in the area for responses to the mailbag item, and put the link in for the column to which they are responding. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 1999, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/9 "1999-07-29T19:52:00Z")
David, I agree, but when this topic was posted the column was the current classic column displayed at the intro and intuitivly it should follow fairly obviously. But, it never hurts to throw the link in there. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 1999, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/10 "1999-07-29T20:03:00Z")
Intuitively it only follows if you know it’s the classic column, if that classic column is still available when somebody pulls up this thread to respond, etc. Since the classic columns change, and since there is also a current column at any given time, it makes much more sense to just refer to the column in question than to send people running all over the site looking for what the heck somebody is talking about. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 1999, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-of-illinois/154/11 "1999-07-29T23:44:00Z")
Thank you David B. Yes, please remember to include the link if you are the first to respond to a column. Sometimes it’s days later when people get to a thread, and it’s nice for them to have a chance to read the column being referred to. Jill