• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Language / Where does the term “Ivy League” come from and What does Ivy League mean?

Where does the term “Ivy League” come from and What does Ivy League mean?

July 31, 2020 by Karen Hill

This Ivy label, in words of Leo Riordan in The Saturday Evening Post, November 7, 1953, “was an apt designation coined by a sports-writer to characterize old-line institutions.”

The term “Ivy League” refers specifically to the football teams of the colleges, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, and University of Pennsylvania.

The sportswriter to whom Riordan referred was Caswell Adams, now of the New York Journal American. In a letter to us, which we aare privileged to quote, Adams thus described the episode:

It is true that, rather unconsciously, I did coin the phrase back in the mid-thirties. If I remember correctly, it was when Fordham’s football team was riding high and playing big-name teams from all over the country. One afternoon mention in the office was made of Columbia and Princeton and the like and I, with complete humorous disparagement in mind, said, “Oh they’re just Ivy League.” Stanley Woodward, then sports editor of the New York Herald Tribune (with which Adams was then connected) picked up the phrase the next day and credited me with it.

But Mr. Adams does not mention the fact that, like “Main Line,” the phrase is now sometimes used, also with humorous or even slightly sardonic disparagement, to designate institutions or, especially, literary groups which consider themselves somewhat superior to the rest of us.

Related Facts

  • How Does Ivy Destroy the Mortar Between Bricks Chemically and Physically and How Old is Ivy League Ivy?
  • How did the Term “Ivy League” Originate, Where did it Come From, and What does it Mean?
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed Our Lives Forever
  • Is Poison Ivy a Member of the Regular Ivy Plant Family and what is the Difference?
  • How is Poison Ivy Beneficial to Anyone besides being the Incessant Pest to Gardeners, Hikers, and Children?
  • What is the National Urban League and When was the National Urban League founded?

Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Where does the phrase “all wool and a yard wide” originate and What does it mean?
Next Post: Where does the expression “like a bat out of hell” come from and What does it mean? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy