On Sat, 26 Jun 1999, Candice Brashears wrote:

> I love ivy as well......and would Love to Know this "pad clinging ivy" spoken
> of. Lets get to the "root" of this ivy discussion - admit it; we love the
> warmth and traditional invocations that ivy covered brick/stone structures
> imbue.  Where would our "ivy league" colleges be when those freshmen and
> grads go to register? What on earth would the alumni think?

Perhaps this has already been noted, but the famous League that includes
Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Cornell, etc. was not originally named for the
clinging vine.  When first organized, it included only four schools and
was the "IV League".  Just as the 10 in "Big Ten" is now understood as
sort-of metaphorical now that it includes eleven universities, the Roman
numeral IV in the league's name was updated to refer to the homonymic
flora.

                            Jerkinhead