SAINT vs St.

[Majerus Magic]

Ya, I think Ohio St. kind of has dibs on that.

THE Ohio State University is its "official" name.

[ThreeTimeBilliken]

From the University.

http://www.slu.edu/x14829.xml

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I reproduce the logos without the outlines around the letters?

Whenever any of the logos are being produced at small sizes, and the outlines around the words "Saint Louis" or "Billikens" or "SLU" will be lost during production, the logos can be produced without the outlines.

Can the words "Saint Louis" appear without the word "Billikens"?

The words "Saint Louis Billikens" should always be used together. "Saint Louis" should never be used without "Billikens."

Can I abbreviate St. instead of using Saint?

No. "Saint" should always be spelled out and never abbreviated.

Are there logos that have been designed for specific sports teams and athletics-sponsored organizations?

Yes. Secondary logos for specific sports teams and athletics-sponsored organizations can be obtained from the Billiken Media Relations office.

What are the official colors of the Billiken athletics brand?

Blue and white are the official Billiken athletics colors. Logos should only be produced in PANTONE® 287 Blue or a similar blue whenever possible. When color is not an option, logos should be produced in black and white.

[JMM28]

Ya, I think Ohio St. kind of has dibs on that.

What is Ohio Saint?

[Quickdraw]

I find it interesting that the U. chooses to emphasize the full spelling of SAINT. The Jesuit High School, SLUH, with its common origin back in 1818, seems not to make such an emphasis. The Jesuits on Oakland spell the school name ST. Louis University High School. I'm pretty sure the signage around the building spells it that way. I checked their website--all the references and banners seem to bear the abbreviation. (In fact, space considerations contribute to a pronounced tendency to resort to "SLUH" in written naming of the school.)

[jjray]

"Saint" Louis University is nothing more than an affectation, one shared by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Saint Louis Science Center. This whole concept that the University is spelled Saint because it's named after the saint is ridiculous, and disproved by this snippet from the University's own history site (disproved because, if "Saint" is spelled out for saints, good Jesuit logic would dictate that they spell out the name of their own founder):

"In 1826, the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) accepted Bishop Du Bourg’s invitation to assume control of the struggling St. Louis College. The group of 12 Jesuits who had arrived in St. Louis in May 1823 were operating a seminary as well as a school for Native American boys in Florissant, Missouri, a few miles to the northwest of the College. In November 1829 St. Louis College began that year under Jesuit administration with Father Peter J. Verhaegen, S.J., becoming the school’s first Jesuit president. Verhaegen, like all of the Jesuits who came to St. Louis in 1823, was from Belgium. In addition, he and most of the other Belgian Jesuits were very young men when they came to America. Verhaegen was only 29 years old when he assumed the presidency. Saint Louis University received a formal charter from the State of Missouri in 1832 making it the oldest University west of the Mississippi River. Saint Louis University became the second university operated by the Jesuits in America (Georgetown College opened in 1789). Even in 1829, the Jesuits operated hundreds of schools in dozens of countries all around the world. These schools followed a plan of studies articulated by St. Ignatius Loyola as early as 1551 and eventually formulated in the Ratio Studiorum, promulgated in 1599. The overarching purpose of Jesuit education is to teach young people how to become practical, socially responsible, humanistic and spiritual human beings. This value-centered approach to education still drives Saint Louis University as it approaches the new century."

I'm not entirely sure why the U. insists on spelling out Saint -- perhaps one of the folks on the board with close ties to the PR department can get the back story on this. From a style standpoint, as I've noted before, it confounds copy editors, who would have to write with conflicting style within a few words of each other, as in "Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri." (Ironically, AP Style calls for "Saint Louis University," but only because the dictate for style for university names is how they're listed in one of the Webster's dictionaries. But this also gets ignored by most major newspapers, since the style for all the California universities would be "University of California, Davis," "University of California, Berkeley," etc.

Oh, and the official name of Ohio State is The Ohio State University, which the vast majority of media in America ignores.

+1 I have always taken the insistence that SLU's name be spelled out rather than abbreviated as the same silly pretension as Bonwich points out to be used by "The Ohio State University", i.e., an attempted slur on Ohio University as if OSU is the original and the other a poor imitation. By demanding that "saint louis" be spelled out while the city's name is abbreviated, we at SLU are trying to minimize our association with the city of St. Louis and, by implication, claim we stand in a higher class than the city. I'll never engage in this.

p.s. Did you hear Ochocinco when introducing himself on a recent Monday night football say he was from "The Oregon State University"? Classic.

[Pistol]

p.s. Did you hear Ochocinco when introducing himself on a recent Monday night football say he was from "The Oregon State University"? Classic.

That was awesome. I also liked Braylon Edwards introducing himself as from "Lloyd Carr's University of Michigan."

The University's insistence on using Saint instead of St. never struck me as pretentious as 'The' Ohio State University. I always thought of it as differentiating itself from the City, but not in a way that is intended to say SLU is above the City, just that it is a religious institution instead of a secular one. And that seems fair. I'm still amazed at how many people I encounter outside of St. Louis who think SLU is a public school.

And the reason The Ohio State University seems pretentious and wrong to me is that it seems like it's trying to distance itself from the other public schools within the same system (and there are at least 3 state schools in Ohio I'd rather go to, and many state schools that have better programs in individual fields; THEOSU is just big).

[Clock_Tower]

+1 I have always taken the insistence that SLU's name be spelled out rather than abbreviated as the same silly pretension as Bonwich points out to be used by "The Ohio State University", i.e., an attempted slur on Ohio University as if OSU is the original and the other a poor imitation. By demanding that "saint louis" be spelled out while the city's name is abbreviated, we at SLU are trying to minimize our association with the city of St. Louis and, by implication, claim we stand in a higher class than the city. I'll never engage in this.

p.s. Did you hear Ochocinco when introducing himself on a recent Monday night football say he was from "The Oregon State University"? Classic.

Totally agree with the you The OSU comments but I just don't see the comparison or attempt at distancing SLU from the City. Maybe I'm too close to the situation. I see the desire to use the word spelled out - Saint - but I don't see slur or "better than" attitude. Maybe its just me.

[GOSLU68]

Totally agree with the you The OSU comments but I just don't see the comparison or attempt at distancing SLU from the City. Maybe I'm too close to the situation. I see the desire to use the word spelled out - Saint - but I don't see slur or "better than" attitude. Maybe its just me.

Washington University of St. Louis

Saint Louis University

both major employers and crown jewels of the dity.

The key to the above is the charter spells out the name it is not an affectation anymore than a boy being called Johnny and calling himself John as he

matures. SLU, Wash U. these are abreviations of speech such as St. is a written abbreviation.

Get over it.

[Runnin'Billiken]

Washington University of St. Louis

Saint Louis University

both major employers and crown jewels of the dity.

The key to the above is the charter spells out the name it is not an affectation anymore than a boy being called Johnny and calling himself John as he

matures. SLU, Wash U. these are abreviations of speech such as St. is a written abbreviation.

Get over it.

isn't it Washinton University in St. Louis? Since were on the topic of getting things right.

[GOSLU68]

isn't it Washinton University in St. Louis? Since were on the topic of getting things right.

that is a distinct possibility but since I did not go there I really can't verify; however, I did just get a new social security card and it says "Saint Louis, Missouri" not St. Louis

[jimbofive]

that is a distinct possibility but since I did not go there I really can't verify; however, I did just get a new social security card and it says "Saint Louis, Missouri" not St. Louis

I used to see that as my tax district. I don't know why St. Louis is trying to be all classy when it's just another hole.

[GOSLU68]

From the University.

http://www.slu.edu/x14829.xml

during the Gray, Douglas, Bonner days were not the BB uniforms Gray and Blue?

for a time maybe in the Spoon years was not red added to the blue and white on men's BB uniforms?