Ohio State is a big place with complex ideas, people and places, so it’s natural to be confused every once in a while with our university-specific terminology. Here are some words and phrases that we often hear misused by campus community members (new and old):
CAMPUS BUILDINGS
INCORRECT More-EL Tower (Morrill Tower, emphasizing the second syllable).
CORRECT MORE-al Tower (Morrill Tower, emphasizing the first syllable). Morrill Tower was named for Senator Justin Morrill of Vermont, the individual responsible for the Morrill Act of 1862 which provided federal funding for land-grant institutions, including The Ohio State University.
INCORRECT East 18th Avenue Building (EA Building).
CORRECT West 18th Avenue Building (EA Building). EA stands for EIGHTEENTH AVENUE, not East 18th Avenue. The building has not been name after anyone (yet!), so its formal name is the address: 209 W. 18th Avenue.
INCORRECT St. John’s Arena.
CORRECT St. John Arena (no apostrophe and not plural). The arena was named for Lynn St. John, who served as Ohio State’s men’s basketball coach and longtime athletic director…but he doesn’t own the arena (so it’s not a possessive apostrophe). This historic arena is the site of the President’s Convocation on Monday, August 25th.
INCORRECT SEL (Science & Engineering Library).
CORRECT 18th Avenue Library. You may hear upperclass students use SEL (the former name) for this 24-hour university library on 18th Avenue. Feel free to correct them; the library contains many more resources than those just for science or engineering.
INCORRECT Central Classroom Building and Enarson Hall.
CORRECT Enarson Classroom Building and Hale Hall. Central Classroom Building on Millikin Avenue was renamed Enarson Classroom Building in 2013 after Enarson Hall on 12th Avenue was renamed Hale Hall (the Hale Black Cultural Center was torn down and relocated here). Crazy confusing, right?
COLLEGE VERNACULAR
INCORRECT Resuscitation: to bring (someone who is unconscious, not breathing, or close to death) back to conscious or active state again.
CORRECT Recitation: small class section where quizzes are taken, homework is reviewed, and questions from the lectures and readings can be addressed.
INCORRECT Foreign students, foreign professors.
CORRECT International students, international professors. Anything that belongs to a country other than your own is foreign, but anything that involves more than one country is international.
INCORRECT Teacher, counselor, school nurse.
CORRECT Professor/instructor, advisor, health center. Be sure to shed the high school lingo for the preferred words in higher education.
INCORRECT Buckeye ID.
CORRECT BuckID. Ohio State’s student identification card is used for a variety of purposes including the campus meal plan, access to secure buildings, and admission to athletic and other campus events. (See, the I in ID replaces the eye in Buckeye…get it? It’s clever.)
INCORRECT Meals blocks = BuckID cash
CORRECT Meals blocks are used for food/meals in on-campus, university-owned dining facilities only (and expire at the end of each term). BuckID cash may be used on-campus or off-campus, at restaurants (McDonald’s, Starbucks, Chipotle, etc.), bookstores, convenience stores, and for things like laundry or printing; BuckID cash stays on your card from one term to the next.
INCORRECT OSU
CORRECT Ohio State. Otherwise, we don’t know if you’re talking about Oklahoma State University, Oregon State University, or the Office of Sustainable Utopias.
That’s our list…did we leave anything out? Let us know!
Can’t say OSU? Isn’t this website OSU.edu? Please don’t try to tell us what to say or how to say things.
I was merely making a suggestion, not a demand. OSU is perfectly acceptable, but the preferred reference by the university itself is Ohio State. Thanks for the feedback!
I think your video is the response of anybody with more than two brain cells who reads this article.
Thanks, Andy – I appreciate the feedback. Hopefully it was useful for other students!
Sorry. It wasn’t useful for other students.
I’d look into how you say things. Even per the link below the 18th Ave Library is referred to as SEL and socially do you think it is a a good idea for underclassmen to correct upperclassmen? Yes to have the write for free speech but your integrity with this post seems to be lacking for knowing the culture of OSU, sorry Ohio state, I stand corrected again actually The Ohio State University if we want to get technical.
http://library.osu.edu/news/giving-to-the-libraries/modern-learning/reconceive-the-science-and-engineering-library-sel/
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback, Daniel. While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, as an advocate for first-year students I believe that it IS socially acceptable for an incoming new student to correct an upperclass student, since we are all part of the same university community and should be able to engage in respectful discourse with one another regardless of the amount of time we’ve spent on campus. In my opinion, that’s one of the best parts about being in an academic environment like The Ohio State University.