It was, I think, President Seymour who first used that rather mealy-mouthed phrase, "the indefinable something that is Yale." The meaning of these six unctuous words is ephemeral and open to whatever interpretation the listener may be disposed to make; usually, for the outlander, they mean about as much as abracadabra. But to us Elis, who glibly parrot this phrase, it leaves an impression of abstract vapidity that often passes for profundity. A catchword that rolls neatly off the tongue, it is used with equanimity both for accepting praise and for repelling criticism. What, then, does it mean?

Harvard

If we Elis were to answer the same question about Hahvud, there would be no difficulty. We would picture the typical Cantab as infected with the bored indifference synonymous with the name of his university, afflicted with the "yahd" accent, his shoulders stooped under the weight of centuries of tradition. We should picture him as a dilletante intellectual addicted to Boston deb parties, who conceives of Cambridge as the hub of the collegiate universe. And then we'd all yell Reinhardt.

Princeton

The average Princeton man has been described by a certain girls' college as a not-quite grown-up prep school boy who has not yet become used to the fact that he doesn't have to smoke up the ventilator any more. We Elis would describe him as of the species "Joe College," the rah-rah, razzle dazzle "hot dog." We would think of beer suits, "The Nass," and house parties, and pronounce him a clothes-horse, social butterfly, and incipient "lounge-lizard."

Yale

But what about Yale? Well, if Harvard begets the indifferent before his time, and if Princeton spawns Joe College, infantile beyond his time, then Yale, as she has often been called, must be the "Mother of Men." Yale News.