Talk:St John's College, Cambridge

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In some ways this is very pernickety but its probably just worth discussing. St. John's College should technically be written as St John's College (i.e. without the full stop).

I think the grammar convention is that a word that is abbreviated but keeps its final letter, as in Saint -> St or Doctor -> Dr don't have a full stop but words which lose their final letter do, as in approximate -> approx. . Also 'St John's College' is actually the name of the college, its at the top of the official webpage.

I was reading Isaac Newton/The first 15 years as Lucasian professor and St John's College is mentioned and is in red as the page doesn't exist. My question is, what's the best way to resolve this? Should I copy the contents of the St. John's entry to the St John's entry and then redirect the second to the first?

This also applies to the other Cambridge colleges named after saints, St Catharine's and St Edmund's.

(The above reads a little bit like I'm staking a claim to the above and that I must be the person who changes this. It's not supposed to read like that, if you think it should be changed its probably best to just change it rather than try and explain to me what I should do.)

Ams80 01:41 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)

This is correct in Commonwealth English (but in case anyone argues, note that the rules are different in American English) Rnt20 19:40, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I am a student at John's and I feel I should point out that although tour guides often say the Bridge of Sighs is named after the famous bridge in Venice due to resemblance, they don't look alike at all. The only similarity is that they are both covered bridges. About a month ago I went to Venice and crossed the Bridge of Sighs and found there to be little or no resemblance. I don't claim to know the origin of the name of the Bridge of Sighs in John's, but I will try to find out. Owen, 21st Sept 2004

A member of the British royal family noted that the bridge looked like the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, and the name was then taken for the bridge in Cambridge Rnt20 19:40, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I've added Thomas Nashe as one of the literary alumni of St Johns, is this OK?

Changed Johns to 3rd largest after Trinity and Homerton. Trinity has ~1100 undergrads and postgrads, Homerton has 1050, Johns has ~900

[edit] College Motto

I've asked the College for an authoritative translation of "souvent me souvient" (which doesn't look like 'remember me often' to me). roundhouse 00:27, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

"Souvient" is the third-person plural conjugation of "souvenir", which means "to remember". The "me" before it is an object pronoun, meaning "remember me". And "souvent" means "often". So it seems fine to me. ugen64 01:07, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

I am not convinced, given these facts, that we get "remember me often" (which seems an odd motto). The College have replied, authoritatively, that google yields both meanings, arising no doubt from the 2 versions which alternate on this page. roundhouse 08:21, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Christ's College, Cambridge (same motto) gives 'I often remember'. This seems to me to be much more likely to be correct. roundhouse 10:00, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

The current master of Christ's College, Prof Malcom Bowie (French Literature) states confidently that the motto should be translated as "I often remember" and not "Remember me often". "Often it is remembered unto me" is the literal translation apparently, which renders better as "I often remember", or "Often I remember". Since this is mediaeval french, a modern french interpretation on the words is certainly not appropriate. LeBofSportif 14:29, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Well done. roundhouse 15:59, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

I believe the "I often remember" is best understood in the context of Henry IV's motto, "Remember me" or "Forget me not". Henry IV had a motto of something like "souvereign" which some people interpret to just mean sovereign, but this is unsatisfactory. More likely, it is an old french word for the flower "Forget me not" which Henry IV had on his crest I think. I am doing this from memory, but I can check book sources if there is still dispute over the motto. LeBofSportif 17:56, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Giving a talk on the history of the College, Professor Boyd (an authority on these matters) stated that the motto meant 'I often remember'. This matches the interpretation used in Christ's College. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.129.182.232 (talk) 22:25, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fisher

Any particular reason for "Saint" being in parentheses? Fisher was canonised in 1935 with Saint Thomas More as one of the English martyrs; it's normal practice to use brackets. I've removed them - please leave a note here if you disagree. Squeezeweasel 20:01, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cocktail

Since a cursory google search turned up nothing, can anyone provide more information on the "red boy" cocktail? are these equal proportions? a more detailed recipe would be great... 72.209.70.84 22:32, 4 April 2007 (UTC) - oops, wasn't logged in HunterAmor 15:08, 5 April 2007 (UTC)