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Comment by satchlj | Hacker News Reader

Don't you love the British. Who thought of the name "University College"?

Metabolism before genes makes perfect sense. Defining life is silliness as far as I'm concerned, but DNA is a very specific mechanism of reproduction whereas metabolism is more universal basic concept. Or so it seems to me...

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In the US, the terms university and college are used more or less interchangeably.

In the UK, a university is a collection of semi-independent colleges, each with their own students and faculty and their own departments for all the various subjects. A university college is the founding college in a university. (University College London is a constituent college of the University of London.)

So the name might sound comically redundant to Americans, but it makes sense in the British system.

The Americans may close their mouth until they acknowledge the ridiculousness of The Los Angeles Angels.

I think that happens when other language nouns are added to English. Case in point "chai" tea and "naan" bread. Chai means tea and naan means bread but here we are...

tuna fish

Arguably that's the most sensible team name.

"What team are you?" "Manchester" "Where do you come from?" "Manchester"

"What team are you?" "The Angels" "Where do you come from?" "The Angels"

Anyone who isn't associated with the Angels banged on about the ridiculousness of their claimed home change (which notably did not involve an actual move) before they ever did it. They're nowhere near Los Angeles and have no historical association with the city. MLB never should have let them claim the name, despite the even more ridiculous "of Anaheim" qualifier. They're the Anaheim Angels, no matter what else they try to say they are.

…of Anaheim :-)

> In the US, the terms university and college are used more or less interchangeably.

no they're not, generally colleges focus on teaching and undergraduate programs, and universities revolve around research and graduate schools. In some cases, there are colleges within universities, particularly in ye olde schools.

Probably the same, but in Canada, a lot of our Universities have "embedded" colleges. For example, York University has Glendon College which is a French school, and quite a few other colleges under the York umbrella. University of Western Ontario has Elborn College (among a couple others) and 3 university colleges.

I think it is probably very common for Universities to have college faculties. They also often have Halls, Lodges, Schools, and so on, under the main University umbrella.

There's a bit of a difference in the US also, that might not be broadly appreciated. Universities offer graduate degrees. Colleges may or may not have graduate programs. https://isc.baylor.edu/blog/difference-between-university-an...

Hmmm. Even THE Ohio State University has a University College. It's noted for being the only college within the university that doesn't grant degrees. It's primary focus is offering courses helping students succeed in university life. It's also the college all incoming students are enrolled in.

> Who thought of the name "University College"?

Whoever wanted to disambiguate vs Kings College in 1836 presumably.

This. University College London is the product of the early 19th century and the Benthamite secular education movement. Jeremy is in a glass case in the foyer. At the time, degrees in colleges at Oxford and Cambridge demanded adherence to the 39 articles of the Anglican faith.

Birkbeck college which is also a constituent of the university of london (like UCL) is a contemporary and focussed on technical education for working people, with teaching at night so they could both work, and study. It also has Jeremy Bentham in it's DNA.

(worked at UCL in the 80s. my mum went to the slade school of art there in the 1940s. its a great place)

> Jeremy is in a glass case in the foyer

Well I’ll be damned… they actually put his remains on display. How gruesome.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/philosophers-dress...

At least one pub had a spare head. I feel this is a lot like Uberto Eco name of the rose "the reliquary included the head of John the baptist: as a child and as an adult"

His skeleton is in there, too.

To expand this:

ancient times - Oxford and Cambridge universities come into being, composed of multiple independent and mostly equivalent colleges (ie all teaching the full range of subjects)

1826 - London University founded

1829 - King's College founded

1836 - London University and King's College combine to form the University of London, comprising two colleges roughly on the Oxbridge model; London University is renamed to University College

University College may be a silly name, but what else would they have called it? London College? Hardly better.

Note that University College, Oxford and University College Dublin are called that for completely different reasons.

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