--- title: Mardi Gras 2014: YOLO Letters Stolen From New Orleans Loyola University description: Happy Mardi Gras? canonical: https://time.com/12391/yolo-letters-stolen-loyola-university-new-orleans/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-04T18:06:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:27.427Z og:title: Mardi Gras 2014: YOLO Letters Stolen From New Orleans Loyola University og:description: Happy Mardi Gras? og:url: https://time.com/12391/yolo-letters-stolen-loyola-university-new-orleans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbd87bfac348e88d/698683d9e53abae8db4d14a7/yolo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: yolo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mardi Gras 2014: YOLO Letters Stolen From New Orleans Loyola University twitter:description: Happy Mardi Gras? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbd87bfac348e88d/698683d9e53abae8db4d14a7/yolo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Someone Stole the Letters Spelling "YOLO" From Loyola University > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=965c3d3d-c7bb-431c-8ec5-949fb8721849&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Mar 4, 2014 6:06 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Mar 4, 2014 6:06 PM UTC You only live once. YOLO for short. It’s the motto [Drake came up with](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYDKK95cpfM) in 2011 that, somehow, remains popular today. Some Mardi Grad revelers apparently decided that taking this motto to heart — and making the most out of the one life you’ve been given — should involve a healthy dose of vandalism. The unidentified people apparently stopped by Loyola University and stole the large L-O-Y-O letters from the campus’s front lawn, local news outlet WDSU [reports](http://www.wdsu.com/news/entertainment/carnival-central-extended-coverage/yolo-letters-stolen-from-loyola-university-sign-school-says-its-a-victim-of-mardi-gras/24794676#mid=18533672). The pranksters left behind the L and A, so clearly, they planned to rearrange the pilfered letters to spell out YOLO. No further details are known, and officials say the school was simply a “victim of Mardi Gras.” If caught, we suspect these Mardi Gras pranksters will be charged with the following crimes: 1) trespassing 2) vandalism 3) theft and, most egregiously, 4) perpetuating “YOLO.” Here’s the vandalized sign: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/12391/yolo-letters-stolen-loyola-university-new-orleans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/12391/yolo-letters-stolen-loyola-university-new-orleans/"},"headline":"Someone Stole the Letters Spelling \"YOLO\" From Loyola University","datePublished":"2014-03-04T18:06:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:27.427Z","description":"Happy Mardi Gras?","url":"https://time.com/12391/yolo-letters-stolen-loyola-university-new-orleans/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Education","National"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbd87bfac348e88d/698683d9e53abae8db4d14a7/yolo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbbd87bfac348e88d/698683d9e53abae8db4d14a7/yolo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"yolo","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/12391/yolo-letters-stolen-loyola-university-new-orleans/","name":"Someone Stole the Letters Spelling \"YOLO\" From Loyola University"}}]}] ```