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Subscribe to RSSA new school in Utah looking for a team name and mascot won't be getting the "cougar," in part because of parents' complaints about the word's "negative double entendre."
Corner Canyon High School polled students in Draper on what the team name should be for the school's opening in 2013, and 23 percent voted for Cougars, reported Fox 13, KSTU-TV. Other potential mascots included Diamondbacks, Raptors, and Falcons.
"However, since the last Board meeting, we have received numerous e-mail messages and phone calls from parents and patrons in Draper asking us to reconsider the inclusion of 'Cougars' as a mascot option," David S. Doty, the superintendent of Canyons School District, wrote in a memo to the Board of Education on Tuesday.
"Opposition to the 'Cougars' focuses on a concern that the mascot, combined with the school’s blue/white/silver color scheme, will be too similar to Brigham Young University. Many also have commented on the negative double entendre of the word 'cougar,'" he continued.
Chargers chosen
The Board then voted unanimously to select the Chargers as the mascot, noting no other high school in the state had it as one.
"Board members noted the alliteration of Corner Canyon Chargers, and that a Charger, a war horse, was selected because it is a prominent animal in Draper and an image of strength that could unify the community," according to a Board of Education summary.
The mascot for Brigham Young University is a cougar, as well as for some high schools in Utah.
"To me, a mascot is usually an animal -- I mean, I don't know how to even respond to that," Kearns High School football coach and athletic director Bill Cosper told The Salt Lake Tribune. "In all my years here, or in all of sports, that's never been brought up."
The term "cougar" -- or an older woman who dates younger men -- gained notoriety with the television show, "Cougar Town," starring Courteney Cox.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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Holy stupidity Batman! The liberal PC BS intolerance goes to new heights.
It used to be that being a "pioneer" was a noble thing, now it's oppressive. It used to be that a "chief" was an honorable position, now it's racist. It used to be that a "cougar" was an animal, now it's slang. It used to be that an "entrepreneur" was something to aspire to be, now it's an oppressive boss. It used to be that "work" was a good thing, now it's not worth your time. How completely lame.
You wonder why we are loosing our identity and status in the world. It all starts with our inability to name our school mascots.
So I'm guessing this school has a load of ugly teachers.
Since this happened in Utah, it's more likely to be conservative, religious PC BS intolerance.
Well I know (at least last I checked) if I didn't work the job I had I would qualify for all kinds of programs. Food-stamps, cash assistance, and government healthcare! However by working I make just enough to qualify for nothing... can't afford health insurance, and can barely afford to maintain a means of transportation to get to work... since we can't have adequate public transportation in most of our cities (Gawd Forbid)! I don't blame people for not working! The only reason I do... is to have something to do. Would be nice if I could get back into my given field.. but it seems a bit difficult... no one wants someone with experience... because no one wants to pay reasonable money for it. I have offered to work well below market... but people want to hire kids. I even tried to re-enlist in the Navy last year... they said that with my experience, all other logistical hurdles aside... they would have to pay me way too much... and would rather have four "bodies" of unknown talent at a fraction of the cost.
It's not PC nutjobs, it's the conservative wackos.
For Christ's sake, people, it's not liberal or conservative. Are those the only two words you know? This has nothing to do with partisan politics. It's a generational split between high schoolers who voted for a mascot and fearmongering parents who hypersexualize everything teenagers think or do.
I'm as progressive as you're going to find on the 'Vine in most cases and I find nothing inappropriate about "Cougars," and a quick check of some of my conservative buddies down in Appalachia yielded the same results. Stop trying to turn everything into a left/right battle.
Bold statement there, amused; any proof to back it up, or is it just the usual random liberal attack bulls**t?
I went to a junior high that had the term rebel in the south. It did not bother me as a black person. Later (way after I graduated) it was changed to lions. Stupid.
spider - It's in Utah - demographics for the state show a heavy leaning towards conservative "values" and GOP voting. No attack BS, just based on fact - you know the stuff the GOP ignore all the time?
This BS is neither liberal or conservative. It's just pure BS.
To equate it with either liberal or conservative BS (and lord knows there's plenty coming from both sides) is just idiots full of sound and fury, signifying nothing...
What does "liberal" have to do with this? It sounds more like a group of social conservative parents protested.
Joe, you are so off-base here it is just ridiculous. This has nothing to do with being PC or liberal...seriously get over yourself. I am liberal and this is just silly to me. It reinforces a tasteless use of the name of a beautiful animal and the stereotype that goes along with some slang silly term some clueless people made up.
Cougars are animals. Women who date younger men are called women. So put your own biases back in your head and stop making this some statement about the evils of liberals. As far as I am concerned a chief is the head of something and as long as you aren't making fun of any group then whatever. So go chill and out stop making assumptions that aren't true.
Mormons! The elephant in the room! There, I said it.
They should be called the Salamanders.
spider-737231
Bold statement there, amused; any proof to back it up, or is it just the usual random liberal attack bulls**t?
spidee ole good ole boy, you've just proven his point.
Liberals? In Draper, Utah? I doubt it.
Utah is generally known for conservative pc bs, not liberal. But then, anything you don't like is probably "liberal" in your mind.
Liberal my butt. That is CONSERVATIVE BS nothing to do with liberal anything. Conservative right wing christian ideologues always see sex in everything. I will guarantee that if you polled the people who complained about it also being a reference to older women dating younger men all of them would be Conservative Christians.
Only 1 Cougar per household, dammit!
Corner Canyon High School, your board is full of LOSERS.
By the way, is Morton McGonigal too pretentious to realize his little conservatives suck EQUALLY as the liberals he despises? Aw, reality strikes. Poor people who think liberals are better than conservatives or visa versa.
Oh come on Nick. The Navy never told you that. There are plenty of us who know how the system works when a person comes back into the military. You get payed by rank, you will come back at or below the rank you left. Your experience has -zero- to do with it.
I went to school at a middle school that had a rival middle school in a town starting with the letter P.
Now their school had a mascot of the beaver... so they were the PMS Beavers... and to top it off their colors were red and white...
No sympathy for the cougars... there are worse combinations of names... did no one else have those stupid friends who made fun of the trojans?
JoeNY - I think the Chargers - image of a group of women running into the mall with their credit cards raised above their heads - would be somewhat worse than the Cougars - good looking older women sitting at the bar checking out the younger men. I guess no matter what name they picked there's some way to turn it into a negative stereotype.
This is just stupid all the way around.
It's Utah people, there are no liberals in Utah. None that stick their heads up anyway. This is nothing but parents freaking out thinking about their kids and sex. Which is nothing compared to the kids freaking out thinking about their parents and sex. Mostly, the whole thing is comical.
Ok, let me put this all to rest for you people. The whole cougar double entedre is just something the media latched onto to sensationalize a story. Read the official's quote. It has more to do with emulating BYU than anything. There is a huge rivalry between BYU and University of Utah. Draper is firmly in U territory. I can promise you it has everything to do with the board being Ute fans. The side comment about the double entedre is just something he threw in to hopefully legitimize the stance.
You're kidding, right? One would hope people realize there are far more important bases for identity in a child's life than a school mascot.
I will clarify the "liberal" comment- It's not a political partisan thing, but a societal thing. When I grew up we could talk and even discuss topics without the fear of a lawsuit or being "outed" as a hater. Then, through the liberal social agendas/concepts of "political correctness", "inclusion", "hate speech", and "globalization" we have diluted the conversation to what you can't say vs. a dialog on a topic. I find it funny that the most learned people (as seen in interviews) seem to be the most intolerant people out there, unwilling to have a dialog. I'm perfectly happy with sitting up all night arguing the virtues of commerce, politics, etc. and come away with a potentially altered perspective through theory, testing and examples. Many of the professors, etc. are not- it's their way or you are a "hater".
So, in this case the process of picking a symbol for a school is crippled by people's interjection of today's slang and pop culture over a local amenity that is a neat image. I've heard they have mountains in Utah- Would calling them the "peaks"connote boobs? They have buffalo and elk there too- would it be sexist to call them bulls or bison? It's just so silly to me.
I recommend "Polecat"
joeny - you're spending way too much time thinking about this topic. your clarification is contradictory, and it's likely conservatives who complained about the cougar double entendre
So was it a school for old ladies... if not...?
JOE- hang in there buddy- you are exactly right. The liberals are the first people to start screaming about PC BS- if you disagree with them, you are a racist, hater, intolerant, etc. - JUST like they are, because you are too diverse for their "value diversity" beliefs. It's THEIR diversity, and you better get in line.....
There is NOBODY more conservative than a liberal - you agree with them, or they will scream you down. look at the college liberal arts campuses - anything remotely "conservative" is forced off campus, all in the name of "free speech." THEY can say anything- YOU cannot, because THEY say so.
@JoeNY So even though most likely this is conservatives being too PC, its still all the leftist liberals fault, as is everything else that is wrong in this country; for you anyway. Your attitude reminds me of the superstitious fools from the 15th and 16th centuries. Weak minded people that needed someone or something to blame all their woes on. For them it was witches. nowadays for people like you its leftist liberals. Dont be so scared little man, neither the big bad witches nor the leftist liberals will get you.
My post goes double for you Ritdog. Scared little boys. But instead of going home and crying to mama you go cry online like pansy little girls. Boo Hoo. Have some self respect and be a man, if you are even capable.
Is there any word in the English language that does not have some sexual meaning attached to it? Not being a TV viewer, I had no idea what they were talking about until the last sentence. My name is Peter...OMG I just said a dirty word! LMAO
Alan Pugh----thank you for helping me to type less. In this day and age I wonder how they would have labeled the Miller Lite Great Taste---Less Filling Debate. I'm sure a conservative/liberal slant would have been argued the first time the commercial aired.
NEWS FLASH----------Not everything is political. Not all people are political thinkers. This is not a country full of lemmings. Quite a few of us can think for ourselves without following an agenda created by someone that doesn't give a damn about you. I see the human being not the sheep.
Softdude, I was thinking the same thing. Peter, Dick.....what's in a name. Cougar----the animal has been around for a very long time---the term cougar has been around for less than a decade. MILF, Cougar, Sexual Deviant, Woman with no self esteem----call it what you will but for god sake don't make such a direct association with an animal that has existed longer than we have.
We can twist any word into any meaning with a little creativity. It's not like they would have painted their mascot as a sexy silhouette wrapped around a stripper pole-----or would they????
ritdog, you are a prefect example of that which you deride. Nothing positive to say, just grumbling about other view points. Not one thing positive there. I wouldn't want you on my campus either. Not because we disagree, but because you are disagreeable. No one wants to surround themselves with negativity and that is all the political right has had to offer for quite some time now. Bad President, Obummer, Socialist, Communist, Kenyan, Muslim, Bad Grades, Not American. All of that nonsense and you wonder why people think right wingers are stupid. Not one thing there is true, not one. But you all keep pounding away. You're making your own bed and then whining about sleeping in it. Bad form.
I played hockey in men's leagues for years. For a while there was a team in one league named the NADS. Their fans would cheer GO NADS GO NADS GO NADS. It was hilarious. Some people need to get a life.
So use Puma or Mountain Lion
Say cat and no PC issues.
There is a school in Northern Michigan that calls themselves the "Nimrods", but I understand that the National Association for the Advancement of Nimrods is up in arms about it.
I think they should go with the Corner Canyon Fighting Lumberjacks. Who could possibly be offended by a burly ax wielding mascot? And I can hear the cheerleaders now... "They're the Lumberjacks and they're O.K..."
OMG, I hope nobody tells them what "Chargers" really means. ;)
JoeNY
I live in Utah, the Reddest of the Red states.
This is NOT liberals. These are Right Wingers.
Stop parroting Rush. Do your homework.
Obviously, there were a few "Cougars" on the panel that approves the name and felt a bit slighted.
These parents are complaining now? There are over 27 four year colleges in the USA with the team name as COUGARS!
I didn't even know what a "cougar" implied until I got "educated" in this article.
I suppose "The Raging Queens" is out of the question?
If you think thats dumb, when I was in high school our school mascot was a vok. What is a vok you may ask? No one really knew, its was represented by a clock-gear looking thing. Which takes the cake in the Dumbest Mascots Ever contest.
Yo, JoeNY,
Way to get 'em stirred up, pal. Some of these dolts actually believe you think Utah is full of liberals. That is so obviously wrong, that even conservatives realize it. But some of these posters still think you were serious.
Of course the real give-away to your joke was the thing about "entrepeneur" meaning oppressive boss. Anyone who missed the silliness in that needs to turn of the TV, get out of the house and breath some fresh air. "loosing our identity in the world" !!! Don't we wish ??!!
Thanks for the laugh. Your post will win the best humor of the day at the bar tonight!
The vote WAS handled with true democracy. We vote once (if it goes my way). If not, we vote till it goes my way. If it still isn't what I want, then we simply pick my choice. These kids will learn politics early.
I'm betting this school board requires the singers sing "Don we now our holiday apparel" and that they have "Winter Break" "Holiday Trees" a "Spring Egg Hunt" and a "Fall Festival".
I am so sick of the PC police coming out and policing a non-issue.
I'm glad they explained at the end what it meant. I was going to ask you guys. I'm an old lady but I guess I'm not sexy enough for anyone to have ever called me that -- at least to my face. I can fantasize that someone has said it behind my back.
People really do need to lighten up a little. There's something about these parents having their minds in the gutter that gives me the creeps. Scary for the kids.
Politics, aside......... just call it a Puma, and be done with it. Same cat, different connotation....
Ah, semantics...
Remember when "cougar" was a feline and "gay" meant happy?
I vote for the use of the name "Proselytizers" or maybe "White Shirts".
I'd also go with "TaberNackers", but some may say this is being mean... sounds very much like "KnickerBockers". WHAT THE HECK IS A KNICKERBOCKER?!?!?
LOL It's a surname. And was once a very fashionable men's club in New York.
Tnaks, Jerri-1.
The Knickerbockers was also a 1960's band who's hit song "Lies" sounded suspiciously like the Beatles.
Tnaks, RevSpinmaker.
I enjoy that Beatles sound-alike song.
The New York Knicks were originally the Knickerbockers.
Toosano: That's the most interesting thing I've read in this entire thread. Did the original team have any relation to the "fashionable men's club in New York" mentioned earlier? Was it the club owner's name?
What a bunch of Political Correctness.
How does this have anything to do with political correctness? I swear, no one knows the meaning of the phrase anymore....
The Board's logic is even worse with the selection of a "war horse." How about "Corner Canyon Cop-Outs?" It's got all the alliteration one could ever want, and it fits the actions of the adults to a T.
Do they have CHIP MONKS in Utah.??
EmilyinIowa
The whole it MIGHT look like they are Mormon and the it MIGHT be an older woman seeking a younger lover.
The only thing worse here is they asked the students what they felt would be best and then said we don't like your idea so we are just going to go with OUR idea. What sort of a mascot is a charger? Does the energizer bunny come around beating a drum? First thought of a charger is San Diego football, not a hard charger or go getter.
The article says a charger is a war horse. I've always called them destriers. There are also rounceys and coursers, but charger is the generic term for war horse.
How completely stupid. I never heard of the slang use of "Cougar" or the TV show referenced until this story. Take every proposed mascot name, run it through the Urban Dictionary and you will likely have to eliminate every possible reasonable mascot. There's some nasty slang meaning for every otherwise innocuous mascot name. Maybe "The Artichokes" would be safe? Change the school colors to pastel pink and artichoke green. That way we can promote several "PC" agendas all at once. Oh wait, the yellow agenda will be left out and complain, maybe we need to include them too. Oops, we'll have a rainbow and promote something else we dont' want to promote. No colors then. Nope. None at all, too controversial.
So, instead they name the team after a "charger," a container that drug dealers and addicts use to hide drugs up their anus??? Or perhaps they had in mind the morning oral sex a woman gives a man to "charge him up" in the morning???
Since there is no age definition of cougars, it seems that the old cougars of B-Y-Who don't want competition from young succulent cougars of Corner Canyon.
These mothers just don't want a light shined upon their own behaviors.
Your post is just ridiculous. When did this become about mothers? Go read the article and leave mothers out of this. Oh, and by the way, dating a younger man isn't any different than a man dating a younger woman.
Your post is NOT ridiculous, it's pretty funny. Ram is just another hyper-sensitive literalist with no sense of humor. Post on!
boom!reason beenthere, how dare you besmirch the hallowed sanctity of the Great Earth Goddess Mother? Where would you be without your mothers? Motherhood is sacrosanct...You got that. Now shut up! Just because (according to the CDC) American women kill more of their own children than any other mothers in the industrialized world, doesn't give you the right to be critical. Let alone make fun of them.
There you go ram, NOW it's about mothers.
What does this have to do with mothers? AHHH, I see the ignorant cave man sees an opportunity to engage in the time honored tradition of woman bashing. Somebody pat him on the back and tell him what a tough guy he is.
How DARE you use the word mothers!!! YOU have no business talking about them because you're not a mother. You have no idea what it's like to be one.
Ain't nothin' wrong with being a cougar! Rawr!
How about us that have been called mothers - even if it was just the first part of the word?
You're a moth?
I realize we are in an age where everything is battery operated, but naming a team after the ubiquitous chargers is ridiculous!
I agree. Somehow I picture their mascot as a big foam battery charger with giant positive & negative clamps for hands.
What? Don't cougars use battery operated devices that need chargers?
I don't think "cougar" first got notoriety with Cougar Town. But out of touch people in Utah probably first heard about it when watching their favorite wholesome singing/talent/weight-loss competition reality show. I think it gained notoriety before that. I remember seeing it in Oceans 13 a few years back, and I'm sure it was being used before that in other movies (wedding crashers maybe?)
Get over yourselves!!
Direct result of parents sitting at home with nothing better to do than complain about everything.
and 1/2 of them either cougars or dating them
Further proof that the vocal micro-minority will always prevail. Even the fear of any negative comment drives decisions from the spineless "leaders" in this society. This in not America!
So if the board was going to name the school and mascot why take a vote from the students? oh yeah, to give them experience on how the real voting system works once they turn 18 and start electing officials. LOL
Chef80,
Great Point! Exactly how I felt. Why have them vote on it? The PC craziness is killing America.
They are allowed to have their say as long as the administration says it is acceptable. This is no different than what our country does with local, national, and even international elections.
Assuming that polygamy, with the emphasis on younger women and older men, leaves many young men out in the cold, perhaps there's a Cougar problem in rural Utah that locals are more aware of than we are.
hahaha!
This is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard! What a bunch of idiots.
Some East Coast mascot names are more "tame"--Flyers, Stateliners, Purple Roses. I guess animal mascots are less likely to cause trouble--unless it is a wolverine! I'm sticking with Sparty!
Flyer could be a drug user. Once Butten Twice Shy lyrics: "Before he gots his hands across your state line" ...that has sexual connotations. Purple Rose: Could be a black woman's genitalia. We can just go on and on with this stuff.
Hopefully the children will grow to be smarter than these parents/school officials. Then again, what chance do they have if these childish people are the ones influencing the kids...
It seems the name 'Cougars' should be something their school should be proud of. It was a name used with pride probably for some time before the word 'cougar' started to be used in a sexual context. But now the school board makes light of it, creating a problem out of what should be nothing. Made total asses of themselves and disappointed a community as well.
Just name them the pussy cats. That should work and they can become the laughing stock of the state.
Thanks Canyon's District, for making Utah once again the laughing stock of the Nation! Perhaps we can spend more time moving our test scores up so we are not at the bottom of the nation in the quality of education!
with out knowing i would guess that the calibre of student coming from utah keeps the national average from sinking further.
Come on B.Rob. There has to be somebody that holds down the mean (average). The education system behind the Zion Curtain would not want the kids to grow and prosper too much. Too much education starts to question the status quo.
Just saying, top 10 graduation rates in the country.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_baeo_t2.htm
Stupidity escalated.
Rut Row.
Too late.
Stupidity escalated.
This is about the funniest stories I have read in a long time. Seriously?? Please tell me this is a joke. We have homeless people, veterans with disabilities, hunger, etc but this actually makes the news. Those women should be smacked in the face for being stupid. You can find negativity in any word by just making it slang. God help us people seem to growing stupider by the minute. They are poor excuses for a modern woman.
Oh, you are just so mature and reasonable. So an older man can go hang with a younger woman and he is applauded, but an older woman is with a younger man and you want her smacked in the face????? You want her attacked physically? Assaulted? Because you personally don't like her choice of men? Nice. I think perhaps you have the problem here instead of women who happen to want to date someone who happens to be younger.
If someone marries someone you don't approve of what should be done with her? I'd hate to find out...geez. Mind your own life and leave others alone.
How do you know it's the women who objected? Possibly both genders objected. If you know it was all women, please cite your source.
And BTW I love Cougars--both kinds! hehehehe!
Ram, you're making an ass of yourself by not actually reading what people are writing. Sick meant (I think) that those parents (most likely women) should shut the hell up and not whine about something so ridiculous. Sick made no mention whatsoever about older women dating younger men or about dating at all really. You are looking for a fight for whatever reason and it's as stupid as overriding the students vote on a mascot.
i think the name cougar is a good name for a sports team,stick with it and the slang meaning of old horny chicks will change.
How do you guys do it? It really is amazing how you can turn just about any subject into a woman bashing party. Are you really that needy and pathetic? You have to be degrading half the planet in order to feel like a big man? Congrats, you have proved to the world what a tough guy you are- feel better now? LOL
You could make the same argument for most team names, or any name as far as that goes. Please stop the PC bull@!$%# and get over yourselves.
Also, if you really wanted to you could make the argument that most team sports have some kind of sexual connotations if you're desperate enough to sit there and analyze them - "getting it in the end zone", "pound it up the middle", etc. Throw in the tight uniforms, the butt patting, the steamy showers and I'm surprised the school in question here doesn't throw out their extracurricular sports all together.
here's a thought, why not let the students vote on what mascot they want? Keep all the little league, whiny *ss, pc correct soccer mom types out of the equation.
good old conservative whackos always thinking about sex. pervs
Well, it does make sense .......if you are an idiot! This is just the height of PC stupidity! Those kids weren't thinking about the second meaning of cougar! More than likely they wanted the animal to convey that they were fierce and unbeatable. However, if you look hard enough you can find double entendres in much of our language and of course you can find insults of most any kind if you look hard enough!
It seems that the parents, especially the females have something on their minds! This is nuttier than a ton of peanuts! Red
Seriously? Some people have a lot of time on their hands. My HS mascot was the Cougars and somehow we managed to survive!
Cougars.
Oh, I'm sure you're corrupted somehow and just don't realize it yet. You might want to file a class action suit against the school, just in case.
...which reminds me...
Home Economics Class should be renamed Pre-MILF Class. Go ahead, soo me. I have established a Class Action Lawsuit with the legal firm of Dewey Boneum & Howe, Scottsdale Arizona.
WoW! I'm a fairly liberal-to-moderate Democrat, and even I think this is political correctness gone haywire. Oh, wait a minute here...according to this website "thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/charger", their selected team name may still cause a controversy. Oh, my!