What’s in a nickname?
I like to think of myself as someone who is pretty easy going guy. Someone who can run with the punches, someone who takes things as he sees them. I don’t really cause a ripple in the grand scheme things, I just stay in the background.
I do have one pet peeve though, wait no, its not a pet peeve, its down right irritation. School nicknames. Particularly ones that change the mascot to a different gender and change the name for the girls. In other words, its a different “mascot” for a the girls than the guys. Take for instance the argument that I had just this morning. The Perkins County girls are the #1 team in Class C2, undefeated and barring a major upset, they will will the C2 title. Their school nickname is the “Plainsmen.” Someone told me that they are called the Plainswomen. First off they’re wrong, because the school is registered with the NSAA as Plainsmen for both genders. But second, why are the girls not good enough to get the Plainsmen nickname? Why do they have to get a different nickname than the boys?
Other examples throughout the state:
Axtell Wildcats call their girls the Lady Cats.
Beatrice Orangemen call their girls the Lady Orange.
Hastings St. Cecilia Bluehawks call their girls the Hawkettes
Sidney Red Raiders call their girls the Lady Raiders
Sutton Mustangs call their girls the Fillies
Lexington Minutemen call their girls the Minutemaids
And the worst nickname change of all:
The Columbus Lakeview Vikings call their girls...yes this is actually registered with the NSAA… the ViQueens.
And I’m almost positive that Waverly did this at one point while I was in high school.
I have a little bit less irritation, but still a irritation, for those schools that put “lady” in front of the nickname but don’t change the original name. (Lady Irish, Lady Bulldogs, Lady Warriors)
This changing of the nicknames irritates the hell out of me and it really needs to stop. Its very sexist, and, to me at least, it sends the message that the girls aren’t good enough for the nickname of the high school they go to.
Sorry, soapbox rant over.
The Comments
Mr. Wilson says I don't (generally) have a February 23, 2008 at 3:00pm
I don’t (generally) have a problem with schools changing obviously masculine mascots (e.g. Plainsmen) to something more feminine. Your “Minutemaids” example made me throw up in my mouth, but Plainswomen would be fine with me (if that were their official name).
Where I definitely agree with you is when a school takes a gender-neutral mascot (e.g. Wildcats, Blackhawks, Red Raiders) and creates a separate feminine mascot. That’s annoying, and I would think the female athletes would be insulted.
Not that I’ve given this a lot of thought. Does anybody in Lincoln do this? We’ve got: Rockets, Spartans, Knights, Links, Gators, Silverhawks, Crusaders, Thunderbolts, and Warriors. (Did I miss anybody?) They’re all gender neutral, or they can be easily interpreted as gender neutral. I can’t remember any of the girls’ teams going by Lady [X]. Am I wrong on that?
D.M.B. says RE: I don't (generally) have a February 23, 2008 at 8:34pm
None of the Lincoln schools do no.
Greg says yeah, kinda takes away from February 27, 2008 at 1:07am
yeah, kinda takes away from them just being athletes and makes them into a different category almost. Through my days of gaming and meeting female gamers at this mmo community site I know they don’t like it when people feminize them whether ingame or in ventrilo.