Sunday, November 12, 2006

Nicknames

College and Professional sports nicknames:

Let's see

Boston Celtics
Minnesota Vikings
New York Yankees
Montreal Canadiens
Vancouver Canucks

Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Alfred Saxons
Ooh The Scots (Alma College - not far from me, + 9 others)
The Northmen of State University of New York-College of Technology at Canton
Emory and Henry Wasps (remember that word is also an ethnic description!)
18 teams nicknamed Vikings
Quakers by three different colleges.
Here's a great one: The Prophets of Oklahoma Baptist College and Institute (bet the Muslims love that one!)
Central College Dutch Union College Dutchmen, and three schools nicknamed The Flying Dutchmen
My own college basketball and baseball teams were the Crusaders which some groups consider offensive.

All of these are named after nationalities or ethnic groups or other names strongly associated with an ethnicity, so who do they complain about: Indian names

Sad thing is, for the most part, it's not the American Indians who are complaining, but white activists acting on their behalf (Some are Native Americans, but most are not.)

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hehehe, the local high school team here is called the Redskins. Very egregious, but we've managed to keep it despite PC whining.

How about the Braves? None of these names for teams is offensive. Indeed, they are complimentary to whom they refer to.

2:11 AM  
Blogger Lone Pony said...

Here in Kansas City, we have the Chiefs. They have a fit about how the fans use their arm to simulate a hatchet when rooting for our team. A bunch of them get together every year and demonstrate outside the stadium.

5:36 AM  
Blogger Tim said...

I think redskins is a bit racist, but braves, indians, etc are okay.

8:16 AM  
Blogger shoprat said...

tim & atheling2 I agree that Redskins may be considered perjorative because it was an insulting discription no different than "paleface" or others. Names like "Braves" is no different than calling a team the "Knights". Both were elite warriors associated with a specific culture, and it might be correct to consider them cultural equivalents.

I do agree with not demeaning their symbols at that in silly ways, but at Central Michigan, the Mt Pleasant Chippewas have formally given their approval to the use of their name so long as it used honorably.

lp You never see them protesting the Celtics or Irish though.

3:37 PM  
Blogger Dionne said...

Political correctness gone wild once again!!

6:29 PM  
Blogger The Conservative UAW Guy said...

I'd play on a team called the Palefaces.
I mean if I could actually play sports, that is.

7:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I fight PC garbage at every turn. These names have been around forever, and all of sudden there not acceptable? ... I think not.

8:18 PM  
Blogger Douglas V. Gibbs said...

Funny, there haven't been any Aztec Indians complaining about the San Diego State Aztecs. Down there, the citizens are too entrenched on trying to remove a cross from Mount Soledad.

5:56 PM  
Blogger Gayle said...

People in this country have gone absolutely nuts trying to enforce political correctness. Everyone worries about everyone's feelings except conservatives; especially Christian conservatives! Then the gloves are off. It doesn't matter what names they call us.

That nonsense over the Soledad Cross really ticks me off too. Too many things these days do. Hanging onto my sense-of-humor is getting more difficult with every breath I take.

7:56 PM  
Blogger BB-Idaho said...

Team names run the gamut. My high school team was the'old abes', our
Idaho University are the 'Vandals'
and a small town up river are, I kid you not, the' Maniacs'. Old Abe was a civil war eagle of the Wisconsin 2nd Inf, (long dead, can't complain), the old Vandals swept Europe, Spain and N Africa
and disappeared (long gone, can't complain), the Maniacs were named
many years ago after a mental institution across town. It's still there, but if there are complaints they don't get over the fence. Holy Cross College in Mass field teams called Crusaders:) My
daughter teaches at Washburn U in Topeka, where they are called the
Ichabods, UC-Irvine are the proud, if cumbersome, Anteaters..my personal favorite is the minor league baseball team in the industrial town of Beloit....
the Lugnuts! :)

9:49 PM  

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