Carl Klutzke (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sirvalence) wrote,@ 2008-01-09 16:05:00 |
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| Entry tags: | questions |
The Eponymous Bearcat
The bearcat is the mascot of numerous colleges and high schools. A car was named for it. A plane was named for it. A line of police scanners was named for it. But what is it, and where does it live?
There are three answers:
1. "Bear-cat" is apparently a fairly literal translation of the Chinese word for "panda". But the lack of the panda's distinctive coloration on the mascots, car, and plane surely indicate that this isn't the source of their name.
2. The binturong of southeast asia is sometimes called a bearcat, though it's neither a bear nor a cat. (Wikipedia) Some mascot apologists identify this creature as the source of the name, but it seems no more likely than a panda. After all, as far as I can tell, no one has named anything after the binturong's close releatives, the civet and the genet.
3. It's a mythical creature combining the fiercest qualities of bears and cats: think of a cross between a grizzly and a cougar. Strangely, there don't appear to be any stories of such a creature. It seems to exist only to have things named for it. At the University of Cincinnati, it was conceived as a creature more powerful than the opposing Kentucky Wildcats (and one player on the team was named Baehr, pronounced "bear"). Sam Houston State University confirms that its mascot is definitely not a binturong. Central Michigan University's mascot was once the bearcat, because "it has all the fighting qualities of wildcats and more because no one ever saw a bearcat"--the implication being that no one ever saw it because it doesn't exist. I haven't yet been able to determine the first thing named after a bearcat, but I'm sure this is what the namer had in mind.
1. "Bear-cat" is apparently a fairly literal translation of the Chinese word for "panda". But the lack of the panda's distinctive coloration on the mascots, car, and plane surely indicate that this isn't the source of their name.
2. The binturong of southeast asia is sometimes called a bearcat, though it's neither a bear nor a cat. (Wikipedia) Some mascot apologists identify this creature as the source of the name, but it seems no more likely than a panda. After all, as far as I can tell, no one has named anything after the binturong's close releatives, the civet and the genet.
3. It's a mythical creature combining the fiercest qualities of bears and cats: think of a cross between a grizzly and a cougar. Strangely, there don't appear to be any stories of such a creature. It seems to exist only to have things named for it. At the University of Cincinnati, it was conceived as a creature more powerful than the opposing Kentucky Wildcats (and one player on the team was named Baehr, pronounced "bear"). Sam Houston State University confirms that its mascot is definitely not a binturong. Central Michigan University's mascot was once the bearcat, because "it has all the fighting qualities of wildcats and more because no one ever saw a bearcat"--the implication being that no one ever saw it because it doesn't exist. I haven't yet been able to determine the first thing named after a bearcat, but I'm sure this is what the namer had in mind.
