First there was the Wisconsin Tourism Federation changing its name to avoid the confusion with another usage of WTF, here. Now, Canada’s second-oldest magazine, The Beaver, is changing its name because it continues to be confused with porn sites and filtered out on computers.
The magazine’s name was chosen 90 years ago in a more innocent time to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the fur trade.
Publisher Deborah Morrison says that “The Beaver was an impediment online.” Not only was the site blocked, but emails were often returned as presumed porn. If she is bothered by the confusion, imagine the thousands of porn reviewers who went to The Beaver only to find a cover on Arctic Visions.
That does not seem to bother the good people at Beaver.com or even worse, The Busy Beaver. Indeed, one wonders what happens when Oregon’s Fightin’ Beavers visit other schools.
They should not have the same problem with the new title which is as dull and unassuming as they could find: Canada’s History.
For the full story, click here.
Kudos to Ian Synder for the story
It was nearly ten years ago that Beaver College in suburban Philadelphia, changed its name to Arcadia University. Originally founded as Beaver Female Seminary, it remained single sex until the mid-1970s. http://tinyurl.com/y9pbncf
Canadian eh:
we try.
Byron,
while Americans may have defamed one of our national symbols, I’ll forgive, as I do appreciate the many good things that they’ve shared with us!
Bob Esq:
no need to let us in on that joke. It is just the ones about big bangs and reincarnation that slip buy.
Poor publisher finally realized just how much they muffed it up.
Welcome to the bush league.
eh hem.
Canadian Eh:
leave it to Americans to corrupt a furry little critter.
We dont have much else to do but sit around and make up names.
a post from Answer bag:
“I never saw a beaver before until this past summer in a NYS park. Unfortunatley, it was dead. I would send it to guys who asked for pictures of beaver. I thought it was pretty funny.”
I have to agree.
Up until a few years ago, I actually didn’t know that a beaver was anything but a cute damn-building animal who owns a place on our nickles!
30%er,
You’re just not looking in the right sites.
I wondered why those pictures of Glaciers and wildlife kept coming up in my searches…
As a man who is fascinated with word etymologies and Greek/Latin derivations, especially involving scientific binomial nomenclatures, I loathe to see the devolution of legitimate words’ demise into the pit of Urban Dictionary slang to become the more common, vulgar usage. Such word degradation is fine in slang, blue jokes, et cetera. However, it is a shame that others and I tend to avoid words like ‘cougar’—denoting the Mountain Lion—because invariably the word is now associated with older, 2-legged cats on the prowl for younger human prey instead of the original derivation and proper appellation; any discussion of it will involve repetitive, tiresome human cougar’ jokes and snickers.
“Hot For Words” is a funny YouTube excursion that illustrates the Urban/Webster divide, although I still prefer the traditional manner of learning the English language derived from Greek and Latin roots, stems and transliterations. Nonsense words are fun and great for double entendre; however, I certainly hate to see them become mainstreamed in conversation and prose. WTF is the most current, ‘in vogue’ buzzword example of vulgar ubiquitousness that is often used where it is inappropriate—although in today’s language, word appropriateness is becoming increasingly blurred and there is no longer a definitive line of demarcation between proper/improper/formal/informal verbiage within the living, evolving English vocabulary.
Oh, Whatever!…
It’s Oregon State Univ.’s Beavers
and Univ. of Oregon Ducks
You just never know what you can find on the internet. Lets, all take the 1905 definition of being Gay or the English, will you get me a fagot?
But then again, as a child. Ok, you know where the mind will take you. June says to Ward: Ward, don’t you think you were a little hard on the “beav” last night?
As Dan Quail proved a mind is a terrible thing to waste. The proper use of “e”.
Might I suggest as alternative titles:
“The Lumberjack” or “Nights In Red Flannel”. Still saucy but without all the Google lack of context computer stupidity.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clPYfaTvHT0&hl=en_US&fs=1&]