Community Question: What Do You Think of When You Hear the Word, "Cougar"?

In a place like Manassas Park, where students at every one of the four schools in the city are collectively known as the "Cougars," it's hard to believe that the meaning of the word in popular culture would cause such a negative uproar (pun intended), that the mascot would be changed. 

But that's exactly what happened in the Canyons School District in Utah where students voted to have the cougar as the mascot of Corner Canyon High, a school slated to open in the fall of 2013, according to a Huffngton Post report.

The word, "cougar" is used as an informal term for older women—typically in their forties—who seek to date and have sexual encounters with men significantly younger than themselves. 

The board made the decision to call Corner Canyon High students and sports teams the Chargers, a term for war horses, after Canyons Superintendent David Doty received several phone calls and emails from parents and patrons about the proposed cougar mascot.

"... 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,'" Doty wrote to the board.