Factlet (1)

What's A GEE-GEE?

    A while back I posted about HEADLINES and provided examples of some that were funny, perplexing, incorrect, etc., so perhaps that is the reason I paused at this one: "Mustangs Brace for Balanced Attack From Gee-Gees." Here in Ontario it is not too difficult to figure out what it means, but those living elsewhere may be puzzled and I realized that I had no idea what a "Gee-Gee" is, other than it is attached to the teams playing for the University of Ottawa.

     Since you probably know and since the answer is easy to find I will say simply that it is an abbreviated way to refer to the school colours which are Garnet and Grey and fortunately the GG works in French, Grenat et Gris. 

     The professional football team in Ottawa is the REDBLACKS.  It is not uncommon, although it is rather unimaginative, for teams to be referred to by their colours. One finds, for example, the ALL BLACKS way down and under in New Zealand.  Choosing a colour for a name, one would think, allows the team to focus on the competition and avoid the controversy that has come to be associated with many team names which are now deemed to be unacceptable and inappropriate.

     Unfortunately, however, it is not that simple. Quite a while back a university team in an adjacent province chose the nickname of "Redmen" because of the red jerseys they wore. Perhaps they were somewhat shortsighted in not anticipating that the women on campus might someday form a team or perhaps they thought McGill Redwomen would work. 

     The choice of 'red" is now problematic. I understand that soon the students at McGill will have a vote to determine if the name needs to be changed. I am not sure if anyone has had the nerve to challenge the ALL BLACKS  for appropriating the colour or the haka.

Sources:
"Mustangs Brace for Balanced Attack From the Gee-Gees," Paul Vanderhoeven, London Free Press, Oct. 12, 2018.
"Indigenous Student Athlete Pushes McGill to Axe 'Redmen' Nickname," CTV News, Oct. 17, 2018.

Post Script:
     On the other side of the country, Simon Fraser University got into trouble even though the sports teams there are not named after a colour.  They are dubbed 'The Clan' (formerly 'The Clansmen').
     Although old Simon was born in Vermont his heritage was Scottish, hence the name. Now you are probably assuming that the team name is no longer acceptable because the chanting of it at games would traumatize some students who would be reminded of our horrible colonial past. But, it is more complicated than that and grammatical issues are involved as well as historical ones. When you name your team, be cautious about the colour choice and be aware of HOMOPHONES.
    SFU is involved in a bigger league, the NCAA, and there is concern that when the team travels to the south, the chant of "GO CLAN" might not sound right. I will conclude here with a source that explains it all. I have not checked to see what has happened.
"SFU Prof Says ‘Clan’ Team Name Should Change, Puts Student Athletes at Risk, Jon Azpiri, GlobalNews Sept. 24, 2017
"Holly Andersen, a professor with SFU’s department of philosophy, said the team name could offend some Americans who may associate The Clan with the Ku Klux Klan....
In a statement to Global News, Andersen said the team name “makes our competitors incredibly uncomfortable and puts them in a very awkward position.”

Apparently a student suggested that perhaps the teams should be called 'The Clams' to avoid embarrassment. Probably not. My suggestion - 'The Mussels' - would be better.

Bonus: 'Gee Gee' also refers to the first horse out of the starting gate. In this case, however, a Mustang won.

What's a Factlet?
     Almost daily I come across very interesting facts of which you are unaware and I thought it would be good for you and great for me if I just posted such information to avoid having to think and actually create content myself. This was going to be the first sample of what I was going to call a 'Factoid' which I thought was just a trivial bit of interesting information. But, I made the mistake of looking up the word which was coined by Norman Mailer back in the early '70s. Originally a 'factoid' was not something that was true, but rather information that was accepted as fact because it had been repeated or appeared in print. Given that there is so much 'fake news' around I thought it best to use the word suggested by William Safire so that you can be sure that the future factlets on this blog will be true trivia.
(For the source for this just see the Wiki entry for 'Factoid'.)