cougar (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

>
> http://blog.oup.com/2007/11/locavore/
>
> Also from '07, see Grant Barrett's discussion in his (Malaysian)
_Star_
> column
> (which dates the term to '01):
>

Grant says:

"In hunting cougars - the term, not the women or the wild cats - I found
a March 3, 2001, article in the Globe and Mail of Toronto which credits
"cougar" to a Canadian website called Cougardate.com, which the story
says was started in 1999. . . . So, 1999 is the earliest probable date
we have for the term and it's fairly reliable."

The article itself is somewhat ambiguous:

"Five weeks ago, Elspeth Sage and Elizabeth Vander Zaag, two
first-generation cougars from the West Coast, launched an Internet
dating service at http://www.cougardate.com, for cougars and prey of all
ages."

Later it says:  "The site was originally created three years ago when,
according to the Vancouver Sun, Sage's nephew called the pair a couple
of stereotypical cougars."

So, was it created 5 weeks or 3 years prior to Mar 3 2001?  There is a
reference in google groups to "cougardate" in Feb 2001.

At any rate, 2001 seems to be the date to beat.

"Street talk" _Toronto Star, The_ (Ontario, Canada) - Tuesday, August
29, 2000 p. F03 (from Newsbank)

"Cougar : an attractive, flirtatious older woman ."

An Apr 16 2001 article in _Maclean's_ says "The term even came up on Sex
and the City, when PR exec Samantha-played by B.C. native Kim
Cattrall-referred to herself as a cougar."  Sex and the City started in
1998, so it may go back that far, but a search of online scripts has
failed to confirm this.


The other member of the cougar partnership is a cub.

"LOVE FOR ALL AGES" _Pittsburgh Post-Gazette_ (PA) - Sunday, October 9,
2005  p. E-01
Author: L.A. Johnson

"So, is Demi no longer an Urban Cougar since she's married her cub and
embraced commitment?"

"On the prowl with cougars" _Sunday Times, The_ (London, England) -
Sunday, February 25, 2007 p. Travel 30
Author: Sally Emerson

"First, check the website www.urbancougar.com: there's a listing of bars
and hangouts, as well as tales from the cougars and the "cubs" (their
willing victims)."
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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