Date:  Thu, 9 Jan 1997 07:48:04 -0800
From:  Lex Olorenshaw <lexo[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LSI.SEL.SONY.COM>
Subject: Re: Soccer-Mom-Soccer-Mother?

A few thoughts...

> Going back to something I brought up a few weeks ago, I can't help thinking
> the term should be Soccer Mother. Mom just doesn't sound right to me.
> Compare Den mother, Earth mother, Mother hen- can you imagine saying Den
> Mom, Earth Mom, Mom hen? Or imagine Saddam Hussein threatening us with the
> Mom-of-all-Battles.

I think that "mom" made a strong connection to sports several years
ago when (mainly) pro football players started saying "Hi, Mom!" on
national television. (No one was saying "Hello, Mother!".) Perhaps
a stonger reason is that "mom" may be considered a safer term than "mother",
now that "mother" has become a shortened version of "mother f___er".

> The other thing I don't get with this word is, why soccer? Back in the 60s my
> mother (not my mom) was driving us around to baseball games and dutifully
> watching us as much as any matriarch of the 90s. So why not baseball or
> basketball mom? Certainly in NJ soccer is big, but baseball is just as big.

Soccer seems to be the most PC of all kids' sports these days, since
there are teams for both sexes. (Thus, it was good for the campaign trail.)
Baseball is big, but there are still very few girls in the sport. (Though
"women's softball" has made some headway.)

Now that we all understand what a soccer mom is, has anyone compiled
the first documented use? (I think this was discussed before, but never
really nailed. If it was, could someone kindly re-post?)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Lex Olorenshaw
E-mail: lexo[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]lsi.sel.sony.com
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