Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 09:35:32 -0500

From: Wayne Glowka wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU

Subject: Re: Nominations for Words of the Year



Oh, I've never received a very clear definition of a "soccer mom." Is she

Republican, Democrat? Democratic Centrist? Liberal Republican? All of the

above?



Jim Crotty (aka Monk)

How to Talk American

Monkmag[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com

www.monk.com



Here is a well developed opinion of what "soccer mom" might mean:



1997 6 Mar Dolores Curran The Georgia Bulletin 5/1-3 She Finds 'Soccer Mom'

Definitions Hogwash [Title]/I was emotionally geared up to write a stinging

column belittling what I perceived to be a derogatory term, "soccer mom,"

when truth did me in. I was surprised to discover that it was coined years

ago by a Denver woman running for city council. When asked for her

credentials, she proudly replied, "soccer mom," and a sound byte was born./

. . . . All yuppies are not selfish, all white males are not angry, and all

soccer moms do not live for and through their children./I know. I was a

soccer mom, only back then we were called little league moms, a phrase

often used condescendingly. I drove kids to practice and attended some of

their games, but I did not put aside my life for their sports activities,

which appears to be one of the interpretations of soccer mom./Another

demeaning definition is that of the at-home mother who is anything but at

home because she's driving her 1.8 children to ballet, orthodontist and

success. The implication is that she is so frenzied that she will vote for

anyone who acknowledges her existence./A third definition depicts the

soccer mom in the tired stereotype of the little woman who naively feels

that she can change the world by voting for a candidate who is attractive,

charismatic and seems to care about home and hearth over more significant

world issues./All these definitions are hogwash. Soccer mom is simply a

convenient label put on the women's vote./. . . .The joke has become

reality. Those little old women in tennis shoes had little girls who

became soccer moms.



Wayne Glowka