Talk:Cougar (slang)

Background from CBC

A little background from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/language/

cougar: slang: an older woman pursuing or dating a younger man.

Mentioned on The Late Show with David Letterman on 7/13/06.

Wow, Dave's using Wikipedia as an information resource now? 24.91.211.93 04:18, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

I think he read this whole Wikipedia article verbatim on the air. Michael Hardy 00:30, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

He did, but stopped after the "started in Canada, spread to US" part. --TheTruthiness 06:40, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

No, he did not. I remember his saying "carnal activities". Michael Hardy 18:15, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Twilight cougars

• If you Google "Twilight Cougars" you will find fan fiction, some of an adult nature and a variety of forums. There is a huge cougar mom fanbase as they seem to call themselves. I have added some info and refs to get people started but it needs expanding I think. I had no idea what a cougar mom was 24 hours ago but it looks to me like it's a middle aged women who watches twilight lol. Anyway there are far too many articles about this phenomena for me to read and summarise so I don't have the time to do this new section justice so I hope someone else will :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Scottonsocks (talk • contribs) 02:16, 5 January 2013 (UTC)
  • Despite the sources, I'm not exactly sure why that section is even necessary. It suggests that Twilight is the only medium that has cougar interest. If there were more examples BESIDES Twilight, maybe. Erpert ^{Who is this guy? | Wanna talk about it?} 18:03, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
    • I removed the entire section. I agree it's not appropriate for an encyclopedia. Maybe ED. -Nathan Johnson (talk) 15:02, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Graduate?

Single man? He's her daughter's boyfriend. --50.197.137.1 (talk) 17:52, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

I fixed it. And keep in mind that you can be WP:Bold when it comes to editing Wikipedia articles. I also made this tweak to the line. Flyer22 (talk) 02:11, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

An encyclopedia entry can go no further back than 1967 and a movie to prove that the concept of an older woman seeking a younger man existed before a latter-day slang term? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.44.33.145 (talk) 00:53, 13 June 2014 (UTC)

Agreed, it's ridiculous to suggest this concept only goes back as far as 1961, slang or no slang. Let's be real, I'm sure such a relationship has first occurred not long after the dawn of man, and there hasn't been any period of time since where it wasn't happening somewhere, it's only natural. 66.208.24.98 (talk) 19:37, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

Update/Note: The Jolly Bard altered the material. Flyer22 (talk) 21:35, 16 May 2015 (UTC)

Does this sentence sound right to you?

"However, the term can also refer to any female who has a male partner much younger than herself, regardless of age or age difference." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.21.73.12 (talk) 16:18, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

 Fixed Jim Michael (talk) 05:30, 3 September 2018 (UTC)

Incorrect and/or improper usage of commas

I reverted Cebr1979 on poor grammar, as seen with this edit. He reverted me only to realize that I was clearly correct on one instance. What Cebr1979 fails to realize is that I was correct on more than one instance, despite his insult, which, given his reputation, is not surprising. That he decided to WP:Edit war is also not surprising, given his reputation. As seen with this edit, I reverted him again, citing a discussion that is similar to this matter (one at Talk:Justin Bieber). Cebr1979 reverted again, with another insult typical of his style.

At Talk:Justin Bieber, I stated, "It should simply be 'music magazine Rolling Stone,' not 'the music magazine, Rolling Stone.' Consider if we were stating that Bieber guest starred on The 100. It should be 'Bieber guest starred on the television show The 100.', not 'Bieber guest starred on the television show, The 100.' The comma should not be there." Similarly, Cebr1979 has added commas between Cougar Club and Cougar Town, so that it reads as "The 2007 film, Cougar Club [...]" and "The 2009 sitcom, Cougar Town [...]." The commas should not be there; it should simply be "The 2007 film Cougar Club" and "The 2009 sitcom Cougar Town." If the word the was an "a," then commas would be fine there.

I will contact WP:Grammar to weigh in on this matter. Flyer22 (talk) 09:30, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

HAHAhahahAHAHAHahahahahAHAhahahaha! You wanna talk about reputations for edit warring? Given your two blocks for it, yours is crap. You should consider giving up your "grammar lessons" because you're not qualified to give them. You clearly know nothing about commas. As I pointed out on your talk page, your own example of "Bieber's father, Jeremy Bieber, is characterized in..." is EXACTLY the same as, "The 2007 film, Cougar Club, was dedicated to..." so stop taking out correct commas. Have a good day (though, given your reputation, you probably won't).Cebr1979 (talk) 09:39, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Cebr1979, could you be any more immature? I was blocked once for WP:Edit warring. And that block was overturned because it was an invalid block, which is why my block log for that matter states "uneccessary block, will comment at ANI," by The ed17. And all my other blocks were misunderstandings, except for the one where I was blocked to protect my account since it was WP:Compromised, as is clear at User talk:Flyer22/Archive 10/Block cases. If you are going to read/report on a person's block log, then actually comprehend it and report on it accurately. And, no, "Bieber's father, Jeremy Bieber, is characterized in..." is NOT EXACTLY the same as "The 2007 film, Cougar Club, was dedicated to...". We will see what, if anything, WP:Grammar has to state on this matter (the grammar matter, of course). Flyer22 (talk) 10:04, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Just noting here that Flyer is 100% correct. Ed ^{[talk] [majestic titan]} 19:14, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Does your immaturity really require so many different conversations about the same thing? On your talk page, I already told you to stop pinging me. I've had enough of your "Godly" status for one evening.Cebr1979 (talk) 10:08, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Yes, yes, we had an exchange of words at my talk page.

Going back to the commas you added, I wouldn't state that they are definitely incorrect (well, except for the one we both agreed on as incorrect). I note on my user page that grammar is not my expertise (not even close to it). But I also don't think that the commas you added are needed. Flyer22 (talk) 10:23, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

So... it's not your "expertise (not even close to it)" but, you're dishing out "lessons" and reverting other editors over something you're aware you probably are not right on? You revert based on "maybes" and "I thinks?" That's really weird. Like... you should probably consider knowing what you're talking about before you going making a big deal about something you're "not even close to" knowing about. I would have thought that would simply be comma-n sense! LolCebr1979 (talk) 10:32, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Your edits initially included an obviously incorrect comma usage; I know enough about commas to know that. I also know that none of the commas you added (except for this one) are needed. And because I am certain of that, I reverted you...twice. Since you cannot discuss anything without being hot-headed, I suggest you wait and see if others will weigh in on this grammar matter. Flyer22 (talk) 10:39, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Should you ever require assistance in a field that is obviously not your expertise, feel free to message for help. I may choose to get back to you.Cebr1979 (talk) 10:45, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Note: Another editor, Crywalt (talk · contribs), has also addressed Cebr1979 on his comma usage; it concerns an unrelated matter, though. See here. Flyer22 (talk) 11:28, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

I also queried editors at WP:Manual of Style about weighing in on this matter, especially since Crywalt cited that guideline when talking to Cebr1979. Flyer22 (talk) 11:56, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Yep! There's also here where another editor called me out on it too. I school many non-experts on proper punctuation. It happened on a Walking Dead-related article too but, I can't remember which one. My apologies.Cebr1979 (talk) 12:12, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Jarold Blythe reverted Cebr1979, stating, "more than one film was made in 2007 (etc.)" That rationale is also why I reverted Cebr1979. But, Jarold Blythe, how did you, as a very new account, find this dispute so soon? I immediately considered that you are one of my stalker WP:Socks, especially having turned up here at a rather obscure article and with the way you sign your username with "Cheers," right before the signature. But I see that you are discussing a block matter. The point is that I immediately recognized you as non-new, and I found it odd that you would revert Cebr1979 without commenting on this talk page. Flyer22 (talk) 19:27, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Not everything needs to be discussed at length. A helpful edit summary, with the assumption of good faith, often suffices. Cheers, Jarold (talk) 19:46, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Jarold, in this case, since Cebr1979 is convinced that he is correct about his grammar usage and is prone to revert because of it here and/or at different articles, discussion is important. Otherwise, I would not have contacted two different pages (noted above) about weighing in on this matter. I'll keep note of your silence on the other aspect I queried regarding you. Flyer22 (talk) 19:50, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

The commas in a reality show called, ''[[The Cougar (TV series)|The Cougar]]''. The 2009 sitcom, ''[[Cougar Town]]'', originally explored ... are wrong [not a matter of dialect or register, but flatly incorrect grammatically]. The use in the second case could be correct, if this read something like a reality show called ''[[The Cougar (TV series)|The Cougar]]'', which inspired a later sitcom. The 2009 sitcom, ''[[Cougar Town]]'', originally explored ....  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  22:21, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for weighing in, SMcCandlish. Flyer22 (talk) 22:24, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

JaroldBlythe is no more correct than Flyer22... especially when it comes to him taking the last comma out of, "The cougar concept has been used in television shows, advertising, and film." Oh, well. You guys can keep your slang page wrong, wrong, and wrong. I'm actually getting a kick out of just how much you don't know English as an "expertise" yet, feel like scholars when it means you get to make someone else wrong. The rationale you're using is just excellent. Have a good one, all!Cebr1979 (talk) 22:52, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Whether to use the "serial comma" a.k.a. "Oxford comma" between the last and next-to-last items in a list is a matter of variable real-world usage and off-WP style guide advice. MOS notes this itself. Its use is not required on WP. Even being an American, I prefer it, because it's a more precise usage, but omitting it isn't "wrong", in terms of linguistic description or the kind of prescriptive grammar that comes from MOS or other style guides, unless omitting it results in an ambiguity.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  02:33, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

I have an excercise for you all: Which one of these sentences is correct?

• Flyer 22 is having dinner with his parents, Wonder Woman and Superman.
  • -OR-
• Flyer22 is having dinner with his parents, Wonder Woman, and Superman.

Cebr1979 (talk) 23:16, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

Depends on the intended meaning. Both sentences can mean he's having dinner with four people (depending on whether your dialect tolerates loss of the serial comma or not; in ones that don't, the first example is very ambiguous; the second one also ambiguous, regardless of dialect, but less so). Instead of misguided punditry about what is or isn't correct comma use, the smart thing to do is never use such a construction. If four people are intended, use (for example) "Flyer22 is having dinner with his parents and with Wonder Woman and Superman". If two guest are intended, you can use "Flyer22 is having dinner with his parents (Wonder Woman and Superman)". None of this seems to relate to this article, however.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  02:33, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

It does relate to this article. So... is the term "cougar" used in both advertising and films or is it only used in advertising related to films?Cebr1979 (talk) 02:37, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

What does that have to do with the commas issue? I'm personally skeptical that "Cougar" in Cougar Town refers to this concept; of the three women in the show, two are married to men their own age and not chasing after young men, and the other is a young woman dating the son of one of the others. It may be a reference to Florida cougar a.k.a Florida panther; the show takes place in Florida, where the animal is something of a state cause celebre. But that doesn't relate to commas either. I see at least three different things being discussed in this thread (four if you count all the personal sniping).  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  03:05, 20 July 2015 (UTC)  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  02:41, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

I was referring to the final comma being removed from this sentence: "The cougar concept has been used in television shows, advertising and film."Cebr1979 (talk) 02:51, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Ah, ok. Well, that's the serial comma. It's optional. See MOS:COMMA. Nothing about that construction, with or without the serial comma, implies anything about "advertising related to film".  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  03:07, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
Update: I added the serial comma in there, since it's easier to parse as "television shows, advertising, and film".  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  03:18, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

To follow up, New Yorker editor Mary Norris, via Twitter, later agreed with Cebr1979 on the comma we were discussing. So I'm going to say he was right and I was wrong, although in my defense it's a bit of an edge case. I still think there are far too many commas on Wikipedia generally and I think it's almost always safe to just chuck them. :) Crywalt (talk) 00:55, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

As with everything, context is crucial. There are actually thousands of missing commas that need to be added (e.g. after "however", "therefore", etc.), in addition to grammatically wrong ones that need to be removed, and unhelpful ones that aren't wrong but just poor writing style, that can optionally be removed. It takes a lot of writing experience and education/training in grammar and usage to get all three of those cases correct (plus an understanding of both dialectal and register distinctions in usage). I'll leave it to the reader to decide whether there's evidence of a marked lack of these things in this discussion, on multiple sides. Anyway, if you go around randomly deleting commas, you'll probably get WP:ANI'd and have your editing restricted for being disruptive.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  02:39, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

[ WP:Edit conflict ]: Cebr1979, considering some of the above and what Bruiserid taught you about grammar, which is something I already knew about using correct grammar, I think it's clear that you should be more careful with your grammar "corrections." Also, I'm female. But anyway, I'm done responding to you on grammatical changes...until the next time I "have to" revert your grammar changes. Given the dripping hostility that is always there when you debate, it's hardly ever worth it to discuss matters with you. Flyer22 (talk) 00:58, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Given how wrong you are most of the time when it comes to comma usage, Flyer, I think it would be best if you looked up this Mary Norris person before "correcting" something you are "not even close to" being an "expert" on.Cebr1979 (talk) 01:08, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Oh, and I taught more to Bruiser than he taught to me. Learn how to do your homework better. Learn commas first, please, but I would recommend adding homework to your list too. Have a good one.Cebr1979 (talk) 01:11, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Bruiserid, feel free to give your opinion on one or more of these aspects when you get a good chance to. Because Cebr1979's involved, I can understand why you wouldn't want to comment. In addition to getting grammar matters wrong, my sex/gender wrong, he also seems to think that I get comma usage wrong most of the time (as if he follows me/spots me often enough to know). To me, comma usage is generally easy. And it is but one aspect of grammar usage, after all. So I can only imagine what he's gotten wrong with regard to his comments on you and others, and during his discussions with you all. If I was interested in reading all of that, I would read it. Flyer22 (talk) 02:39, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Bruiser and I left things on good terms, Flyer. In fact, we never even argued. We simply discussed like adults. So, in addition to doing your homework properly, how about you don't go posting ignorant assumptions?Cebr1979 (talk) 02:48, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

You should probably stop "imagining" too... LolCebr1979 (talk) 02:53, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

"You should probably" is you "imagining" what the other party should do. See WP:KETTLE. The personality dispute you two are having isn't helping improve this article and belongs in user talk (or st a noticeboard, if either of you think you have some big user-conduct case to pursue).  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  03:17, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
Never mind; a block has already ensued.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  03:24, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

(←) Responding to Flyer22's earlier point about Jarold Blythe, I can't say whether he's one of your stalkers, but he is currently the subject of an SPI and has been reblocked as a sockpuppet.

As for the comma issue, I agree with the various other posters that the one after the word "called" needed to be removed. The other commas are optional, at least based on some grammar variants, and there was really no need for JB to remove them, but I also see no pressing need to restore them. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 19:12, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Eve Donovan/Days of Our Lives

I've noticed that multiple autoconfirmed users have removed this useless trivia but, only IPs (and one sockpuppet) keep putting it back. Nothing in either of these two sources1 2 ever refers to her as a cougar. "Mrs. Robinson"-type stories are soap opera staples. If we're going to add Eve Donovan, we'll need to add all of them (including non-noteworthy characters like Anita Hodges). Having Eve referenced in this article in no way improves it. This trivial info keeps getting added to the Kassie DePaiva page too and (as I stated in that page's talk page): IP address and location tracked.Cebr1979 (talk) 09:27, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

NYT / ABC News as sources for what 'cougar' means

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

Friendly reminder to be civil.

The problem with the current lede is that it practically invites additions like this:

Cougar is a slang term that refers to a woman who seeks sexual relations with considerably younger men. ABC News states that these women pursue sexual relations with people more than eight years younger than they are, while The New York Times states that the women are over the age of 40 and aggressively pursue sexual relations with men in their 20s or 30s. Men's fitness uses it to refer to "hot women" who are "several" years older than their partner, while the Online Slang Dictionary uses it to refer to "middle-aged women" who are pursuing "much younger" men. Wingman magazine states that cougars are women in their late 30s, 40s and 50s, beautiful, fit, and confident with the energy and enthusiasm they are not always able to find in the company of men their own age. [and insert more and more and more and more and more ...] However, the term can also refer to any female who has a male partner much younger than herself, regardless of age or age difference."

Additions in italics. You may say that NYT / ABC News are more authoritative than Wingman magazine etc, but that's missing the point. Explicitly referring to them in the prominent position they are currently in implies that they are the sources to refer to, with more authority than any other source, including what I would have expected is the go-to resource for this kind of definition: dictionaries. Are they? I doubt it. Therefore they should not be explicitly mentioned. Banedon (talk) 01:21, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

I agree with this. The entire point of citing references is that we don't have to have "so-and-so said this". There are certainly times when that's called for, but I don't think this is one of them. I think it's sufficient to say that the definition is fairly broad and then give a couple of examples, with refs, as to what kinds of definitions are out there. Alternatively, you can summarize all the definitions by simply listing the various attributes attributed to cougars and then give all the relevant refs at the end. We just did that recently for the lead at Twink (gay slang). – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 03:00, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Regarding this and this, I agree with Banedon, which is why I thanked him via WP:Echo the first time he made that edit. The WP:In-text attribution wording that is in dispute is my wording; I added it back when this article was much shorter and much more likely to be deleted. My wording is not needed, and Banedon's is more encyclopedic. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 07:28, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

This doesn't make any sense. In stating "ABC News says..." we're saying "ABC News says something and it's up to you to believe them or not." In saying what ABC News says and not saying they said it, we're making what they said authoritative. If this article were to say "Cougars wear blue" then we'd be stating that, to be a cougar, one must wear blue. If we say, "Dick says cougars wear blue" then we're saying that, according to Dick, cougars must wear blue but, that's just Dick so it's up to you to whether to believe Dick or not.Cebr1979 (talk) 02:31, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

Okay, but in this case, it's not just Dick or ABC News or whomever. In a broad sense, pretty much everyone knows what a cougar is, we're just spelling it out and using a couple of different newspapers as sources, since there's at least some variation in the term. It's not like ABC News is really any more authoritative on a slang term than anyone else, since they didn't create the term or decide on exactly how it should be defined. – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 04:21, 6 January 2016 (UTC)

I don't disagree with that but again, only authoritative sources should be cited. ABC news is not more authoritative than most other sources, since as Robin Hood said they did not create the term nor do they decide exactly how it should be defined. If we accept any source that has an opinion on what cougars are, then the section could easily become very long indeed (see the blockquote example above). I concur with Robin Hood as well on the lede at the Twink page. The same style should be applicable here. Banedon (talk) 02:14, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

If you're going to take out who said it, you have to take out what they said. Otherwise, you're changing the article to say, "Cougars wear blue" even though they don't that's only what Dick says. You're making ABC/NYT's comments authoritative by removing who said it. You're making it fact which is what it's not, it's their opinion... and you "don't disagree with that" so... either take it out all-together or leave who said it in.Cebr1979 (talk) 01:28, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

References

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Origin of word "cougar" as it relates to older women

Dan Keoh (played by Clark Cable) told Ma McDade (played by Jo Van Fleet) that she was a cougar when confronting her near the end of the movie entitled "The King and Four Queens". This film was made in 1956. The story on which the screenplay was based was written by Margaret Fitts, and the screenplay for the film was written by Margaret Fitts who was assisted by Richard Alan Simmons. The director was Raoul Walsh. The story involves a middle-age cowboy (Gable) who learns that a stolen fortune remains buried on a remote ranch that is the home to four beautiful young widows and their controlling mother-in-law (Ma McDade). Keoh charms the lot of the women until he finds the gold. After finding the gold, Keoh, in confronting the women, says, in opening to Ma McDade, ..."Ma, you old cougar". Three of Ma's four married sons had burned up in a barn fire while one son (identity unknown) had escaped and fled after burying the gold on the property. Ma was blocking the romantic interest of Keoh in any of the four daughter-in-laws because her surviving son (identity unknown) still was married to one of the four young women living with Ma, though to which being unknown. Jo Van Fleet was about 14 years younger than Clark Gable although she was acting the character of an older woman. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Paul Gnu (talk • contribs) 19:53, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Quotation mark or italic to denote words as words? When and how to use?

I have been trying to uniformly apply quotation marks around terms/epithets/words over a bunch of wikipedia articles that are primarily about terms that describe a certain category of people. In this particular case, the term is "cougar". MOS:WORDSASWORDS recommends using either quotation marks or italicize the term/epithet/word in question, when it is clear it is the word we are talking about, not the underlying phenomenon. The same policy also recommends, if I have understood it correctly, using the same formatting style throughout the article.

Following this, I put quotation marks around the terms "cougar" in the lead. One user has reverted my edit saying that he prefers the italics. Fair enough. But in that case, as far as I can see, the word needs to be italicized uniformly throughout the article if need be. So I italicized a few other mentions of "cougar" in the article where I thought it was used as a term. But that also has been reverted by the same user on the grounds that those don't qualify as words. I think that's debatable and it can be verified on a case by case basis. At its current state, the formatting of the term "cougar" in the article is not uniform. To me, it's a confusing mess of italics and quotation marks. I think things can be less messy.

If one were to prioritize formatting such terms in an uniform manner throughout the article, I think putting quotation marks around the term all the time is the best solution. Otherwise, it becomes messy. We have to debate each instance of the word, and decide whether it's used as a "word" word or otherwise. That seems to me time-consuming. Zaheen (talk) 09:09, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

WP:WORDSASWORDS is a guideline, not a policy, and, like you noted, it is talking about using italics or quotation marks when we are using the words as words. I reverted you here because you added italics for cases that are about the concept rather than the word. Yes, the article should be uniform when it comes to words as words, but that doesn't apply to cases where the quotation marks are used to emphasize a concept. I see nothing messy about the current use of italics vs. quotation marks. I will leave a note about this at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style so that editors there may weigh in on this. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 09:22, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

As an aside, I'm not a he. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 09:38, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

I don't know about it not being messy. It seems messy to me. And it's not just a visual preference thing. The editors have to keep track of two different things every time the word is used: is it a word word (then Italic) or something else (then quotation marks). And they are likely to make inadvertent errors. As I said, uniform use of quotation marks everywhere renders this problem nonexistent.

Also, what's the difference between using a word as a word and using it as the name/label of a concept? In fact, is "cougar" really a concept? To me, it is an epithet/label applied to a certain category of people having certain characteristics. When we talk about the "cougar" concept, we are still using "cougar" as a term/label. It's not very clear to me. Zaheen (talk) 11:28, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

I suggest that all the instances of the single word "cougar" in quotation marks in the current version should not be in either italics or quotation marks, because they are not words-as-words. "Cougar phenomenon" could stay in quotes because it is a quote from the ref, but it is not words-as-words so should not be in italics. Mitch Ames (talk) 12:25, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

Zaheen, I don't understand your confusion over "cougar" being used as a word vs. the cougar concept. Stating "a cougar" or "the cougar phenomenon" is clearly different than using the term cougar as a word (for example, "The term cougar was applied to her.").

Mitch Ames, because of what cougar usually means, it seems a tiny bit odd to remove the quotation marks from those instances, but I understand your point. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 12:37, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

.... because of what cougar usually means ... — I don't think that's a problem given the context - an article explicitly about the slang term. Mitch Ames (talk) 12:52, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

I agree with Mitch Ames. Other than direct quotation from a reference, and when it is not used as a word-as-word, the word "cougar" should have no formatting. When it is used as word-as-word, it stays in italic. That makes the most sense to me. Zaheen (talk) 14:47, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

Mitch Ames, yeah, I understand that, which is why I stated "a tiny bit." Zaheen, I can agree to that. Flyer22 Reborn (talk)

The current iteration appears to be in line with how we treat the use-mention distinction. Primergrey (talk) 14:54, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

• The article does correctly use italics where it refers to the word as a word. Having said that, superficially it appears to be inconsistent, and I wouldn't expect many people to have a firm grasp of the use–mention distinction—thus, to many readers, it will look wrong. Don't be surprised if this is not the last time someone will try to "fix" an article like this. Curly "the jerk" Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 06:52, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

You're probably right, although I suspect a good deal of people know to apply the U-MD without knowing that there is a specific term for it (i.e. the italics would look appropriate).Primergrey (talk) 07:14, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Primergrey and Curly Turkey, what do you think of Mitch Ames's suggestion that we drop the quotation marks? Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 22:30, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

I think that'd be okay. Curly "the jerk" Turkey 🍁 ¡gobble! 22:47, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, they don't appear to be needed.Primergrey (talk) 00:12, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Okay, we are all in agreement to removing them then. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 00:28, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Either style (quotation marks or italics) is permissible to mark up a words-as-words usage. MoS permits both because sometimes one style is awkward and unhelpful, e.g. when a passage is already using quotation marks (or italics) for something else, thus defeating the purpose of using the same style to specially mark up words-as-words usage. As for some of the stuff above, I agree with the observation, 'I don't understand your confusion over "cougar" being used as a word vs. the cougar concept. Stating "a cougar" or "the cougar phenomenon" is clearly different than using the term cougar as a word (for example, "The term cougar was applied to her.")' Either you get it, or you don't. If you don't, read the article Words as words. If you still don't get it, just give up and move on.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  09:11, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

My takeaway from this discussion

I have noted the snarky digs and patronizing tones of some of the users implicitly directed at me, and I don't appreciate them. But that's the nature of Wikipedia I guess. I started the discussion in order to improve my understanding of how formatting regarding this issue should work, and thanks to the inputs of different users I have got a better idea of things. In fact, now the very first word of the article suggests that it is about a word, which wasn't the case before I started editing the article.

As far as I can gather, this is the guide to follow : Use italics (or quotation marks) to denote words as words and do it consistently throughout the article. Most of the cases, italics is preferable because in many articles, quotation marks are used a lot for actual quotes. If the word is not used as a word, then neither italicize it nor put it inside quotation marks. If the word is mentioned in somebody's quote, leave it be. Only format it when using wikipedia's own narration of things.

Thanks again to everyone. Zaheen (talk) 20:12, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Zaheen, I was not trying to be snarky or patronizing at all. I'm glad you started the above discussion. If the current style we've agreed to helps readers, that's a good thing. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 22:46, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

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