What's the opposite of a cougar?

[delphipsmith]

Rereading Gone With the Wind for about the thirteenth time and loving it, as always. However, for the first time I really noticed some of the ages mentioned, and was a bit taken aback. Gerald O'Hara is 43 when he marries Ellen Robillard, who is only 15. Suellen O'Hara's "beau" Frank Kennedy is 40 and she's 14. And Rhett Butler is mentioned as being 30 or 35 at the beginning of the novel and Scarlett is only 16.

For some reason this never struck me before, but even for the 1860s this seems rather a wide age disparity.

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

> What's the opposite of a cougar?

Vixen?

> For some reason this never struck me before, but even for the 1860s this seems rather a wide age disparity.

Not unusual when women were (more or less) treated as a commodity for the provision of a new generation of property holders.

It meant that the "ideal" age for a man to marry was when they had reached their level of financial security and for women when they at the age to give birth and bring up the youngster.

The appropriate age for marriage is around eighteen for girls and thirty-seven for men.
Aristotle, Politics, Book VII, 1335.a27

[arcanetrivia]

"Vixen" is a gendered term, meaning specifically a female fox, so I don't think it would be suitable for the male parallel to what we mean by a "cougar".

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

'Cougar' is a gendered metaphor where I'm from as well.

Apparently I misread the title and read 'opposite' as reflecting age rather than gender.

[arcanetrivia]

'Cougar' is a gendered metaphor where I'm from as well.

Yes, I know, hence saying "the male parallel" to that term.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

FWIW, apparently "rhino"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rhino

[delphipsmith]

Wow, there really IS a word for it lol! Thanks :)

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

tcpip delphipsmith it always amuses me when two friends from completely different spheres come into contact :-)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I think it all started with cheese. :)

[delphipsmith]

"It was the beginning of a brie-autiful friendship."

There is also the puns

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Re: There is also the puns

[delphipsmith]

Now THAT was bad...

[delphipsmith]

Yeah, sorry about that -- I was meaning an older man who goes after much much younger women :)

Edit: Oh, and thanks for the Aristotle. It's always good to get the classics' point of view ;)