New York - Cougars

By viceland

Back when VICE was starving its ass off in Montreal, we came up with the term "cougar" to describe all the gross, older marketing women we had to fuck in order to sell adspace. Well, actually, we didn't--Helios Design beat us to the coinage, according to their trademark--but in any case, much like our fledgling newsprint 'zine of those days, it's funny to see how far our little in-joke (that's actually a trademark of Helios Design from whom one of us probably heard it without realising, blah blah blah...) has come in the last decade. First it came down with us into the states, then some other "with it" publications started using it, and now it's a movie and a goddamn consulting firm.

But the way you can tell it's really hit the mainstream (aka, ceased to be jokeable without making its user seem like some sort of hackneyed red-state/blue-state Leno type), is that the original objects of its derision have started picking up on it and tryingto turn it around and "make it their own." Check out some of the pro-cougar entries on urbandictionary.com, then get back to us when you're done shuddering.