Randy Cassingham's Blog

Back in the 18 June 2000 issue, there was an item about Beaver College and why the school wanted to change its name.

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Last week the Pennsylvania institution (which was indeed initially an all-girls school) officially adopted its new name: Arcadia University. The school's president said she was tired of jokes about the old name, which "too often elicits ridicule in the form of derogatory remarks pertaining to the rodent, the TV show Leave It to Beaver and the vulgar reference to the female anatomy." When announcing the new name, the school's spokesman was foolish enough to suggest that "Arcadia University" was "rude proof" -- that no one could possibly come up with a rude twist on the name since they "looked pretty carefully at it" before approving it.

What silly, silly people.

I invited readers to come up with a rude twist on the new name. There were scores and scores of entries -- most of them really, really bad. (I mean really: "Fartcadia"?) The interesting thing to me was that a very significant portion of the "rudest" entries came from women. The whole story, the best entries, and the winning entry by Don in Georgia are now up at my Arcadia University Contest page -- be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see the Honorable Mention by Jerry in Mississippi and the "Last But Not Least" item it inspired. They're both a riot!

January 2010 Update

Reader Arthur in Philly wrote to provide a follow-up. "This was one of the first articles I saw on True," he wrote. "Today, another Beaver has been lost: Beaver magazine has been renamed to Canada's History." He provided a link for info which notes that the magazine launched in 1920 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Hudson's Bay Company and the (cough) fur trade that led to the early exploration of Canada. Alas, notes the Agence France-Presse in its dispatch, "in modern times, the term 'beaver' has become slang for women's genitals."

"The Beaver was an impediment online," said publisher Deborah Morrison. "Several readers asked us to change the title because their spam filters at home or at work were blocking it," she said. "I've even had emails bounce back because I had inadvertently typed the term in the heading."

It's sad, but understandable -- especially when online publishing is necessary for the survival of old print publications. Best of luck, Canada's History!