Hockey mom vs. pit bull?

[R3t3m2]

Hi friends,

In Sarah Pallin's speech given in the RNC, she made a joke: what's the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom? Lipstick. Why is that?

Thanks in advance for help.
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[Diverhank]

A hockey mom is just as vicious as a pitbull (dog) except that, unlike a dog, she can put on lipstick. In other words, hockey mom = pit bull with lipstick .

[R3t3m2]

thank you, diverhank. Why is a hockey mom vicious? I don't have much knowledge about hockey and hockey mom. A hockey mom is a hockey fun who is a mom?
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[MrPedantic]

Word Ref has an interesting thread on the subject.

MrP

[Yankee]

Hi r3t3m2

A "hockey mom" is a mother whose kids are members of hockey teams. Typically she has to spend a lot of time chauffeuring them around to hockey practice and games. Due to the fact that her kids are on hockey teams, she is probably also involved in some other team-related activities with the other "hockey moms". This all tends to consume a lot of a mother's time. There is nothing inherently tough or vicious about a "hockey mom".

I think the point she might have been trying to make was that although people might think she's just a quiet and lady-like little "hockey mom", in reality she is able to fight as aggressively as a pit bull.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

[Diverhank]

Parents who chauffer their kids to games often stay to watch and many get really emotional and at times violent when they think their kids are given bad calls. Normally, it's the dads who get violent, not the moms.

Mrs. Palin apparently wants to refer to herself as a tough pit bull (capable of terrible violence) because she's a hockey mom.

[R3t3m2]

Thank you MrP, Amy and Diverhank! Got it.
Have a good weekend!
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I am grateful to you for tutoring me by answering my questions with patience but for nothing...

[R3t3m2]

Follow-up for future checker:
I just read an article from here: http://www.risingwomen.com/arcstagg21.htm. I make a copy here but if admin thinks this violate the regulations/rules/laws, please delete this follow-up.
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The Hockey Mom - Thoughts from the Sideline
By Debi Stagg
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Okay, I have to admit it - I am a hockey mom. It is amazing how those few words can stir such controversy. Everyone has this preconceived image of what exactly a ‘hockey mom’ is - she is some kind of crazy lunatic who can only communicate only in screams and shouts. She is a bull with a target on the coaches. One minute she is screaming at her kid to “smash ‘em into the boards!” and the next, she is petting her child with loud assertions that it wasn’t his fault he couldn’t score, and she will have a ‘word’ with the coach. She is a woman with a one-track mind - make her kid a hockey star…no matter whom she has to step on. Let’s face it, even professional hockey players have views on ‘moms in the locker room’.
...
I can fully understand how a hockey mom can turn crazy. My boys have only just begun on their hockey journey, and already I am pulling my hair out. Not with their performance, but with their schedules. Twice on a weekend, every weekend, different games, different arenas, sometimes at the same time or, if I’m lucky, an hour between ice times. I cannot imagine what moms with more than two kids in the sport (or my sister who lives in a small town and has to drive her kids to other towns to play) must go through.

A hockey mom could be doing something else besides sitting in a cold arena with bad coffee, such as laundry, dishes, groceries, or getting a massage, but instead she has committed her time to her kids. She juggles her schedule to accommodate their ice times whether it is six o’clock in the morning or nine o’clock at night. She is chauffer, personal assistant, equipment supply officer, private cheering section, and shoulder to lean on. She is bingo hall worker and supply of unlimited fundraising money. She is ‘the woman behind the scenes’.
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I am grateful to you for tutoring me by answering my questions with patience but for nothing...

[R3t3m2]

Again, I thought pitbull is just friendly dog with special ugly face. Pit Bull defined in Merriam-Webster Collegiate® Dictionary as this:

pit bull
1 : a dog (as an American Staffordshire terrier) of any of several breeds or a real or apparent hybrid with one or more of these breeds that was developed and is now often trained for fighting and is noted for strength and stamina
2 : an aggressive and tenacious person <a political pit bull>
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I am grateful to you for tutoring me by answering my questions with patience but for nothing...

[Diverhank]

In my experience, pit bulls are trained to fight and kill, partly because of their aggressive nature. One of my neighbors owned two pit bulls. Even though the dogs saw me and my kids every day through the fences, both of these dogs wouldn't hesitate to tear us to pieces if their owner would let them loose. They are definitely not friendly.