Pheonix
A representation of a phoenix rising from its ashes. Wikimedia Commons

KEY POINTS

  • Parent Kyle Fraughton has launched a petition to change the name of the mascot
  • His pettion gathered more than 2,800 signatures in 4 days
  • But the school district is sticking to its final choice

Parents in the city of Farmington, Utah, are petitioning for the local high school to change the name of their mascot because it sounds... well, crude.

On 1 November, Farmington High School revealed its new mascot: the Phoenix.

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A proud and noble mythical creature. Everything was fine and well until a group of parents practised their updated chants for the sports team.

It turns out the plural of "phoenix" – phoenices – sounds a lot like "penises".

This prompted Kyle Fraughton to launch a petition asking the school board to change the mascot, reports KSL.

"We were horrified to hear that the phonetics of the word "Phoenices" are far too close to the word "penises"," Fraughton writes in his petition.

His main concern is that Farmington High kids will be bullied by members of rival teams if the school sticks to "phoenices".

"There will be a never-ending barrage of references to male anatomy directed at our children as they participate in any kind of sports against other schools," he writes.

He adds that it would only take one person to figure out the link between the plural form of "phoenix" and the male genitals. He pleads for the school distract to change the "well-intentioned, but potentially dangerous choice".

"It doesn't take much imagination to figure out how vulgar this could get," he adds.

The mascot's name was decided via popular vote by parents, students of neighbouring Davis and Viewmont high schools and the future students that will attend Farmington. It was supervised by the Davis School district of Utah.

Farmington High School is yet to open its doors and Fraughton believes the awkward oversight can be resolved before autmn of 2018.

However, his initial efforts to change the mascot's name to something less phallic have been dismissed by representatives of the Davis School District.

Fraughton's petition has now gathered 2,860 signatures and counting.

But a spokesperson for Davis School District, Chris Williams, says apart from the petition, the mascot's new name has enjoyed a positive reception from the community, He adds that there's no way to tell if the petition's signers even lived in Farmington.

According to Williams, parents have reach out to the school district to voice their support for the mascot after hearing that a petition was going around to get its name changed.

He also pointed out that five other schools in the district had a phoenix as their mascot. None of these schools experienced the grievances predicted by Fraughton, in spite of referring to "phoenices" or "phoenixes".

Fraughton's kids are not high schoolers yet, but they soon will be and will likely attend Farmington High School. "I would like to proudly wear my sweatshirt of the high school that has the name of the mascot on it and not feel any embarrassment," he said.