I don’t think this is true, but I am open to correction.
Of course, it can be somewhat tricky to determine what the “official” name of a team is, but I’ve never heard this name for the Phillies. And I’ve never seen a historical source in which the Philadelphia National League team, specifically, was referred to as the Nationals or Nats, any more than any other National League team.
Before nicknames became formalized, it was common to refer to any team by its city and league, especially if a city had teams in multiple leagues. So the teams we usually know these days as the Boston Braves and the Boston Red Sox might be referred to as the “Nationals” and the “Americans,” but it’s kind of a stretch to call those their “official” names.
Also, there were actual clubs with the name “National” or “Nationals”–in particular, a club that could be accurately described as the National Club of Washington (in modern parlance, Washington Nationals)–as the name of the club long before the club we now know as the Philadelphia Phillies joined the National League. This would be very different than the later tradition of calling a team “Nationals” or “Americans” based just on their league membership.
If we’re on to High School sports now…
There’s a town in Illinois called Pekin, so named because of the mistaken notion that it was exactly opposite the globe from Peking, China. For many years, the school’s sports teams were known as (and I am not making this up) the “Pekin Chinks.”
You might say that the name was both appropriate and highly inappropriate at the same time. They have since rebranded as the Dragons.
When in high school back in the seventies I swam at a large invitational meet at which the “Chinks” also made an appearance. I don’t recall if I found the name offensive, but I certainly found it noteworthy.
Uh, not to beat a dead horse, but the meaning is CLEAR.
I found something funny.
Many people did something.
They
a) posted about the Bears/Cubs
b) not said about Lions/Tigers.
The phrase, “and not said a single word …” needs a subject. The only subject in town is “people”. To interpret the latter phrase as meaning, “and (no one has) said a single word …” is to invent a subject not previously introduced.
Bears are native to North America. I’d guess there have been bears at some point or another in the Chicago region. It’s not like tigers and lions, which are completely foreign species.
Anyway, I don’t think that’s the point. Animal mascots aren’t there for the sole purpose of claiming a local species. It’s for the associated characteristics.
