# Whatever happened to the poor, poor, unicorn? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195 "2009-09-07T20:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/21 "2009-09-07T22:57:36Z")
[On The Downhill Side](http://harlanellison.com/review/deathbird.htm#downhill) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/22 "2009-09-07T23:01:34Z")
> [@](#): > > … now, the one in Zelazny’s Amber series – you know, the one that’s been fighting with a one-eyed snake since forever? Total pansy. Eh, as long as it’s not just hanging around a ghost-town bar playing chess, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/23 "2009-09-07T23:11:40Z")
They’ve all been doomed to bad paintings on velvet. It’s progress, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/24 "2009-09-07T23:27:37Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > It wants to put its long horn into a virgin’s lap. _So_ not pansyish. But explains why: “Guys aren’t typically willing to touch a unicorn with a ten-foot-pole.” They’re afraid of catching the “ghey”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/25 "2009-09-07T23:28:18Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Look again. It’s too busy admiring itself in the mirror. The lion is looking away out of sheer embarrassment. The lion is politely ignoring the fact that the unicorn is giving that “maiden” some hoof action. … also, that lion seems to be a bit on the Cowardly Lion / Snagglepus side of lionness, too. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/26 "2009-09-07T23:34:39Z")
There was a hot guy named Griffin at my university, and he had a griffin tattooed on his shoulder. Believe me, Griffins had plenty of (female) fans. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/27 "2009-09-07T23:59:58Z")
If the Unicorn had stayed true to its origins, i.e. it’s really a mutant goat, then I think it would have had a less girly reputation. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/28 "2009-09-08T00:09:34Z")
> [@Aelita\_Daystar](#): > > So, how did this happen anyways? How did such a cool creature end up being thought of so poorly? And when did they start to be seen as “girly” anyways? Unicorns are thought of poorly? How so? You just said so yourself, little girls love them! (Also, Googling ‘unicorn’ has got to be one step removed from doing LSD.) ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/29 "2009-09-08T01:19:57Z")
They’re not so girly. Try [The Last Unicorn](http://www.amazon.com/Last-Unicorn-Peter-S-Beagle/dp/0451450523/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252371966&sr=8-2) by Peter S. Beagle. Read the first few pages there on Amazon, and you’ll see. The movie was sort of OK. Read the book. (There’s one _deus ex_ in the middle that made me roll my eyes, but that’s just a page or so. Read the book.) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/30 "2009-09-08T01:27:41Z")
Once I had to fight a pissed off Unicorn in D&D… Yeah, not so girly. Just ask the gaping wounds in my body and the stupid self healing abilities. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/31 "2009-09-08T01:50:05Z")
We need to bring back Jack Chalker’s carnivorous unicorns from the Dancing Gods books. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/32 "2009-09-08T01:53:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > For one thing, they can only be touched/tamed by a virgin. Yeah, because they gore anyone else to death. So not girly. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/33 "2009-09-08T02:10:11Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > As has been mentioned, the idea that unicorns could be timed by virgins goes back several hundred years. I always felt it made them seem a little lame. Do the stopwatches also have to be virgins? ---
**Author:** ![Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d9b06d/32.png) [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichini_Sanshigo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/34 "2009-09-08T02:47:27Z")
Unicorns… not just for virgins anymore. [Ninjas can ride, too](http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=40&issue=15). ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/35 "2009-09-08T03:13:31Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Do the stopwatches also have to be virgins? Don’t let spilling errors distract you. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/36 "2009-09-08T03:20:39Z")
[A gay boy wished for a planet full of unicorns - planet unicorn HEY!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU0uYWgETHw) ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/37 "2009-09-08T03:30:06Z")
Within the boundries of odd-timing, last night I watched the film 1612. It’s a bloody semi-fantastic historical war story about the battles between Poland and Russia at that time, with the Russians being the ‘good guys’. Their spiritual symbol is the Unicorn, and it’s definately -not- girly. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/38 "2009-09-08T03:37:42Z")
> [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > Personally I think that any fantasy creature has a wide open field these days with the over saturation of vampires. Perhaps it’s time for a book targeted to teenage girls featuring a romance between a mary sue and a sparkling unicorn. There are books.. not aimed towards teenagers though. No, they are definitely adult. A friend of mine found them and told me about them, so maybe someone will start writing teenage ones. You never know.. ---
**Author:** ![pythonzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@pythonzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pythonzzz)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/39 "2009-09-08T05:12:37Z")
Well…you do know that T. Rex was a vegetarian that ate only coconuts until Adam and Eve caused them to go carnivorus after The Fall, so the innocent unicorns got munched out of existance 'cause of a talking snake 6000 years ago. What? Gotta be a true story, there’s a museum all about this, and a museum wouldn’t lie, would they?? [Creation Museum Report](http://whatever.scalzi.com/2007/11/12/your-creation-museum-report/) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195/40 "2009-09-08T05:20:52Z")
> [@rjk](#): > > They’re not so girly. Try [The Last Unicorn](http://www.amazon.com/Last-Unicorn-Peter-S-Beagle/dp/0451450523/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252371966&sr=8-2) by Peter S. Beagle. Read the first few pages there on Amazon, and you’ll see. The movie was sort of OK. Read the book. And the sequel has a griffin! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-the-poor-poor-unicorn/509195.md?page=3)