Oh. My. God.
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Words can have two meanings and some in the English language have both positive and negative meanings. Those words are called contronyms.
The whole point of the Tour is to raise money for people that have Parkinson’s so let’s all keep that in mind.
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There is a material difference between a word having an established second meaning and just deciding that a word “could” mean something different, though. Especially when the established version of the word you’re associating with has strong negative connotations.
Hooligan
“A hooligan is a rowdy person who causes trouble for others . Hooligans are similar to bullies and thugs. This is a slightly old-fashioned word for a troublemaker, especially a violent troublemaker. People who start a fight during a sports event are acting like hooligans.”
“The history of hooliganism in Europe, primarily associated with football (soccer), dates back to the Middle Ages in England, where fights between groups of supporters from neighboring towns and villages were common during matches, with the most notorious period of fan violence occurring in the late 1960s through the mid-1980s, culminating in the tragic Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 between Liverpool and Juventus fans, which led to significant crackdowns on hooliganism across the continent; today, while still present, hooliganism is considered less prevalent due to stricter security measures and fan culture changes.”
There are hundreds of deaths associated with hooliganism in Europe, and all within living memory.
There has been a significant change of culture, but a lot of people know people directly affected by hooliganism, maybe friends or families dead because of it.
Yes, the Davis Phinney Foundation is a good charity to support, but it’s also an American one, which is a small stumbling block when there are so many local charities that prospective sponsors could support instead.
Obviously that is a non-issue to trying to get that sponsorship though and when it was the Tour of Sufferlandria then it’s a no brainer.
However, what Wahoo are asking here is for us to support an American charity using a name that is associated with violent tragedy for so many people.
How would an American feel if I asked you to sponsor me on “The School Shooters Tour”, “The Boston Bomber’s Breakaway”, “The Twin Towers Tour”?
So, no, not a viable Contronym. It is completely oblivious to people who have actually lost friends and family and I will actively have nothing to do with it, and Wahoo shouldn’t want us to because all it will do is harm the brand over here.
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If these names are contronyms I wouldn’t have an issue at all. Note that rivals of the Boston Red Sox are the New York Yankees and their nickname is the Bronx Bombers - meaning hitting baseball bombs out of the park. Just another contronym. Seems like there are a lot of them.
I lost many friends and colleagues on 9/11 - my company had floors in both towers. Assuming your hypothetical charity had nothing to do with that event - it was some other twin tower reference - I wouldn’t have any issue at all.
Over here there is no other reference, it is so deeply imbedded in living consciousness that the very second you add hooligan in there is only one meaning.
It’s also still current, massively reduced, but something that is still having to be addressed.
We still have people who view anyone who goes to football as a hooligan, you have to validate yourself associating with a sport you love and have never involved yourself in any negative behaviour at.
It’s a constant negative.
There is no way you’d then choose, having spent years of your life having to argue that you are not a hooligan, to wear a shirt proudly proclaiming yourself to be a Wahooligan. That would just never happen.
It’s clearly a cultural difference that you can’t associate with easily, but I’m telling you that it is real it is current and it is raw. Its not just an “I don’t really like that”, it’s a very visceral dislike.
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See, all this just takes away from the purpose of The Tour, which you quite rightly point out. If the purpose of The Tour is to raise money for the DPF, then why does Wahoo continue to obstinately insist on naming it the way they have for the 3rd year in a row despite nothing but negative feedback on it? It just makes no sense to me.
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One of the lessons of life I have learnt (and I can speak as someone who is probably older than the vast majority of the people in the forum) is to pick your battles.
I cannot change the name, and Wahoo is not going to change it. Spending precious emotional energy arguing about it is not going to change anything.
So I must decide which is going to do more good in the world - refusing to participate, or participating?
I chose to participate.
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I’m with you so far.
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I like to watch rugby, so i’d like them to name it the wahooker tour. Oh wait, maybe not 
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And Australia
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I mean it’s been probably over 40 years since I’ve packed down but… yeah, sounds about right…
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There are other ways than participating in a decreasing value tour. I, for one, will not be participating. I will give money directly to DPF and otherwise support them.
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I’ve trodden this path before and realise I am likely wasting my time but 100% agree with @Jon here. Hypothetically, if I was to call one of the great people on this forum c@#ty Mcc@#tface, I’m pretty sure they would be offended, and rightly so. After all, I’ve just called them a c@#t (twice). I’d probably be banned as just framing it with mc…face does not take away from the offensiveness.
However, this is pretty much the argument that one of the minions made (@Rupert I apologise if not but think it was you). That somehow adding Wa to an offensive word was enough to re-frame it and make it ‘fun’.
The key thing here is not the intent of Wahoo. I get they don’t intend to offend. Someone, somewhere in a marketing team came up with what they thought was a great idea. They didn’t realise it would offend a proportion of their customer base. But now they are aware, it should stop. What business deliberately offends their customers?
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Agree! (Though I did read “c@#ty” as “cotty” 
)
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Nice- I’ve got the dates circled in my calendar!
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Not only just current Sufferfest vids but how about a brand new creation to celebrate the new tour!
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Well… may we leave the realm of imagination? 
TUHNTF
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