ORIGINAL: Baleful Scout
No hard feelings.
I am just amazed at the fact, that after all your "skoolin'" you have failed to learn the word...
Dialect.
I checked 2 different encyclopedias and websters to get this information to support my use of the word panther...
Panther=a name applied to the Mountain Lion or Puma of North America and the Leopard of Africa and Asia
Puma [pyu'ma], a large New World cat that compares in size and strength with the jaguar. The Puma, Felis (Puma) Concolor, also known as mountain lion,cougar,panther,painter,and catamount....etc
I have never heard the term catamount but I see where the term comes from a cat you can mount and ride maybe???
Yeah if you would use that dictionary that's probably proping up one leg of our lazy boy, you might realize what I was saying when I said the internet doesn't really deal in colloquialisms.
Lots of people here use the terms "tamarack" for a western larch, which is incorrect. The Tamarack is actually the Eastern species of which there aren't any within at least 600 miles of here.
Also, people here like to call the Bull Trout, "Dolly Varden" which is actually a totally different species.
This is why we have a standardized way of classifying and naming things so that people from different areas will know what the heck the other person is talking about without confusion. I mean, I knew what you meant but you get my point.
Also, dictionaries/encylopedias aren't a source of scientific information. Taxonomies and thus naming changes on a frequent, if irregular basis.
Just a little FYI I'm sure theguys at the local coffee shop know exactly what you mean and that's fine. I just didn't want people to get the idea that it was correct.