Liv Tyler and Drew Barrymore at the 1999 Oscars
Webster’s defines a puma as a “large wild cat found in North and South America. Tawny- coated, it is 4.5 ft/1.5 m long with a 3 ft/1 m tail. It lives alone, with each male occupying a distinct territory; it eats deer, rodents, and cattle. It has been hunted nearly to extinction.”
Webster’s definition of a cougar is “another name for the puma.”
In other words, a puma and a cougar are the same animal. I’m not sure why cougar and not puma became the go-to word for women like Demi Moore and Sharon Stone who go for much younger men.
Apparently there is a distinction, according to the Urban Dictionary: “In the lexicon of older women seeking younger men, a jaguar is 50 and over, where the cougar is in their 40s, and the puma under 40.”
Liv Tyler may not know that puma and cougar are synonyms, but she does know her slang.
Going through her first divorce, Liv and twice-divorced friend Drew Barrymore had a ladies’ night out October 9 at The Terrace at Sunset Tower Hotel in LA, according to Life & Style.
Drew confessed to Liv, “I love dating younger guys — I’m a bona fide cougar.” Liv protested that they were too young to be cougars.
“Aren’t we pumas?” Liv asked. “I think pre-cougar is puma.”
Puma or cougar, Life & Style claims Drew “turned the whole place into a party.”
Drew, 33, who recently hooked up with Ed Westwick, 21, and has dated Fabrizio Moretti, 28, and Justin Long, 30, seemed pleased as punch with the label and ordered another round of martinis. “They were laughing so much,” says the witness. “Drew kept joking with the wait staff, inviting them to sit with her, offering to buy them shots.”
[From Life & Style, print edition, October 27, 2008]
For future reference, a young cougar is technically referred to as a kitten or a cub.
Whatever the term, go for it, girls. As Demi Moore can surely attest, if you can’t find a good man, raise one.
Note by Celebitchy: Drew Barrymore isn’t always a puma by her own definition of the word. The last guy she was seen out with was 45 year-old producer Barry Mendel, who is working with her on her film Whip It. Here are photos of those two out together on 10/5/08. Liv Tyler is also shown with her son, Milo, who turns four in December, on 10/21/08. Credit: Fame Pictures. You may have already heard this story, but I thought it was a cute one.
I’m a proud puma!
Wait, does my husband being six years younger than me qualify? Maybe not….
I’m kinda hoping it does though, 😆 .
I always assumed the words cougar and puma were used because they were no longer kittens. Like… sex kittens. But that’s just me over-rationalizing! I assume cougars are like lions where the older women of the pride are the ones that doing the hunting. You know, stalking their prey.
I’m not always a big fan of Drew, butI kind of love the idea of her drinking it up and enjoying herself with the wonderfully lovely Liv. Hee.
I really don’t like the cultural tendency to animalise women, it’s horribly sexist and de-humanising.
We’re chicks, foxes, bitches, cougars, pumas, jaguars… is the mere specter of womanhood so threatening as to require a beast-of-the-field substitute?
How can a woman be taken seriously as a man’s possible equal if she’s not even a human being?
Those names are gross and degrading.
I agree. Of course men get to be studs, playboys, bachelors, etc.
Interesting Sunny,
men are lady killers; players and pimps. Which makes women victims, played and whores. gotta love it.
Oh, please! And men are called dogs, pigs, wolves and louses all the time, too.
How about jackasses and big apes, more words women call MEN.
A goodlooking older man – a silver fox….
The “animalization” of people? We’re animals. That’s what we are.
What a ridiculous thing to go crying inequality over.
No one’s “crying inequality” over this, it’s just an interesting observation.
Btw, women still aren’t paid equally for the same work as men, so we still have a long way to go. We’ve deconstructed racial and sexual epithets and to an extent, I think it’s helped. What harm in being aware of how our language can (and does) affect our attitudes?
I do agree that it’s kinda stupid to get too worked up over this stuff though.
A recent study was done to prove why men are still paid more than women in some areas.
It’s been proven that men ask for more raises, and are considerably more comfortable asking for more money for what they do, than women are. Women were proven to be more “team oriented”, not thinking they deserve a bigger piece of the pie than any of the peers for doing the same work. Where as men go for it and ask for it and expect it. Sorry, but your boss has no incentive to want to pay you more just out of the goodness of his own heart. That’s not the real world. Grow a pair and stop complaining and whining. It’s not going to endear you to anyone and get you a raise.
By the way, I am a female.
HA! I’d love to see this “proof”!!
Sounds like you’ve finally succeeded in making yourself ‘one of the boys’ and getting validation by adopting the same bullshit attitude that’s kept women down for ages. And I guess it’s been “scientifically proven” that we (Black people, etc.)secretly LIKE being treated like second-class citizens. It’s because of some fault in our biology or race that’s the cause, right? We’ve only kept ourselves down, it’s our own damn fault, I know.
By the way, I don’t need to ask a man for a raise, I’m the CEO of a mid-sized corporation. And I don’t need to “grow a pair” and I’m not “whining or complaining” like a typical woman, just pointing out the language we throw around every day without giving it a thought (as you obviously do in your post). Why not value team work as much as the typical obnoxious, squeaky wheel approach? 🙄 GMAFB
But what is with the photos of Liv Tyler being all over Kate Hudson and now Drew?! Thats sweet, no matter what you call them.