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The “We can’t have nice things” department scores another one. It’s now official that Utah’s NHL team will be known as the Utah Mammoth. The logo is okay, if a little ‘90s, and the uniforms are good. However, I’m against the team name. Not in concept, but in grammar. They should be the Utah Mammoths. The tyranny of team’s with nicknames that don’t end in an “s” must stop.
It’s one thing when you are the Tampa Bay Lightning. Lightning is a concept, with lightning bolts being the thing that would be pluralized. Jazz is also a concept, but that’s also not a good name. A mammoth is an animal. Some animals are pluralized without an “s.” There is a minor league hockey team called the Manitoba Moose. Fair enough there, if not ideal. Moose totally make sense as a nickname/mascot for a hockey team from Manitoba, and it’s alliterative to boot.
A group of mammoths is pluralized in the way of the Lions and the Diamondbacks and the like. This is just a dumb naming choice. The team even said they didn’t pluralize it because the team is a unit, not a collection of individuals. Honestly, that makes it even dumber. The one out Utah could have had is that, admittedly, saying “Mammoths” doesn’t roll off the tongue, and we do have to consider announcers and such. You really have to pay attention to make sure you don’t drop the occasional “mammofs” in there, and that’s easier with “mammoth.”
However, here’s the thing. Mastodons are similar to mammoths. Mastodons lived all over North America. Mastodons assuredly lived in what is now Utah. It’s the exact same vibe, just as good of a name, and easy to pluralize. So yeah, no excuses, Utah. The Utah Mammoth is a dumb name. You blew it.
