Webelos I and Webelos II

[Scoutfish]

Yeah, I said Webelos I and Webelos II.

 

No, it is not an offical designation or term. But you knew exactly what I was talking about and exactly who I meant.

 

There is also no G2SS either. It is called Guide to Safe Scouting. But when you or I say "G2SS"..everyone knows exactly what we mean.

 

So why do people ..ooops..I meant scouters, get so upset and bent out of shape about that useage?

 

Seriously, as much as people claim to hate UP ( oops again - I meant Uniform Police) of which there is no offical designation.

 

So why gang up on the use of Webelos I and Webelos II.

 

You want to know why I use it? Becaise it's easier and faster to type WI and WII than spell it out completely. Verbally, in my pack, we speak the words "Webes 1 and Webes 2" or say "Webelos 1 and Webelos 2" .

 

And the funny thing is, we never ever had a single parent, scout, scouter or anybody from council or district get confused by this.

 

If you prefer to enuciate the entire wording of "first year Webelos" or "Second year Webelos"..that's cool with me.

 

But don't get on my case about saying Webelos I or Webelos II unless you yourself fully and specifically say the following in their correct entirety also:

 

Guide To Safe Scouting instead of G2SS

Eagle Board of Review instead of EBOR

Boeard of Review instead of BOR

Position of Responcibility instead of POR

Friends of Scouting instead of FOS

Wood Badge participant instead of WB'er

 

Yeah, I know what you are talking about, but you also knew what I and many others were talking about. Why can I say that?

 

Because in order to correct me or others about what is "the proper way" it means you had to first know what I was talking about! And if you knew what I was talking about...then that's all that matters!

 

 

YIS (oops! )

Yours in Scouting Mark(This message has been edited by scoutfish)

[FScouter]

I think it has more to do with educating a person so he doesn't sound like a newby. "Webelos 2" leads to a question like asking the Scout Shop lady "My son is a Webelo and just graduated from 1 to 2 and I want to buy his Webelo 2 patch."

 

The designation seems to indicate some kind of distinction between one and the other. I'm not aware of any difference at all except one kid has been in it longer than another. Why is that important?

 

With some folks any mention about the correct term or usage is taken as some kind of "attack" or as was mentioned "ganging up".

 

By the way, what does "Yours in Scouting" mean?(This message has been edited by fscouter)

[Scoutfish]

I have heard "yours in scouting" only mentioned here at this site.

 

My best guess? It's a freindly scouter to scouter sign off, as in "Your friend.." , "Your comrade in Arms..", "With best wishes..", " With all my love.." , or " In God's service.."!

 

Of course, growing up, a few friends and myself would say "Later Tater.." or "See you around butt-munch!"

 

[shortridge]

Scoutfish,

 

Woah ... calm down just a wee bit. I assume your post is in response to my comment on another thread at present.

 

I pointed that out not to jump on anyone's back, but to simply make clear that there is no such thing in the program as Webelos 1s or 2s, or even first- or second-year Webelos. They're all Webelos, period. If you join in what would be the second year, you can still do everything that the other Webelos do, including earning your AOL and Webelos badge, or attending a camporee.

 

As FSCouter pointed out, some folks think there's a real difference between Webelos 1s and Webelos 2s, and that's my concern.

[Scoutfish]

shortridge,

 

 

Dang, I wish there was some way we could "read" others tone of writing. I'm not upset or even slightly elevated about it.

 

It wasn't your post alone that made me write this , but the most recent of many, many comments from others who have snidely corrected "offenders".

 

To be clear, You post was not taken as snide or rude by me. But I have seen others look down their noses while correcting people for saying "wi or WII"

 

 

What made me think of it was the Uniform threads where some posters will get their non officail scout underwear in a big ole wad about one single button not being correctly buttoned, but then go around spouting off what G2SS says or why one "Hair must be completely and totally combed in a proper style at an adult run OA election"".

 

Okay, I made up that last qouted reference, but the point is the same: ADults takes control over what is supposed to be a youth run function, they abbreviate at their own whiw, and then bust somebody else for not following the letter of the BSA "law".

 

Nah, I saw your post as informative. You correctly stated that WI and WII were not offivcial terms, and left it at that. I did not see you chastize or snidely look down at the OP.

 

 

But between three or four different threads, I felt the need to write this thread.

[OwntheNight]

I've seen the "Yours in Scouting" signoff on letters and emails from Scouters all around the district and council. I tend to use "For the Boys" as my sign off on emails when I'm emailing the pack and I use the "Yours in Scouting" if I'm talking to people outside of Scouting, but they both are interchangeable.

 

At least you spelled Webelos I and II correct!, That's my big hang up, It's not Webelo, Webeli, or any other off shoot.

 

As Scouters, these terms become ingrained in our vocabulary. Just like our everyday lives, and our careers, we have terms we shorten because the people we're dealing with know what they mean. To the average lay person, they can be confusing. Sometimes we just need to stop and remember who our audience is when we're talking to them.

[DeanRx]

oh come on now... everyone KNOWS the plural of Webelos is Webeli.

 

Besides - if national would just hurry up and compact in into a 1 year program, there would be no need to diferetiate between the two, kids wouldn't burn out and we would likely retain more kids into BOY SCOUTS....

 

Consider the thread offically hijacked

 

[Scoutfish]

"oh come on now... everyone KNOWS the plural of Webelos is Webeli."

 

You know...as wrong as that is.....it sounds right!

[OwntheNight]

Webelos wobble, but they don't fall down. That happens when they turn 14 and have the feet of small yachts, but the body of stick pins. Great for water skiing though!

 

So What declension is Webeli? nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, vocative, or locative

 

Ok, that's all the Latin I remember from school

[Gary_Miller]

DeanRx, "Besides - if national would just hurry up and compact in into a 1 year program, there would be no need to diferetiate between the two, kids wouldn't burn out and we would likely retain more kids into BOY SCOUTS...."

 

Actially if you look at the program it can be based on age or grade.

 

Cub Scout Units chartered by the LDS Church use an age based program with Cub Scouts starting at the age of eight in the Wolf Den(no Tiger program), graduating to the Bear Den when they turn nine, and graduating to the Webelos Den when they turn Ten, and then moving to the Boy Scout Troop when they turn 11. I find it works well and its no problem with a CS making AOL within one year.

 

 

 

 

[Greaves]

One of the boys who just crossed over from my Webelos den to the Troop wrote me a thank-you card for being his WEBLOS leader.

 

I think he spelled it just fine.

 

 

 

[Eagle92]

That's one thing I do like very much about the LDS use of the Cub Scout program: it's still a 3 year program. But I will admit, for those who do not know how the LDS Cub program works, it does cause challenges. We had an LDS Cub at Day Camp assigned to the wrong den b/c the person assigning dens didn't realize the difference in the programs.(This message has been edited by eagle92)

[Oak Tree]

For grade-based packs (most of them), Webelos I represents 4th grade dens, and Webelos II represents 5th grade dens. It's a distinction that matters a lot to the internal operation of the pack - where are the Webelos I dens setting up their tents, which section of the pack meeting area is for the Webelos IIs, how many Webelos IIs are there, etc. It's a common shorthand in use everywhere.

 

I do find it a bit pedantic to have people correct this informal usage, especially in Scouting circles where everyone knows what we're talking about. This type of correction never happens in real life in my experience, only on these boards. I can see the point about making sure people know what the meaning is, but I also know that many people don't like to be corrected on the forum.

 

But shortridge, I'll go one further. You say "They're all Webelos, period." In fact, this is incorrect usage. According to the national site, the word Webelos should always be used as a modifier, never as a noun. So correctly stated, "They are all Webelos Scouts, period."

 

See why people don't like to be corrected? :-)

 

[JoeBob]

I'm quite pleased to see that the attempted re-naming of "Webelos II" to "Arrow of Light Scouts" did NOT take!

[Rockford8070]

I'd rather see people corrected to say "Webelos" instead of "Webelo."