Closing Comments

Abstract

Thanks, Professor Martell. It seems that I’ve been nominated to be the one who gets to talk at the tail end of this Symposium, so I’d better make it quick or else you’ll all walk out — and I don’t blame you. I hope you’ve enjoyed the past 2–1/2 days here in Aggieland. I certainly have appreciated all of the excellent and very informative talks you’ve given. I hope that while you’ve been here you’ve learned one of the traditions of this area, which is the Aggie joke. I think I will add one to the inventory of Aggie jokes. As you know, if you looked at some of the descriptive material in your registration packet, the Aggie mascot is allegedly a little collie called “Reveille.” But that statement is actually not true. Aggies originally got their name from the real Aggie mascot, who is called “Aggie.” And why is the mascot called “Aggie?” “Aggie” is short for Agkistrodon piscivorus, which is the zoological classification of the cottonmouth, or water moccasin — this being cottonmouth country. But, one might ask, what about northern schools? Some of their teams are called “Aggies” also and there are no cottonmouths in the north. Well, the answer to that question is simple. The teams from northern states which are called “Aggies” use as their mascot Agkistrodon contortrix, the copperhead.