OUR PRESUPPORT LEVELS

So, why did we choose the pre-support level names we have?

You probably noticed in perusing our bid website that our presupports have unusual names. Our bid support levels are all about Quebec and Montréal cultural icons and concepts. Since we are bidding in Montréal, Quebec, we chose a number of our level names around a well-loved animal that winters in Quebec: the snowy owl. 

The snowy owl is very cool in its own right and worth reading up on but we went with a more lighthearted take on the snowy owl. 

"Tundra-dwelling lemmings" are what snowy owls largely subsist on. While we wouldn't suggest that there's a direct parallel between our bid supporters and the primary food chain sustenance that lemmings are; by their place in popular culture, they are simply amusing if wrongly characterised. (There are no cliffs for them to stampede over in large parts of their habitat.) 

"Pre-oppose" is self-explanatory but there's a place for those in our bid who are simply contrary. 

"Edge case" is a phrase that references unusual situations and things that can't be easily reduced to a lower common denominator. You know, like us. We also liked "edge case" because of the reference of cliffs and lemmings stampeding over said edges. 

"Saw whet" is a little more unusual of a bid support level name. Saw-whet owls are found throughout Canada, the United States, and parts of Mexico. They are one of the smallest owl species in the world, highly nocturnal, and not as uncommon as previously thought. Since owls are a thing for us, a small owl seemed to fit right in. 

Our "Bon Vivant" bid support level references that Montréal and Quebec are the majority of the French-speaking peoples of Canada and a very important cultural part of Canadian history. Montréal in particular is known for great cuisine and restaurant culture, and we wanted to emphasize that!  

Our highest level, the "Ookpik" (and the source of an error in our bid we're very sorry to have made) is the name for a popular Inuit handicraft toy popularized in the 1960s. Ookpik derives from the Inuktitut word "ukpik", or snowy owl.

We hope you will consider joining us in Montréal and sampling more of Canadian culture for our Worldcon! No actual owls, snowy or otherwise, were harmed in the making of this bid. We cannot speak to the lemming population.