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YesterYear DesignAfter 4 years of creating bears, my curiousity has finally peaked! So I've come to get thoughts or answers from the most knowledgeable people in the bear world......the members of TT. How many bears do you collect before you can call it a Hug? Where did the description 'Hug' come from and when did it start being used? Hugs, Jan
Hmmn, must be at least two eh? Two can hug ... but then I guess one could hug an owner ... hmmn, you're right, this requires the full brainpower of TT Jan! 
Emo BearsI would say two; as a hug is a group, and you can't have a group with just one - that makes it just a lonely bear.
Bears by EdieWell, in the collecting world they say it takes 3 to make a collection so I would go with that - two isn't really a group, it's a couple! 
I have no idea where the term hug came from for a teddy bear collection or how long it has been in use - I could go try to look it up but I just HAVE to get off this computer and start doing some creating today - it's been too long since I've done anything!
Dances With Teddy BearsI agree with Edie, a collection (of anything) officially starts with three. That said, I think a hug can be as little as one. Like Paula said: One could hug an owner. So if you have just one lonely little bear, hug it to pieces!
I know, I'm not adding a thing to this discussion. It's 103 out and everything is melting, including my brain. This is the Pacific Northwest. We're not supposed to get heat like this! :doh:
YesterYear DesignGreat thoughts and comments! Keep them comin'. HeeHeeHee "....just one - that makes it just a lonely bear".....love it, Julia. Hugs, Jan
Matilda Huggington-beare
EJ's CraftsI don't know how this all started but here is my opinion.
One is a single; two is a couple; three is a set; four+ is a group.
Collection sounds kind of impersonal and because it is bears and they create such a passion in people that it started to be called a hug. :hug:
Does that make sense. 
Boechout, AntwerpAs far as knowledge goes (which isn't very far, granted 
), the expression "A hug of teddy bears" was first used by Peter Bull as the title of his last book about teddy bears.
Peter Bull was an actor/writer/TV personality, who was a true arctophile and did a lot to promote teddy bears. He always carried a little teddy bear called Theodore with him. He was also the owner of the famous "Aloysius" teddy, that featured in "Brideshead revisited". Sadly he died in 1984 just before his last book about teddy bears "A hug of teddy bears" was published. If you haven't read any of his teddy books, I highly recommend them : wonderful stuff for teddy lovers 
.
And how many bears go in a hug : as many as you can hug :crackup: .
Bear Hugs, :hug:
Peterbear
desertmountainbear"And how many bears go in a hug : as many as you can hug :crackup: ."
Bear Hugs, :hug:
Peterbear
Peter I love your answer, and totally agree.
Joanne
If it was Peter Bull who coined the term, he did well.
One of the fun things about the English language is the collective nouns we invent for groups of animals -- words that embody some characteristic behavior of the animal (a murder of crows; a pride of lions; a swarm of bees).
If you had to come up with a behavior that best embodied teddy bears, "hug" is a darned good one. We could also have a "cuddle of teddy bears" or a "patience of teddy bears" or a "security of teddy bears." What do you think?
(Great question!)
Becky
Past Time BearsIf it was Peter Bull who coined the term, he did well.
One of the fun things about the English language is the collective nouns we invent for groups of animals -- words that embody some characteristic behavior of the animal (a murder of crows; a pride of lions; a swarm of bees).
If you had to come up with a behavior that best embodied teddy bears, "hug" is a darned good one. We could also have a "cuddle of teddy bears" or a "patience of teddy bears" or a "security of teddy bears." What do you think?
(Great question!)
Becky
Or a 'comfort of teddy bears'.
Fulrfun BearsWhat about a neccesity of Teddy Bears?
Dances With Teddy BearsWhat about a neccesity of Teddy Bears?
I like that one! :dance:
Back Road BearsAt least we don't call a group of teddy bears a "sleuth"... that's what a group of REAL bears is called. Weird.
(A "group", by the way, is defined by Mirriam-Webster as two or more.)
Would "hug" and "collection" be two different things or one in the same in the bear world?
Hmmm...........
Posts: 214In 1978 my Mom received a gift from Peter Bull----it was a revised copy of his first (1969) book, "Bear With Me." Since it had a lot of new material and pictures, it was re-copyrighted and renamed "Peter Bull's Book of Teddy Bears." The dust jacket of the book shows Peter Bull with himself as a Teddy Bear, holding a tiny bear. Also enclosed, an invitation to visit him and to attend the first "Great Teddy Bear Rally" to be held at Longleat, England on May 27th 1979, at the home of the Marquis of Bath. In their conversations about Teddy Bears, it was generally agreed that a "Hug Of Teddy Bears" was "as many as you could get your arms around"---"or in a big room"----"or in an apartment"---"or in a house"----or, or, or, or, or......................................
Plum Cottage BearsI would say that a hug of bears is any number from two to infinity. One bear is just a lonely bear, waiting for a hug.
