Friday, June 01, 2007

Wahoo


As you may know, many American colleges and universities have nicknames. Formally, University of Virginia's nickname is Cavaliers. Virginia Cavaliers were royalist supporters in the royal colony of Virginia at various times during the colonial period of the United States. Nowadays, it is the common name of UVA athletic teams, a title of a local newspaper, a name of a local PC distributor etc.

Less known but still very popular, an alternate nickname is Wahoo [wu:'hu:]. The official story says that it is a moniker of the athletic teams based on the University's rallying cry "Wah-hoo-wah U-V-A!". Wikipedia says:


The yell was invented as an Indian yell for Dartmouth College by Dartmouth
student Daniel Rollins in 1878. Corks & Curls, the University of Virginia
annual, regularly printed lists of the yells and colors of the various colleges;
in 1888 it included Dartmouth's school yell, a part of which was the phrase
"wah-hoo-wah." University of Virginia students soon incorporated the phrase
"wah-hoo-wah" into their own, longer school yell, and individual U.Va.
fraternities also adopted it and modified it. (It was common for "student
culture" to travel: the University of Illinois also adopted "wah-hoo-wah," and
the tune of the Yale "Boola Boola", for example, became the basis of the
"Boomer-Sooner" song of the University of Oklahoma.) (Dartmouth students,
meanwhile, largely stopped using the Indian yell during the 1980s along with the
accompanying Indian mascots, symbols, and nickname.)

The yell was already in use by the time Natalie Floyd Otey performed at the
Levy Opera House in Charlottesville on January 30, 1893. She sang a song
specifically about the town and University titled "Wah-Hoo-Wah" that began, "Oh,
Charlottesville, illustrious name,/ The home of Jefferson you claim;/ The lap of
learning, font of fame—" and was set to the tune of "Ta-rara-boom-de-ay," with
the catchy chorus sung as "Wah-hoo-wah you-vee-ay." Otey's song was popular
enough with students that Corks & Curls printed it in 1894.

However, there is another story, popular mostly among students, explaining the origin of this nick. It says that UVA students were associated with a wahoo fish - the one known for its ability to drink amounts of water twice its weight without drowning in order to puff itself up for a fight. The parallel is obvious ;D

The Wahoo is a scombrid fish, the largest of mackerels. It is large, up to 70-90 kg, one among the fastest pelagic (oceanic) species, reaching speeds up to 60 mph.

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