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Originally Posted by Mark Dexter
No . . . what's on second. Who's on first.
Seriously, though. The word 'hoya' loosely translates from the Greek as 'what.' It comes from the first word of Georgetown's slogan/chant/battle cry of "Hoya Saxa" which means "what rocks."
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Almost entirely correct, but not quite precise. Typical of a GW grad.
The Hoya part is actually the Greek exclamation not the interrogative. (BTW the saxa is Latin.) So "Hoya Saxa" would be better translated as "Such rocks!" Truly the focus is not on the word "what" or "such" but rather on the exclamation point, so one could really write just "Rocks!"
Georgetown Prep even has a little exclamation point as a mascot that hops around at games.
There are differing stories on the origin of the cheer.
1. The cheer comes from back in the day when Georgetown had a notable football team and the spectators were extolling the play of the defensive line.
2. The baseball team used to be called the stonewalls and that morphed into the cheer.
3. There is a stone wall that encircles most of the campus and what used to be the location of the athletic field. The spectators used to sit upon this to view the games. This rock wall became associated with the students that entered the campus.
PS In days long gone, students had to pass both Latin and ancient Greek in order to graduate from the school.