Ohio State & Georgetown

[Nevadaref]

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."

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.

[Mark Dexter]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

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!"

Hey - I just go by the information that Georgetown gives me. Not my fault if most of their students and their spirit department doesn't know the proper meaning of their own cheer/mascot.

http://guhoyas.cstv.com/trads/gu-hoya.html

Georgetown Prep even has a little exclamation point as a mascot that hops around at games.

Wow - as much as I love grammar, I'm glad I didn't get a job there.

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.

Hmm - sometime around 1789, then?

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Mark Dexter

Hmm - sometime around 1789, then?

Shortly thereafter...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Hoyas

"In the 1940s, Georgetown had one of the better college football teams in America. As the college game became more expensive, however, Georgetown refused to make the expensive investments that other Catholic universities like Notre Dame made to maintain a top-notch program.
In 1941, Georgetown played in the Orange Bowl, where they lost 14-7 to Mississippi State. They also played in the 1950 Sun Bowl against Texas Western. Texas Western, now known as the University of Texas at El Paso (more commonly UTEP), won the game by a score of 33-20.
After a 2-7 season in 1950 which included losses to the likes of Penn State, Miami, and Maryland, Georgetown discontinued the sport, which was revived in 1964 by students. Its first game drew 8,000 to campus against New York University (NYU). Today's Georgetown team plays at the Division I-AA level, competing against Ivy League and Patriot League schools."

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Shortly thereafter...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Hoyas

Wikipedia is "garbage-in--garbage-out" sometimes. They're simply not a credible a source as some others. A good analogy would be Referee magazine and IAABO. Just because they both publish rules interpretations doesn't make those interpretations correct. I'm not saying that's true in this particular case, but it's certainly possible.