Hoo-ah!

Posted by Smokey Stover on February 21, 2004

In Reply to: Hoo-ah! posted by Fred Donehoo on February 21, 2004

: Has it occurred to anyone else that the American service personnel's "Hoo-ah!" may be a corruption of the English shout, "Hear, Hear," meaning roughly, "Listen to what the man is saying," and is pronounced "Hee-ah, Hee-ah" in parliament.

Not me. It sounds more like a corruption (!) of "Hoo-ee!" American popular speech is full of interjections (or ejaculations?) which are not contingent on any actual words, but sound more like the directions you might give, say, to a team of horses. Yee-hah! Doesn't that sound like something a teamster would say, a bit like an alternative to Giddy-ap? Then there's "Whoa," very popular nowadays, not to be confused with "Whoo-ee," similar to but not the same as "Whoopee." I once had a neighbor who called his pigs with something like "Hoo-ee" (but not quite--the exact expression is still used only for calling pigs). SS

• Hoo-ah! Fred Donehoo 21/February/04
  • Hoo-ah! Smokey Stover 22/February/04
    • Woooooo ESC 23/February/04
      • Woooooo/ Hooah SR 24/February/04