"Home of the Rebels"

Posted by Smokey Stover on February 12, 2004

In Reply to: "Home of the Rebels" posted by Smokey Stover on February 12, 2004

: : :
: : : What does this phrase mean when it is affixed to the names of high schools or collages?
: : : As in "COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, Home of the Rebels"...
: : : Thanks.

: : Schools in the U.S. have the custom of adopting a nickname. Sometimes it is an animal -- Shady Spring High School Tigers, etc. Or, in the case above, it is "the Rebels."

: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that most school nicknames are attached to a specific sports team, such as the varsity football team. Sometimes there's a mascot as well. Both the nickname and mascot are useful when the cheerleaders pump up enthusiasm for their team at pep rallies and at the games themselves. Sometimes the producers of teen flicks and TV shows use nicknames for humorous effect, as in the Smallville Crows, or the Sunnydale Razorbacks (a type of hog). "Varsity" means university in Brit-speak, but American high schools, which are not universities, and colleges, which are not colleges either, use "varsity" to mean their premium team, the one that plays in competition with other schools. I was once a member of the junior junior varsity in basketball, and we played against only the worst of the worst. SS

Excuse me, in the last message read: "colleges, which are not universityies either . . ." SS

• "Home of the Rebels" Smokey Stover 12/February/04
  • "Home of the Rebels" One from Seoul 12/February/04
  • "Home of the Rebels" One from Seoul 12/February/04
    • "Home of the Rebels" Smokey Stover 12/February/04
  • "Home of the Rebels" One from Seoul 12/February/04
    • "Home of the Rebels" Bob 12/February/04