Decoding Hoya Propaganda: “Hoya”

Georgetown University has many long-held traditions: participatory studies in pedophilia, supporting dogbites and bee stings (rather than raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens), and losing meaningful lacrosse games.  The most notable of Georgetown traditions, however, is that of “Hoya,” and its contemporary rallying cry, “Hoya Saxa!”

As a cognomen, “Hoya” is troublesome.  As a yell or cheer, it is awkward and smells of hubris.  And yet Georgetown perseveres with the tradition, eschewing relevance for an odd amalgamation of nonsense and failure.

In an effort to understand why antisocial misfits would adopt such a tradition, I did some digging into the history of “Hoya” and “Hoya Saxa.”  The results were not surprising: “Hoya” and “Hoya Saxa” hold no relevance, much like the institution that has adopted the traditions.  In short, the foundation of “Hoya” and “Hoya Saxa” is unsatisfactory at best, much like Craig Esherick’s tenure at the university.

Hoya Saxa, an Internet site that, presumably, carries a far different pursuit than this particular notebook, maintains the most “definitive” review of the tradition.  As presented, the explanation of the tradition has not clarified the origins or value of “Hoya” or “Hoya Saxa;”  in fact, it has reinvigorated my unabashed disdain for Georgetown.

As Hoya Saxa writes:

The origins of the word “Hoya” defy simple explanation.

This is not an explanation.  In fact, the use of this sentence as an introduction makes me want to send the author back to Storrs, Connecticut and request that the University of Connecticut revoke his Associate’s degree. 

The passage continues with this nugget that, I am to assume, attempts to paint a picture of the development of the tradition:

Over the years, some have claimed it is an Indian word, while those of a legal mind thought it related to the French word oyez, the traditional opening of judicial sessions. Still others held that with Georgetown’s location along a river, Hoya might be an offshoot of the nautical “ahoy”. None of these claims have held water, so to speak.

Translation: All these people are stupid. 

The official explanation holds that there was a baseball team at Georgetown called the “Stonewalls”. It is suggested that a student, applying Greek and Latin, dubbed the team the hoia saxa– hoia is the Greek neuter plural for “what” or “what a”, while saxais the Latin neuter plural for “rock”. Substituting a “y” for an “i”; “hoya saxa” literally means “what rocks”.

Mystery solved.  The conclusion stinks, but its a conclusion nonetheless. 

To this day, however, no one has proven exactly when and under what circumstances the yell originated. While there was a Stonewalls team between 1866 and 1873, an actual reference to the team is pure speculation.

Translation: Georgetown has a history of lying and carrying through the fabrication in emphatic Costanza-like fashion.

Among all college programs, only Georgetown University holds this unique team nickname to which its students, faculty, alumni, and fans can take pride in.

That is no reason to keep a nickname.  In fact, to take pride in a tradition that is built on a fabrication is detestable and emblematic of the graduates that Georgetown continually throws into the world on an annual basis.

But the Hoya yell did find its way into the fight songs of two other Jesuit colleges: Holy Cross’ “Hoiah, Holy Cross”, and Marquette’s “Ring Out Ahoya“. Each appears to have its roots, however distant, in the yell begun on a college yard many years ago. In short, “Hoya” may be difficult to define, but its tradition endures.

Coincidence? I think not.  All these university’s have undergraduate student bodies that are one-part bastard and two-parts chump.

And that’s “what” it’s all about.

Great.