HOAKIES

[nospinzone1]

PLEAS TELL ME WHAT A HOKIE IS

[KnorrForYourMoney]

A HOAGIE IS A SUB SANDWICH STACKED WITH A LOT DELI



OH, YOU MEANT A HOKIE

I HAVE NO SHEISING IDEA WHAT A HOKIE IS, SORRY

[PANatsFan]

A HOAGIE IS A SUB SANDWICH STACKED WITH A LOT DELI

(Image removed from quote.)

OH, YOU MEANT A HOKIE

I HAVE NO SHEISING IDEA WHAT A HOKIE IS, SORRY

[ronnynat]

Google, nospin!!

Here is the answer to that oft-posed question, "What's a Hokie?" and an explanation of other Tech traditions.

What is a Hokie? The origin of the word "Hokie" has nothing to do with a turkey. It was coined by O. M. Stull (class of 1896), who used it in a spirit yell he wrote for a competition.

Here's how that competition came to be held. Virginia Tech was founded in 1872 as a land-grant institution and was named Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. In 1896, the Virginia General Assembly officially changed the college's name to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute, a name so long that citizens shortened it in popular usage to VPI. The original college cheer, which made reference to the original name of the institution, was no longer suitable. Thus, a contest was held to select a new spirit yell, and Stull won the $5 top prize for his cheer, now known as Old Hokie:

Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy.
Techs, Techs, V.P.I.
Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah.
Polytechs - Vir-gin-ia.
Rae, Ri, V.P.I.

Later, the phrase "Team! Team! Team!" was added at the end, and an "e" was added to "Hoki."

Stull later said that he made up the word as an attention-grabber. Though he may not have known it, "Hokie" (in its various forms) has been around at least since 1842. According to Johann Norstedt, now a retired Virginia Tech English professor, "[Hokie was] a word that people used to express feeling, approval, excitement, surprise. Hokie, then, is a word like 'hooray,' or 'yeah,' or 'rah.'" Whatever its original meaning, the word in the popular cheer did, as Stull wanted, grab attention and has been a part of Virginia Tech tradition ever since.

http://www.vt.edu/about/hokie.html

[DPMOmaha]

Google, nospin!!
http://www.vt.edu/about/hokie.html

That's all well and good, but it's just spin.  The dictionary says something different.

dictionary results for: hokie
Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry:     hokie
Part of Speech:     adj
Definition:     corny and contrived, fake and melodramatic, insincerely emotional; also written hokey
Usage:     slang

Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7)
Copyright © 2003-2008 Lexico Publishing Group, LLC
Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry:     hokie
Part of Speech:     n
Definition:     an emasculated turkey

Dictionary dot com

[nospinzone1]

THANKS RONNYNAT AND OMAHA POR TAKING THE QUESTION SERIOUSLY AND FOR THE ANSERS.

[nats2playoffs]

My brother went to Va Tech, and it had been commonly called VPI, before it had a national football program.  He said that it was still a respected school for its agriculture and farming programs.  (They have highly respected engineering and business schools.)  He knew a lot of guys who could discuss the differences in a dozen breeds of cows. He always told me that a Hokie was an castrated turkey.  I just never got it.

[leinad]

I AM!!

[blue911]

I AM!!

A castrated Turkey? Bummer.

[GburgNatsFan]

I was going to type that then I thought, "No. It's just too easy."

Glad to see someone else has the same mind set and intellect.

A castrated Turkey? Bummer.

[nospinzone1]

That's all well and good, but it's just spin.  The dictionary says something different.
Dictionary dot com

That's all well and good, but it's just spin.  The dictionary says something different.
Dictionary dot com

THANKS. AS YOU AND OTHERS HERE KNOW BY NOW THAT I AM NOT A TECHIE. THINGS LIKE GOOGLE AND OTHER VENUES ARE DIFFICULT FOR ME, ANYWAY AT 72 I AM NOT EXPERIENCED IN THOSE THING.S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO IS TO USE SNOPES TO VERIFY THINGS.

[Why Not?]

I believe the name originated with the cheer. Eventually people acknowledged the turkey thing, which was just coincidence. Hokie was just a nonsense word. Alas, Tech sort of embraced it anyway and incorporated a turkey mascot. For a long time, they were the "Gobblers".

I think UVa's "Wahoo" sort of had a similar beginning.