Oskee-Wow-Wow

Bryan Bertoglio

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Nov 13, 1994, 5:54:02 PM11/13/94

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Hello,

Here in Illinois, and perhaps most likely elsewhere, there is a common
interjection which I can not ascertain the actual meaning or origin of.
Namely, oskee wow-wow. It is used in the University of Illinois fight song,
and my highschool fight song. Also, on the highschool football team, it would
would be appropriate to yell "oskee!" when an interception was made. I have
not found anything in the OED II, and am hoping to put my mind to rest soon
with SOME kind of an answer.

Any help appreciated,
Bryan Bertoglio

bert...@uiuc.edu

Walter J. Kent

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Nov 14, 1994, 10:08:21 AM11/14/94

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>DATE: Sun, 13 Nov 1994 22:54:02 GMT
>FROM: Bryan Bertoglio <br...@isr0751.urh.uiuc.edu>

I wouldn't bet the ranch on this, and I'm going back about
half a century, but I think I very vaguely remember Tonto saying
something like that to the Lone Ranger. It was followed by "kemosabe" (sp)
and the entire phrase was intended to indicate hearty approval.
Jeez, I haven't even thought about that for 50 years.

Stephen Chernicoff

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Nov 20, 1994, 4:34:52 PM11/20/94

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In article <2993911181...@worldlink.com>, "Walter J. Kent"
<wk0...@worldlink.com> wrote:

> FROM: Bryan Bertoglio <br...@isr0751.urh.uiuc.edu>

>
> Here in Illinois, and perhaps most likely elsewhere, there is a common
> interjection which I can not ascertain the actual meaning or origin of.
> Namely, oskee wow-wow. It is used in the University of Illinois fight song,
> and my highschool fight song. Also, on the highschool football team, it
would
> would be appropriate to yell "oskee!" when an interception was made. I have
> not found anything in the OED II, and am hoping to put my mind to rest soon
> with SOME kind of an answer.

Here in Berkeley, home of the University of California Golden Bears,
people drive around with bumper stickers reading "Oski Bear." I've been
living here for 27 years and I've never known what it meant either. Maybe
somebody out there can enlighten us both.

Stephen Larsen

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Nov 28, 1994, 10:58:17 PM11/28/94

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In a previous article, cher...@ccnet.com (Stephen Chernicoff) says:

>In article <2993911181...@worldlink.com>, "Walter J. Kent"
><wk0...@worldlink.com> wrote:
>
>> FROM: Bryan Bertoglio <br...@isr0751.urh.uiuc.edu>
>>

>> Here in Illinois, and perhaps most likely elsewhere, there is a common
>> interjection which I can not ascertain the actual meaning or origin of.
>> Namely, oskee wow-wow. It is used in the University of Illinois fight song,
>> and my highschool fight song. Also, on the highschool football team, it
>would
>> would be appropriate to yell "oskee!" when an interception was made. I have
>> not found anything in the OED II, and am hoping to put my mind to rest soon
>> with SOME kind of an answer.
>
>

>Here in Berkeley, home of the University of California Golden Bears,
>people drive around with bumper stickers reading "Oski Bear." I've been
>living here for 27 years and I've never known what it meant either. Maybe
>somebody out there can enlighten us both.
>

Oski is, in fact the name of Cal's mascot. There's an old Cal cheer that
goes something like "Oski wow wow/ Whisky wee wee/ Holy mackreli/ Holy
Berkeleyi/ California/ California/ Go Bears." They always bring out some
ancient Cal grad before the big game against Stanford to lead the
undergrads in this cheer.

I think those "Oski Bear" bumper-stickers are advertisements for Big
Bear, a ski resort. They actually say "Ski Bear," with a round logo with
a paw or something in it where the "O" should be. Take a closer look.
The "Oski" reference, whether intential or not, makes them very popular
among Cal ski bums.

I'm still curious to know the connection between the U.C. Berkeley mascot
and a high school in Illinois. Perhaps "oski" was popular slang at
the turn of the century, and was coopted (an appropriate thing for a
Berkeley institution to do) by a number of institutions.

Ciao for now,

--
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Eric L. | "Nothing ever burns down by itself."
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