Hooah
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Hooah (pronounced /ˈhuːɑː/) is a U.S. Army battle cry used[1] by soldiers "Referring to or meaning anything and everything except no."[2]
- Air Force: "Ahroo," among Security Forces, Combat Controllers or "Hooyah" among Pararescue[3]
Usage
Other popular usages of hooah include:[4]
- "Heard, understood and acknowledged" (backronym as "HUA")
- What to say when at a loss for words
- "Good copy"
- "Roger," "solid copy," "good," "great," "message received," "understood," "acknowledged"
- "Glad to meet you," "welcome"
- "All right!"
- "Thank you"
- "Go to the next slide"
- "You've taken the correct action"
- "Amen!"
- "Outstanding!"
- "That's cool" or "that's OK." As in, "That's hooah."
- To motivate another soldier.
- Did not hear what was said, but not going to ask to repeat.
- Anything and everything except "no."
Hooah can also:
- describe a hardcore soldier. As in, "He's hooah" or "She's hooah."
- be used a call and response cheer, with one soldier exclaiming, "hooah!," and other soldiers responding in like.
- be uttered at random and in a group in order to boost morale. One or a few soldiers will begin chanting "hooah!," and then others join in.
- describe Army Rangers. As in "The hooah-hooahs."
- be used as a sarcastic remark for something specific to the Army. Sometimes used sarcastically. As in, "This detail is about as hoo-ah as it gets."
In popular culture
File:Hooah.jpg
a [HOOAH! energy bar
- "Hooah" can be found in the scripts of several military-related movies. One well-known example is Al Pacino's character, a former U.S. Army officer, in the movie Scent of a Woman (which may have popularized the longer "Hoo-Ah" version). "Hooah" also features prominently in Black Hawk Down, which depicts United States Army Rangers at the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia and Lions for Lambs a film about the war in Afghanistan. In Basic, Samuel L. Jackson's character finishes each line of his training briefings with "Give me a 'Hooah', Sergeant!". In the 2004 American film The Manchurian Candidate, Denzel Washington's character responds an order with it during the brainwashing procedure.
- Used as the meaning of "Heard Understood Acknowledged" by private young soldiers in the movie Renaissance Man from 1994.
- In the episode "Semper Fidelis" of the TV series Jericho, former US Army Ranger Johnston Green realizes that a detachment of "US Marines" are imposters because they use the word "hooah". Genuine Marines would have said "Oorah" instead.
- The GI unit in Red Alert 2 sometimes says "hooah" in response to an order by the player.
- It is also incorrectly used in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past by the Sarge, a member of the US Marines.
- The computer game America's Army makes frequent use of the phrase, and pressing the H key on the keyboard in version 2 or below would make the player's character shout "Hooah" over the radio to other members of the player's team, sometimes eliciting a series of "Hooahs" in reply.
- In the microtransaction, free to play game of Combat Arms, "Hooah" is featured as a voice-com taunt.
- "Hooah" can be heard in Crysis, yelled by a Marine on the USS Constitution and at least one other point in the game.
- In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the NEST team replies "Hooah" when Major Lennox gives instructions before the battle with the Decepticons in Egypt.
- In the videogame Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the US Army Rangers are heard multiple times throughout the game using Hooah for anything and everything except "no."
See also
- Oorah - The United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard equivalent
- Hooyah - The United States Navy equivalent
- Ahroo - The United States Air Force equivalent
- Huzzah - an 18th century equivalent
References
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<references />, or <references group="..." />External links
- About.com article with ideas about Hooah's etymology
- About.com article with some possible definitions
- Hooah uttered at the end of the re-enlistment oath, Baghdad, July 4th, 2008: at time 1:08 on the video clip
