Ski-U-Mah (slogan)
Ski-U-Mah (pronounced sky-you-ma) is a slogan used at the University of Minnesota since 1894.
U of M Rugby captain John Adams who coined the phrase in 1884, had heard Sioux boys yell "ski-yoo!" when they won canoe races on Lake Pepin. He took that as the Sioux word for victory, or exultation. A co-captain added the "mah" to make it rhyme with "rah" and created "Ski-U-Mah!"
Dakota–Lakota specialists state that the word "Ski-U" or "Ski-yoo" or "Ski-oo" are not Sioux victory cries or the Sioux word for winning and that what the boys heard that day "Ski-yoo" may have just been a nonverbal exclamation, the way we now yell "Whoo-hoo!" when we have reason to celebrate something.[1]
Other possibilities that they may have heard that day are:
"Schkee ooh poh!" or "Scheee ooh!" Scheeh/scheen-shay = Try Hard "Oh-hee-yah" = To win "Oh-hee-un-yum, oh-hee-oohn-yum," = We won
The above words may have sounded similar to a person unfamiliar with the language and or at a distance and misheard what was said.
In the mid-20th century, Ski-U-Mah (magazine) was a U of M humor magazine.
The wording is used as the name of a meeting room at the McNamara Alumni Center and of a campus tailgate lot/parking lot near the TCF Bank Stadium, and as the title of a yearbook-style publication published by the Minnesota Daily. It is also part of the lyrics of the "Minnesota Rouser", "Go Gopher Victory", "Minnesota Fight" and "Minnesota March".
Starting with the 2012/13 football season, Ski-U-Mah will be placed on the rear bumper of the team's helmets, as well as sewn onto the interior of the jersey near the neck area.[2]
External links
References
- ↑ Croman, John (2007-04-01). "I’ve Been Wondering: Ski-U-Mah?". KARE 11 News. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
- ↑ http://www.uni-watch.com/2012/01/28/minnesota-gopher-jersey-collector-shawn-kennedy0128/