Hooah

Hooah (hü-ä or who-ah) is a U.S. Army slang term. It is used primarily by infantry, airborne troops, and rangers (though ultimately by any and all army soldiers regardless of rank, to varying degrees) "referring to or meaning anything and everything except no" . It can also be a type of battle cry. The word's etymology is unclear, but one possible origin is that it is based on the acronym HUA, meaning "heard, understood, acknowledged" . A joking etymology for this is also "Head Up Ass" so that Hua can have a double meaning, either a motivational one ("Hua, Sir, we'll take that hill") or else when told something that you can't possibly believe, you answer sarcastically with "Hua" knowing the other derivation.

Usage

"Huah" or "Hoorah" is ubiquitous in the life of an U.S. Army soldier. In informal situations, a soldier can reply with "hooah" in place of "Yes, (military rank)" such as "Yes, Sergeant." This can be useful when the rank of the superior officer is unknown, similar to using simply "Yes, Sir/Ma'am" without the honorific. "Hooah" can also be used as a question, usually as a tag question, as in "We're going to win this war, hooah?". The most appropriate response to the question "hooah?" is the exclamation "hooah!"

Other popular usages of hooah include:

• Heard, Understood, and Acknowledged
• Anything and everything except "no"
• 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!
• I don't know the answer, but I'll check on it; I haven't the foggiest idea
• I am not listening
• That is enough of your drivel; sit down!
• You've got to be kidding me!
• Thank you
• Go to the next slide
• You've taken the correct action
• I don't know what that means, but I'm too embarrassed to ask for clarification
• Squared away (for example, "He's pretty hooah.")
• Amen!

In popular culture

• "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 Army Rangers at the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia and Lions for Lambs a film about the war in Afghanistan.
• 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". Only Army troops use "hooah"; the Marine Corps equivalent is "Oorah".

See also

• Oorah - The United States Marine Corps equivalent
• Hooyah - The United States Navy equivalent
• HOOAH! Bar - a US military energy bar

External links

• About.com article with ideas about Hooah's etymology
• About.com article with some possible definitions