Skule (engineering society)

Skule™ is Canada's first student engineering society. It is based at the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Skule™ is supposedly the metric spelling of "school". Its members are also known as Skulemates. Skule™ became used at the Society since the time when Faculty was called the School of Practical Science (SPS), and students preferred the abbreviation "skule". The name was trademarked in 1984 by the University of Toronto Engineering Society (EngSoc).

Skule™ embodies the engineering spirit at the university, including the Lady Godiva Memorial Bnad [sic] (LGMB), the Brute Force Committee (BFC), and Ye Olde Mighty Skule™ Cannon, the official Skule™ mascot.

History

Toike Oike known as the "Skule™ Yell" is the current cheer of the University of Toronto Engineering Society.

It currently is:

Toike Oike! Toike Oike!
Ollum te Chollum te Chay!
Skule™ of Science, Skule™ of Science
Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!
We Are (we are!), We Are (we are!), We Are the Engineers!
We Can (we can!), We Can (we can!), Demolish Forty Beers!
Drink Rum (straight!) Drink Rum (straight!) And Come Along With Us,
For We Don’t Give a Damn For Any Damn Man Who Don’t Give a Damn For Us!
Yaaaay SKULE™!!

This is perhaps the oldest surviving tradition of Skule™. The original four lines first came into use in 1897. At that time, there was a much stronger sense of spirit and rivalry among the different colleges and faculties at the University of Toronto. Each had their own distinctive cheer which they proudly used to proclaim their superiority at every possible occasion. The original Skule™ cheer was:

Who are we? Can’t you guess?
We are from the SPS
S-C-H-O-O-L!!

Both Skule™ and the rest of the University recognized it as an inadequate cheer. It was decided that the yell proposed by A. G. Piper was the best and thus was born the original four lines of "Toike Oike". The cheer was first performed at a Theatre Night, a major campus-wide event for all the faculties, held on Halloween.

The last four lines of the yell are essentially the chorus of Godiva's Hymn, and were first used on November 25, 1905 during the procession from Rosedale Field to the King Edward Hotel following a victory of the University of Toronto Rugby team over the Ottawa Rough Riders. In the game, Casey Baldwin, a Skuleman, had made a spectacular play in the last minutes to win the dominion championship for the university.

The phrase "Toike Oike" comes from an Irish janitor in the old Skulehouse named Graham. Whenever students were working late in the labs and he had to close up the building, he would tell them to "take a hike", which sounded like "toike oike" due to his Irish accent. Students of the day then used this as the original inspiration for the words of the cheer. The cheer is pronounced "Toy-kee-oyk".

"Toike Oike" is also the name of the Engineering Society's humour newspaper, which has been in print since 1911.

External links

• University of Toronto Engineering Society (skule.ca)
• The Toike Oike - University of Toronto Engineering Society's Humour Newspaper since 1911
• 'Skule' Trademark Information
• The Lady Godiva Memorial Bnad
• Skule Nite: U of T Engineering's Musical/Comedy Revue
• Skule Traditions