Best-Kisser and I alway used to have the same argument when we’d watch a military themed movie. We could not agree on whether they were saying Hoorah, or Oohray, or Oohaah. If I’d just Googled it earlier we could have saved ourselves a lot of heated debate. As it turns out, we were both kind of right.
Ooh-rah is said by the Marines, and originates from when the submarine was about to dive; the PA system would announce DIVE DIVE, followed by the Klaxon alarm, which sounded roughly like AARUGHA! All I can say is thank goodness the sound was passed down verbally and not written, otherwise we would have had a lot of interesting versions of AARUGHA which may have sounded more like drowning Marines, instead of alert Marines. Given the tricky spelling of the word, it has evolved into what is now Ooh-rah or Hoo-rah. Much simpler. Much more, um, alert sounding.
Hooah, on the other hand, is said by the Army and comes from the acronym, H.U.A, which stands for Heard, Understood, Acknowledged. And it is this attitude, my friends, which I am looking for in my household. There can be no confusion when you hear Hooah. It has all bases covered. Heard? Yes, I’ve heard. Understood? Yes, yes, I’ve definitely got it. Acknowledged? Yes, acknowledged. In another words...“action to be taken imminently.”
I have wondered many times if my children also Googled Hooah vs. Ooh-rah and stumbled instead upon AARUGHA, because this is what it sounds like when I ask them to do something. Yes, I get the drowning marines version and not the choppy, yippy version. Please put on your shoes and socks. AARUGHA! Please go and brush your teeth. AARUGHA! Please go and do your homework, like now. AARUGHA! Please tidy up your toys. AARUGHA! To make matters more convincing, they have coupled their AARUGHA! with an appropriate drowning-marine face. They give me a look like I’ve just asked them to complete a commando style obstacle course, blindfolded, backwards, in the snow.
It’s my fault, really. Instead of teaching them the simple Hooah I want to hear, I have been teaching them manners instead. And quite honestly, if I have to choose between manners and an obedient Hooah, I’ll take the Hooah any day.
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