Oklahoma, OK!
We were drawing self portraits for the first day of school, and the friendly girl next to me kept asking me for strange objects like pins and crowns (pens and crayons). The vernacular wasn't the only thing I didn't get there, though.
The first day of school happened to be the day of the first football game for OU Sooners, Superbowl champs for 5 years in a row, so at lunch the principal came in and led us in a cheer.
"You be boomer," he said, indicating the side of the room I was sitting on, "And you be Sooner. Loudest side gets free dessert. One, two, three, go!"
He pointed to my side and everyone stood up and shouted boooooooomer! (stomp stomp), then he pointed to the other side-- Sooooner (stomp stomp).
This repeated more times than I thought could possibly be entertaining, but I started yelling with the boomers. I figured I wouldn't mind a free dessert too much.
They had other strange traditions in Norman, OK. Everyone in the school was bonded by distain for OSU, even though half of the student's parents were alumnists, and some of them (like my mom) worked there, or were going there at that time. They would tell jokes at assemblies about the difference between OU and OSU, and at the beginning of the day, after the national anthem, they would play a patriotic rip off of "Who let the dogs out " (Whooo let the Sooners out? Who, Who-who-who-who, Whooo let the Sooners out?, etc.)
I suppose these traditions were a little like Native American chants and rituals, at risk of sounding. . . insensitive or something, but the games were regular, so we had certain times that we would do the chants and the songs, and it did help with community bonding. Also, everyone participated in those sorts of things, which is something we didn't have so much in the Seattle culture. People were a bit uptight in Seattle, but everyone in OK was laid back and none were afraid to perform, even if that meant making fools of themselves. Which is something I imagine Native Americans might have more in their culture.
The first day of school happened to be the day of the first football game for OU Sooners, Superbowl champs for 5 years in a row, so at lunch the principal came in and led us in a cheer.
"You be boomer," he said, indicating the side of the room I was sitting on, "And you be Sooner. Loudest side gets free dessert. One, two, three, go!"
He pointed to my side and everyone stood up and shouted boooooooomer! (stomp stomp), then he pointed to the other side-- Sooooner (stomp stomp).
This repeated more times than I thought could possibly be entertaining, but I started yelling with the boomers. I figured I wouldn't mind a free dessert too much.
They had other strange traditions in Norman, OK. Everyone in the school was bonded by distain for OSU, even though half of the student's parents were alumnists, and some of them (like my mom) worked there, or were going there at that time. They would tell jokes at assemblies about the difference between OU and OSU, and at the beginning of the day, after the national anthem, they would play a patriotic rip off of "Who let the dogs out " (Whooo let the Sooners out? Who, Who-who-who-who, Whooo let the Sooners out?, etc.)
I suppose these traditions were a little like Native American chants and rituals, at risk of sounding. . . insensitive or something, but the games were regular, so we had certain times that we would do the chants and the songs, and it did help with community bonding. Also, everyone participated in those sorts of things, which is something we didn't have so much in the Seattle culture. People were a bit uptight in Seattle, but everyone in OK was laid back and none were afraid to perform, even if that meant making fools of themselves. Which is something I imagine Native Americans might have more in their culture.
posted by Eva at 7:40 AM
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