# Hip Hip Hurrah **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 19, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282 "2012-04-19T15:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nunka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/fbc32d/32.png) [@Nunka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunka)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282/1 "2012-04-19T15:40:07Z")
The column focused on the “Hip Hip”, but what of the “Hurrah”? I used to be married to a Danish girl and they claim that “hurrah” was a viking battle cry used when slaughtering everyone, no special “hurrah” dispensation given by race, religion, or region. ---
**Author:** ![Grayce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6de8d8/32.png) [@Grayce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grayce)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282/2 "2012-04-26T05:26:11Z")
There is a different “hip” for hippies in the 1960s. It is associated with drugs and lying on one hip, like an opium smoker for example. Hippies was a derogatory label, or at least descriptive, and was not used by a person for himself/herself. As it became associated with the peace movement and flower power, “flower child” and “hippie” began to mean the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282/3 "2012-04-26T09:41:21Z")
Helpful link to the column in question: [Was “hip hip hurrah” originally an anti-Semitic taunt?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/747/was-hip-hip-hurrah-originally-an-anti-semitic-taunt) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282/4 "2012-04-26T22:34:54Z")
> [@Grayce](#): > > There is a different “hip” for hippies in the 1960s. It is associated with drugs and lying on one hip, like an opium smoker for example. Highly improbable. Both “hip” and “hep” in the current sense are attested back as far as the first decade of the 20th century, and the root meaning appears to have been “aware”, “with it”, _etc.._ Besides, don’t you know where all the hippies meet? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282/5 "2012-04-27T01:15:55Z")
> [@Nunka](#): > > The column focused on the “Hip Hip”, but what of the “Hurrah”? > > I used to be married to a Danish girl and they claim that “hurrah” was a viking battle cry used when slaughtering everyone, no special “hurrah” dispensation given by race, religion, or region. Of course, they have printed proof from the 10th-14th century that “hurrah” was a viking battle cry. I always thought it was, but proof would solidify my view. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282/6 "2012-04-27T19:35:50Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Of course, they have printed proof from the 10th-14th century that “hurrah” was a viking battle cry. I always thought it was, but proof would solidify my view. :rolleyes: Actually, I’ve seen “Harroo!” as a Viking battle cry in a play from the 1930s (“Judgement at Chelmsford” by Charles Williams), so there’s probably some truth in it. However, that’s not the same thing as establishing that it is the origin of MnE “Hurrah”. The OED believes “Hurrah” is an alteration of “Huzza”, possibly under foreign influence, but dates both “Huzza” and “Hurrah” (not to mention “Hurray”) long, long after the Vikings. – John W. Kennedy “Who roar for the Sub-warden!”—_Sylvie and Bruno_ ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282/7 "2012-04-27T23:21:13Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Actually, I’ve seen “Harroo!” as a Viking battle cry in a play from the 1930s (“Judgement at Chelmsford” by Charles Williams), so there’s probably some truth in it. Not sure how that puts truth into the viking origins. > [@](#): > > However, that’s not the same thing as establishing that it is the origin of MnE “Hurrah”. The OED believes “Hurrah” is an alteration of “Huzza”, possibly under foreign influence, but dates both “Huzza” and “Hurrah” (not to mention “Hurray”) long, long after the Vikings. > > – > John W. Kennedy > “Who roar for the Sub-warden!”—_Sylvie and Bruno_ Thanks for that. I didn’t realize how far back that cry went. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hip-hip-hurrah/619282/8 "2012-04-27T23:59:32Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Besides, don’t you know where all the hippies meet? South Street, South Street.