# Why do cowboys say "Yippee Ki Yay"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865 "2025-06-19T21:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/1 "2025-06-19T21:40:34Z")
Or “Whoopee ti yi”, if you prefer. (I fully expect half the responses to be about Die Hard. Go ahead.) First: I assume they’re addressing the cows? To what end? But my real question is: why are they addressing cows in some alien language? And what is the etymology of “yippee ki yay”? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/2 "2025-06-19T21:47:44Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > (I fully expect half the responses to be about Die Hard. Go ahead.) And you’d be right, MuthaFuck. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/3 "2025-06-19T21:50:38Z")
My guess is that humans have an inherent compulsion to shout random shit while riding a horse. It’s the same impulse that makes us raise our hands and shout “WOOOO!” on a roller coaster. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/4 "2025-06-19T21:52:56Z")
> **[A brief history of yippee-ki-yay](https://theweek.com/articles/462065/brief-history-yippeekiyay)** > > The origin of Bruce Willis' famous phrase dates back centuries > The _yip_ part of _yippee_ is old. It originated in the 15th century and meant “to cheep, as a young bird,” according to the _Oxford English Dictionary_ (OED). The more [well-known meaning](http://www.wordnik.com/words/yip), to emit a high-pitched bark, came about around 1907, as per the OED, and gained the figurative meaning “to shout; to complain.” > > … > > _[Yippee](http://www.wordnik.com/words/yippee)_ came about after _yip_ . The earliest record of this exclamation of delight is from [1920](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=yippee&allowed_in_frame=0) in Sinclair Lewis’s novel, _[Main Street](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/543/543-h/543-h.htm):_ “She galloped down a block and as she jumped from a curb across a welter of slush, she gave a student ‘_Yippee_ !’” … > > Now how about the whole phrase, _yippee-ki-yay_ ? It seems to be a play on “yippie yi yo kayah,” a refrain from a 1930s Bing Crosby song, “[I’m An Old Cowhand](http://youtu.be/jo-pApe1Kd0).” > > Do cowboys really say this? We’re guessing probably not, unless of course they’re single-handedly (and shoelessly) defeating a gang of bank robbers on Christmas Eve. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/5 "2025-06-19T21:54:21Z")
Beat me by a whole minute. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/6 "2025-06-19T22:13:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Now how about the whole phrase, _yippee-ki-yay_ ? It seems to be a play on “yippie yi yo kayah,” a refrain from a 1930s Bing Crosby song, “[I’m An Old Cowhand](http://youtu.be/jo-pApe1Kd0).” Also in [“Git Along Little Dogies”,](https://youtu.be/vH7VxxVUqwc?si=OJQTfdU_T60V70c1) so we can’t link it to a particular song. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/7 "2025-06-19T22:17:25Z")
> The earliest commercial recording of the song was by [Harry “Mac” McClintock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_McClintock) in 1929 (released on [Victor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Talking_Machine_Company) V-40016 as “Get Along, Little Doggies”). Just a year before Cosby’s. Probably not a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/8 "2025-06-19T22:42:40Z")
I imagine cowboys of old needed a separate language for… Cows Horses Other Cowboys And on occasion dogs To avoid confusion, they had to make up all sorts of nonsense words. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/9 "2025-06-19T23:02:57Z")
Oh, I cain’t git along little dogie. I cain’t even git one that’s small. I cain’t git along little dogie. I cain’t git a dogie at all… ---
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/10 "2025-06-19T23:53:14Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I imagine cowboys of old needed a separate language for… > Cows > Horses > Other Cowboys > And on occasion dogs > > To avoid confusion, they had to make up all sorts of nonsense words. Nonsense words??? As you surmise, they were different languages! My grandfather used “Sooie!” when calling pigs, which comes from the Latin word for pig, and he used “Sook!” when calling cows, which is a Scottish pronunciation of “suck”. Chickens aren’t very multilingual, so he just shouted “chick, chick, chick” for them. He no longer had horses when I was a kid, but it wouldn’t surprise me it he had shouted “Yippee ki yay!” back then, too. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/11 "2025-06-20T00:06:56Z")
Haywire Mac is also credited with writing “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” and “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” a parody of “Revive Us Again.” Mac was also a Wobbly. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/12 "2025-06-20T00:21:33Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SHCsbrc8xKA/hqdefault.jpg "BOYS DONT CRY - i wanna be a cowboy 1986") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHCsbrc8xKA) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/13 "2025-06-20T00:51:41Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Also in [“Git Along Little Dogies”](https://youtu.be/vH7VxxVUqwc?si=OJQTfdU_T60V70c1) And before anyone asks, a dogie is a motherless calf. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/14 "2025-06-20T00:58:12Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > …“Hallelujah, I’m a Bum,” a parody of “Revive Us Again.” Huh, I’ve known of “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” for my whole life, but this is the first I’ve ever heard it was a parody of another song. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/15 "2025-06-20T01:00:42Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > > Now how about the whole phrase, _yippee-ki-yay_ ? It seems to be a play on “yippie yi yo kayah,” a refrain from a 1930s Bing Crosby song, “[I’m An Old Cowhand](http://youtu.be/jo-pApe1Kd0).” > > Also in [“Git Along Little Dogies”,](https://youtu.be/vH7VxxVUqwc?si=OJQTfdU_T60V70c1) so we can’t link it to a particular song. My mother used to play those records when I was young. That’s the first time I heard this phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/16 "2025-06-20T01:44:59Z")
> [@Retzbu\_Tox](#): > > My grandfather used “Sooie!” when calling pigs We also used “Sooie” when calling our pigs, but we had no idea that it came from Latin. We used “Bossie” when calling in our milk cow for her morning or evening milking. Don’t think that was Latin, but who knows? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/17 "2025-06-20T01:56:31Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > We used “Bossie” when calling in our milk cow for her morning or evening milking. Don’t think that was Latin, but who knows? Domestic cattle belong to the genus Bos. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/18 "2025-06-20T01:58:19Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Domestic cattle belong to the genus Bos So there you go. We poor dirt farmers were so much smarter than we knew. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/19 "2025-06-20T02:18:19Z")
The chorus of the original runs “Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Hallelujah! Amen! Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Revive us again.” Mac’s version: Hallelujah, I’m a bum! Hallelujah, bum again! Hallelujah, give us a handout To revive us again! There is some debate whether Mac wrote it, but I believe he eventually got the copright. As they say, “there was a lot of unprotected music around in those days.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865/20 "2025-06-20T03:43:54Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Oh, I cain’t git along little dogie. You can get a footlong dogie in most supermarkets. > [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > I cain’t even git one that’s small. Cocktail franks too. Where are you looking, Home Depot? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cowboys-say-yippee-ki-yay/1019865.md?page=2)