Hook 'em Horns
1305430
219709793
2008-06-16T14:56:39Z
Macae
3488469
/* Identical uses of the gesture */ NWO useage appears to be with a different hand sign if the middle and ring fingers are extended out instead of being held close to the palm.
{{ otheruses4|University of Texas at Austin hand gesture|other uses of this hand gesture|corna}}
[[Image:hookemhorns.jpg|right|thumbnail|A fan displays the Hook 'em Horns during a Texas football game versus Arkansas.]]
'''Hook 'em Horns''' is the slogan and hand signal of [[University of Texas at Austin|The University of Texas at Austin]]. Students and alumni of the university employ a greeting consisting of the phrase "Hook 'em" or "Hook 'em Horns" and also use the phrase as a parting good-bye or as the closing line in a letter or story.
The [[gesture]] is meant to approximate the shape of the head and horns of the university mascot, the [[Texas longhorn (cattle)|Texas longhorn]] steer [[Bevo (mascot)|Bevo]]. The sign is made by extending the index and pinky fingers while grasping the second and third fingers with the thumb. The arm is usually extended, but the sign can also be given with the arm bent at the elbow. The sign is often seen at sporting events, during the playing of the school song "[[The Eyes of Texas]]",<ref name="Lady Bird Eyes">{{cite news | url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aPqV0aPKMI | title=Lady Bird Johnson Funeral - The Eyes of Texas | accessdate=2007-08-03}}</ref> and during the playing of the school fight song "[[Texas Fight]]". It is one of the most recognized hand signals of all American universities. A variant of the Horns, formed upside down, is often used by rivals of the [[Texas Longhorns|Longhorns]] and is considered insulting, especially when performed by a player or coach of the team in question.
==History==
[[Image:SI_cover_1973_10_10_Hook_em_horns.jpg|right|thumbnail|[[September 10]], [[1973]] cover of ''[[Sports Illustrated]]''.]]
[[Image:Hook em bush.jpg|right|thumbnail|[[George W. Bush]] displays the Hook 'em Horns.]]
[[Harley Clark]] introduced the Hook 'em Horns sign in [[1955]]. Clark was head cheerleader at the university, a position that was elected by the student body. "It was second only in importance to the Texas governor," he jokes.<ref>[http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/pages/proudtrads/hookem.html Proud Traditions: Hook 'em Horns] ''Mack Brown-Texas Football''.</ref> Clark got the idea for the hand-sign from his colleague Henry Pitts, who had been casting shadows on the wall at the Texas Union.<ref>[http://www.utexas.edu/friends/fun.php?which=4 Hook 'em Horns] ''Texas Traditions''.</ref> In addition, the "[[gig 'em]]" thumbs up hand signal created by archrival [[Texas A&M University]] twenty five years earlier was growing in popularity across the state and a similar hand signal was desired by the University of Texas.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/ranch/readme/handsign.html | title=Football Hand Signals | publisher=Texas Monthly | author=Burka, Paul | accessdate=2007-03-29}}</ref> Clark showed an enthusiastic student body the sign a few nights later at a football pep rally at Gregory Gym. According to Neal Spelce, who attended the rally when he was a student at the university, "a lot of people didn't get it right at first,"<ref>Clark, Noelene. [http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2005/10/21/TopStories/50.Years.Of.hook.em.Horns-1029452.shtml 50 years of 'Hook 'em Horns'] ''[[The Daily Texan]]''. [[October 21]], [[2005]].</ref> but it caught on rapidly from there. By the thousands, students extended an arm to create the now famous salute. The next day, at the [[Texas Longhorn Athletics|Texas Longhorn]] vs. [[Texas Christian University|TCU]] football game, Clark stood in awe as the "Hook 'em Horns" hand sign surged from one side of the stadium to the other.
Within a few years, the symbol was widely known to football fans across the state and country. [[Sports Illustrated]] featured the Hook 'em Horns symbol in front of a Texas pennant on the cover of their [[10 September]] [[1973]] issue (pictured).<ref name="Sports_Illustrated">{{cite journal| title=No. 1 - Hook 'em Horns! | journal=Sports Illustrated | date=1973-09-10}}</ref> That issue of the magazine highlighted the Texas football program as the best in the nation at that time.<ref name="Sports_Illustrated" /> That title was usurped shortly thereafter as the Longhorns proceeded to lose their very next game (Miami-20, UT-13), followed a few weeks later by a drubbing from the University of Oklahoma (OU-52, UT-13).<ref>[http://www.hornfans.com/football/history/records.php HornFans - Football<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
Beginning in 2004, The University of Texas has featured the slogan in a television advertisement titled "Rallying Cry". The advertisement is one of nine ads that make up the "What Starts Here Changes the World" campaign, all of which are narrated by university alumnus [[Walter Cronkite]]. The narration for "Rallying Cry" is:
:Is there a rallying cry for the thinkers and doers of tomorrow? A motto that sums up their passion for creativity and their pursuit of discovery? Sure there is: "Hook 'em, Horns". We're Texas. What starts here...changes the world.<ref>[http://www.utexas.edu/inside_ut/tvspot/ What Starts Here Changes the World: TV Spots] ''Inside UT''.</ref>
The hand gesture is not featured in the advertisement, which shows an aerial view flying along [[Interstate 35]], then over downtown [[Austin, Texas]], past the [[Texas State Capitol]] and finally arriving at the [[Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin|Tower of the Main Building]] as Cronkite says the slogan. The advertisements are typically run during [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] sporting events.
==Identical uses of the gesture==
In some European cultures, the identical [[corna]] gesture is used to suggest spousal infidelity or Satanic association. Images of [[Jenna Bush]] publicly "throwing the horns" resulted in startled reactions in [[Norway]]. In [[1985]], five Americans were arrested, due to its satanic connotations after dancing and displaying the gesture in front of the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] while celebrating the victory of the Longhorns.<ref>''The Definitive Book of Body Language'', p. 123, [[Allan Pease]], ISBN 0-7528-6118-2</ref>
The gesture is used by fans of heavy metal in the same fashion. Originally it was used to denote goat horns as a form of Satanic association, but has evolved into a more generic celebratory gesture over the years.
The gesture was also adopted by the '70s funk group Parliament Funkadelic and their fans as a gesture of celebration and solidarity.
==In popular culture==
*In 2006, [[country rap]] artist [[Cowboy Troy]] released a single called "Hook 'em Horns" as a tribute to the University of Texas at Austin.
*On the ''[[Ugly Betty]]'' episode "[[After Hours (Ugly Betty episode)|After Hours]]", [[Vanessa L. Williams|Vanessa Williams']] character Wilhelmina Slater has to impress a potential buyer from Texas (played by [[Brett Cullen]]) and decorates her office with Texas décor. He notices the longhorn on her wall and asks, "You went to UT Austin?" Slater says her assistant went to UT. The assistant Marc, who did not attend UT, responds by saying, "Yes I did. It was so southern. Go Longhorns! Yay! God bless America." Instead of showing the "Hook 'em" gesture, Marc shows the [[shaka sign]].
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Hook 'em Horns.ogg|2005-11-29}}
{{Commons|Hook 'em Horns}}
*[http://www.utexas.edu/friends/fun.php?which=4 Texas Traditions: Hook 'em Horns]
*[http://www.mackbrown-texasfootball.com/pages/proudtrads/hookem.html Mack Brown Texas Football: Hook 'em Horns]
*[http://www.texasexes.org/about/heritage/?p=538 Texas Exes: Hook 'em Horns is 50!]
{{Gestures}}
{{University of Texas at Austin|traditions}}
[[Category:Gestures]]
[[Category:Texas Longhorns athletics]]
[[Category:University of Texas at Austin]]