Hip Hip Hooray – The Origins

Phrases are funny old things, and have been around for ages, most of them anyway. Where do they come from? Who first said “FORE!” on a golf course? What does it all really, really mean?

Take the common phrase “Hip Hip Hooray”, for example. ’tis been said that the phrase comes from Roman times, 70 AD to be exact, as the hordes of Rome were busy sacking Jerusalem. Legend has it that the first word – HIP – means “Hiersolyms est perdita” or “Jerusalem is destroyed”. Germanic Knights then somehow, by a LONG stretch of the imagination, turned it into the celebratory phrase during the Middle Ages. Quite a long shot, if you ask me. And not very fun.

HUZZAH is a fun word, not only to say but also to interject at an appropriate moment in a lengthy conversation at a cocktail party to express joy of some sort. The word HURRAY is not very dissimilar to the word HUZZAH, so there is a slight connection to Shakespearean times when HUZZAH was said A LOT at parties.

Another source indicates that Mongol troops used to go around saying HURREE HURREE quite a bit while conquering most of the known earth in the 1200s. HURREE is a form of reverent praise, which casts a new light on using Hip Hip Hooray at jovial birthday parties, far from reverent affairs mostly.

The old faithful Oxford English Dictionary mentions that the phrase was used as a form of salty salute, as seen in the Hollywood Failure Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and also in the ridiculously successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Yay for Depp and Co for being so historically accurate.

Whatever the origins, the phrase is best served slightly chilled in a glass of something cold, wet and bubbly.

Cheers!

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