[doctor noe]

The term "hooyah" was very big in the mid-late 70's in So. Calif. AOR station KMET (Los Angeles) made the phrase famous when virtually their entire staff of DJs made it a regular part of their vocabulary. Even bumper stickers with the phrase were very commonplace throughout the southland. The phrase was generally shouted out in a moment of glee...either in response to a "kick-ass" song, sexual innuendo, etc. Alas, KMET no longer exists and was replaced by a new-age format and new call letters. The phrase, "hooyah," continues on but not universally. Anybody over the age of 35 who listened to AOR music during that time, will always remember "hooyah!"

[Finski]

Interesting flow of "Whoo-YA"'s etymology.

I concur that its spelling on this thread as "WHOO-Ya!" comes directly and ONLY from KMET's 70's radio days. The use of "Hoo-Rah" and its various permutations is, indeed, a military origin.

Truth be told(and if it was already stated here, sorry, I just didn't see it referenced...) "Whoo-Ya!" as KMET intended it had nothing to do with triumphant exclamation. It referred to dopers, hopheads, and stoners who smoked paraquat-infested marijuana. The defoliant clearly did nothing to deter pot smoking, but resulted in a sound like cardboard tearing at every concert in Los Angeles that I attended. My older brother attended Cal Jam 1 and 2, and claimed that the only thing more persistent than the bad sound system was the gravely hacking of paraquat-spewing, red-eyed hippies who refused to give up the leaf. "WHOO-Ya!" perfectly mimics what that sounded like, even in my distant memories.

Anyway, just my two cents. Great forum here, folks.

Fin