Hoobah
From MiddleWiki
The traditional cheer of the Middle Kingdom. Often mispronounced "poobah".
The story goes that the Exotic Dancers Guild of the Barony of the Northwoods was practicing for a performance at a very early event, and were being encouraged in their efforts by some lords who were saying "Hubba, hubba!" King Iriel was also present and suggested "Hoobah" instead, sardonically. The encouragement quickly changed to "hoobah, hoobah", and the term was soon in general use. (The source for this story is Duke Finnvarr de Taahe.}
"I was present for the invention of ˜Hoobah!™ ¦It took place in North Woods, when the Guild of Exotic Dancers was forming, in the fall or winter of 70/71. The head of the guild wanted to give the new dancers a chance to perform before a select, friendly group before a full public performance. Among the chosen audience were Irial of Brannokh, later king, Merowald, later king, and his good friend Hrothperaht (long inactive, now occasionally to be seen in a Russian or Ukranian form). While the rest of us were being good, Merowald and Hrot started some rather subdued, goofy, 'hubba, hubba'-ing. Irial took his pipe out of his mouth, turned to them, and in an effort to squelch them, said, 'That's HOO-bah, HOO-bah.' The patent absurdity of this did not stop them. They took up the new cry, and at the next North Woods event (at which the vast majority of people in the kingdom who were willing to travel to events were present) used Irial's version. I don't think anyone thought that this was an authentic cry, it was just goofy. Because so many Midrealmers (50? 80?) were present, it very quickly became a general call of approval. --A note on "Hoobah!" by Steve Muhlberger (Duke Syr Finnvarr de Taahe), 16 November 1997.
"I recall the women dancing were Gwendolyn ro Kearsey and Eleanor of the Nameless Beast. Hrothperaht and I wanted to express our appreciation of their beauty and talent, but we had nothing better than 'Hubbah, hubbah!' When Irial gave us 'Hoobah, Hoobah!,' we jumped on it. 'Hubbah, hubbah!' was obviously modern. But 'Hoobah, hoobah!' was unfamiliar and sounded like something that just might be mediaeval." --A note on "Hoobah!" by Merald Clark (Duke Merowald de Sylveastan), 3 March 2012.
Other cheers
In other kingdoms, the cheer is usually "Vivat!" or "Huzzah!" In the Kingdom of Ealdormere, "Wassail!" is the traditional cheer. In the Kingdom of Northshield, "Vivat" is the traditional cheer while "Skål" (pronounced "Skol") (a traditional Norwegian cheer) also appears.
During the 100th Reign of the Middle Kingdom, Their Royal Majesties Seto Gesshuko and Ynes de Jaen introduced a Japanese cheer: "Yorokobi mashou", or "let us rejoice".
Controversy
In recent years (circa 2017, perhaps earlier), a portion of the Populace have moved that the traditional cheer of "Hoobah" be dropped due to its sexist roots. Two typical reactions to this have been the "but it's traditional!" crowd vs. the "at best, this is a running joke long past its time and currently in poor taste" crowd.
The use of the cheer in Kingdom courts is usually a "call and response" from the herald at Their Majesties request, and thus largely up to Them as to what is used in a given reign.
Potentially in response to this controvery, TRM of the 99th Reign of the Middle Kingdom, Edmund VI and Kateryn VI started the practice of introducing the recipient of an award to the Court. The format of this introduction was often, "People of the Midrealm, let me introduce «Person», the newest recipient of «Award/Order»."
