What Does Woo Pig Sooie Mean? Arkansas Razorbacks Cheer

Woo pig sooie is a University of Arkansas cheer used at Razorback sporting events to pump up the players. Also known as the hog call, this Razorback chant is a tradition at the University of Arkansas that dates back to the 1920s. But what exactly does woo pig sooie mean? And how did the hog call originate? Let’s answer this Arkansas football trivia question below.

How Did The Hog Call Originate?

After defeating LSU in a memorable 1909 Arkansas football game, coach Hugo Bezdek called his players “a wild band of razorback hogs”. At the time, the University of Arkansas mascot was the cardinal. The following year in 1910, the student body voted to change the mascot to a razorback. Today, the University of Arkansas Mascot remains a razorback—a type of feral pig or hog.

Although the specific origin of the sooie pig call is not exactly known, it is said that the hog call originated sometime in the 1920s after the Arkansas mascot was changed. Legend has it that the Razorbacks were losing steam in a particular 1920s football game. Some farmers in the stands who were familiar with hog calling began squealing like hogs in an attempt to encourage the struggling football team. The hog sounds apparently worked as the Razorbacks came out victorious.

In the subsequent football game, a group of spectators, inspired by the previous game, came up with the woo pig sooie cheer. Ever since then, the calling of the hogs cheer has been an Arkansas Razorbacks tradition.

What Does Woo Pig Sooie Mean?

In order to determine what woo pig sooie means, let’s define each one of these three words individually,

• First of all, woo by itself is a common way to give praise for a good performance or cheer on a team, especially for cheerleaders.
• Next and obviously, the University of Arkansas mascot is a razorback which is a wild or feral pig.
• While razorback is the colloquial term for a feral pig, the scientific family that a feral pig belong to is suidae (pronounced sooie-dah).

So although there’s not much literal meaning, when we put it all together, woo pig sooie is simply and precisely a cheer for the feral pigs.

How To Spell Woo Pig Sooie

The proper way to spell the Arkansas call pig cheer is Woo Pig Sooie. Most University of Arkansas merchandise and marketing material spell it as such. Variations of the spelling include:

• Woo Pig Suey
• Woo Pig Sooey
• Woopig Sooie
• Woo Pig Soowee
• Woo Pig Soo Wee
• Wooo Pig Sooie
• Woo Pig Sui
• Woo Pig Soui

How To Properly Do The Woo Pig Sooie Cheer

Any Razorback fan should be able to tell you how to do the woo pig sooie cheer. But just in case you don’t have a Razorback fan handy, here are instructions on how to do the Arkansas hog call.

1. As you raise your arms above your head and wiggle your fingers, yell “woo” for a few seconds
2. Bring your arms straight down as you clench your fists clinched and yell “pig”
3. Extend your right arm as you yell “sooie”
4. Repeat steps 1-3 two more times
5. Finish by yelling “razorbacks”

Putting it all together, the full hog call cheer written out reads something like this.

Wooooooo, Pig! Sooie!
Wooooooo, Pig! Sooie!
Wooooooo, Pig! Sooie!
Razorbacks!

There you have it! Next time you’re at Razorback Stadium or another University of Arkansas sporting event, you can join your fellow Razorback fans and do the calling of the hogs cheer.

Calling All Razorback Fans

Are you an Arkansas Razorback fan? I am ever since my sister moved to Arkansas in 2014. My college didn’t have a football team, so I root for University of Arkansas football now. Go hogs!

Finally, I wanted to point out that I often question the origin of words and phrases. Rather than research it and move on, I like to write blog posts to help people with the same curiosity. Check some of my other etymology-related blog posts here.