Anyone else use the phrase "Hoo down?"

In my part of the northwest US, some people, usually guys, usually working class, use the phrase "Hoo down." Hoo pronounced like who. It means "calm down," in the same vein as "don't get your panties in a bind."

Example of usage:
Person A: Man, I'm not sure if we can pour concrete tomorrow. Or for the next week. It's getting cold! The homeowners will be pissed.

Person B: Hoo down! It will be fine.

My father in law says it is from a smoke jumper phrase about humidity. Hu(midity) down means less chance of thunderstorms and forest fire. I think he's making it up because it sounds smart.

Is this a phrase? It seems restricted to my area.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart It is not restricted to your neck of the woods. Back at my time at OU my friends and I used that term for all party invites. I often heard the term all across the western part of the USA.

We don't use that phrase around here much, a few people come around and you do hear it but not often. We have the Yooper dialect up here, I use it when talking to people who talk that way but most times when talking to people who do not use the dialect, I talk in a dialect similar to what they are doing, if I know it. It comes subconsciously I guess. After listening to them for a few minutes, I start talking a little like them. My daughter learned how to do that too, it is sort of an instinct, she talked to people all over this country and in Europe and India and takes on their dialect quickly.

Emphasizing certain things is another way different areas work too, that can be picked up pretty quick if you know how to do it, but it only gets you into short conversations, it is hard to learn specific alterations in how to enphasizing things. If you talk like them, they accept you better. I can talk to street people and still talk to scientific people most times. It isn't an act, it is a learned response.

originally posted by: Allaroundyou
a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart IBack at my time at OU my friends and I used that term for all party invites.

Sounds more fun than a hoe down. 💃

a reply to: rickymouse

My mom's from the South, but consciously rid herself of the accent when she moved up here. Didn't want the Yankees stereotyping her. The accent and its phrases come back full force when she talks to her relatives. Or when she's mad.

originally posted by: Look2theSacredHeart
a reply to: rickymouse

My mom's from the South, but consciously rid herself of the accent when she moved up here. Didn't want the Yankees stereotyping her. The accent and its phrases come back full force when she talks to her relatives. Or when she's mad.

There are lots of people who do this automatically. But you brought up a good point, when you get pissed off, it is hard to control.

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: Look2theSacredHeart
a reply to: rickymouse

My mom's from the South, but consciously rid herself of the accent when she moved up here. Didn't want the Yankees stereotyping her. The accent and its phrases come back full force when she talks to her relatives. Or when she's mad.

There are lots of people who do this automatically. But you brought up a good point, when you get pissed off, it is hard to control.

Perfect time to throw out a "Hoo down!" when you here a regional dialect pop up. 😁

originally posted by: Look2theSacredHeart

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: Look2theSacredHeart
a reply to: rickymouse

My mom's from the South, but consciously rid herself of the accent when she moved up here. Didn't want the Yankees stereotyping her. The accent and its phrases come back full force when she talks to her relatives. Or when she's mad.

There are lots of people who do this automatically. But you brought up a good point, when you get pissed off, it is hard to control.

Perfect time to throw out a "Hoo down!" when you here a regional dialect pop up. 😁

Around here it is pop, not soda. Drink your pop up.

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: Look2theSacredHeart

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: Look2theSacredHeart
a reply to: rickymouse

My mom's from the South, but consciously rid herself of the accent when she moved up here. Didn't want the Yankees stereotyping her. The accent and its phrases come back full force when she talks to her relatives. Or when she's mad.

There are lots of people who do this automatically. But you brought up a good point, when you get pissed off, it is hard to control.

Perfect time to throw out a "Hoo down!" when you here a regional dialect pop up. 😁

Around here it is pop, not soda. Drink your pop up.

It was pop when I was a kid. Now it's soda. People in the boonies around here say "warsh" for wash, and "may-zhure" for measure. Crick for Creek. And roof rhymes with hoof, except for carpenters, who rhyme roof with proof. And in the sticks,
both is pronounced "bulth."

That and........

"Any How"

or

"Any Hoo"

Personally, I prefer "Any How"

Any how, it's time for me to go now.......

I've never used it living in the region(lived on the east and west sides) or heard it but rather am aware of what a "Ho Down" or "Hoedown" is but that's more of a Southern thing. Interesting that these are two different things? The NW has some old western country culture as well as Civil War implants to the West from that era. May be less so now but see it throughout the rural places. Either way NW has some of it's very own culture, and it does vary from area to area, that could play a part in it.

a reply to: Allaroundyou

I often heard the term all across the western part of the USA.

Not in Wyoming you don't!!!


In Wyoming you hear...

"Why'd that feller git the snot kicked out of him??"

"Dunno, he started talkin' 'bout some kinda' "HOO DOWN" crap an' them boys just stomped the stuffin' right outta' him so as he'd stop I reckon. Looks like it worked...He stopped!"

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

Dem gat'r huntin boys godat won !

Fe shore ...

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

You nailed it..... Lmao, well done

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

Nope. Sounds like foreign lingo to me.

Although I have heard of "Hoo dog" which means "oh man" or "oooh she's hot" or something like that...I think...maybe just general excitement...

I use it when I see one trip.
a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

In some area's of the country it means a "hooker has lost her footing".

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart



Never heard it. I lived in the Midwest for over 36 years, and never heard it there. Now I am on the West Coast, and have not heard it here either.


Boy now when I go back east, I can hear that Midwest accent, its funny how after being in Cali for 10 years, has made me realize how thick the accent in the Rockford, ILL area is, its about 60 miles from Chicago. They also say Pop, not soda.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

But the fish live in cricks not creeks. It makes more sense, crickets hang around the cricks.