Texas University (t.u.)

The University of Texas at Austin (UT) is called “Texas University” (always given lowercase as “t.u.”) by the Texas A&M Aggies. The Aggies don’t believe that their rival is The University of Texas, but rather a Texas University.
 
The “Texas University” naming dates back to at least 1920, when J. V. “Pinky” Wilson wrote what would become the Aggie War Hymn: “Good-bye to Texas University.”
 
       
Wikipedia: University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (often referred to as The University of Texas, UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a major research university located in Austin, Texas and the flagship institution of The University of Texas System. The main campus is located less than a mile from the Texas State Capitol in Austin. UT Austin was named one of the original eight “Public Ivy” institutions of higher education; i.e., a public institution that “provides an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price.” Founded in 1883, the university has had the fifth largest single-campus enrollment in the nation as of fall 2006 (and had the largest enrollment in the country from 1997–2003), with nearly 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 16,500 faculty and staff. It currently holds the largest enrollment of all colleges in the state of Texas.
 
The university also operates various auxiliary facilities aside from the main campus, most notably the J. J. Pickle Research Campus. Texas is a major center for academic research, annually exceeding $380 million in funding. In addition, the university’s athletic programs were recognized by Sports Illustrated, which dubbed UT “America’s Best Sports College” in 2002. 
 
Wikipedia: Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University, often called A&M or TAMU, is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas. It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. It opened in 1876 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, the first public institution of higher education in that state. In 1963, the Texas Legislature renamed the school to Texas A&M University to reflect the institution’s expanded roles and academic offerings. The letters “A&M” no longer have any explicit meaning but are retained as a link to the university’s past. The nickname “Aggie” refers to students, alumni, and sports teams of Texas A&M.
 
Texas A&M’s designation as a land, sea, and space grant institution reflects a broad range of research with ongoing projects funded by agencies such as NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research. Working with agencies such as the Texas AgriLife Research and Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M has a direct presence in each of the 254 counties in Texas. The university offers degrees in over 150 courses of study through ten colleges and houses 18 research institutes. Texas A&M has awarded over 320,000 degrees, including 70,000 graduate and professional degrees.
 
As a Senior Military College, Texas A&M is one of three public universities with a full-time, volunteer Corps of Cadets. It provides more commissioned officers to the United States Armed Forces than any other school outside of the service academies. 
 
Texas A&M Aggies
Aggie Terminology
Every university has its own set of traditions which help to distinguish it from other institutions. Texas A&M University is no exception. Perhaps nowhere else, though, are those traditions as interwoven into the very fabric of the university than they are at Texas A&M. As a result, Aggies have a lingo that is all their own. The following list of terms helps to define what being an Aggie is all about.
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t.u.
That “other school” in Austin is not the “University of Texas.” To an Aggie, it’s “t.u.,” without capital letters.
   
Wikipedia: List of Texas Aggie terms
t.u.
Derogatory name for the University of Texas at Austin, normally abbreviated UT, the main rival school to Texas A&M University. Aggies maintain that UT is “a” university in Texas not “the” university in Texas, notwithstanding the fact that the University of Texas was a “university” for 80 years before Texas A&M College received the designation in 1963. The t.u. therefore stands for texas university, with the lowercase letters being an added insult. Texas Longhorn fans respond by saying t.u. stands for “The University”.
   
Wikipedia: Aggie War Hymn
The Fightin’ Texas Aggie War Hymn (usually shortened to simply the “Aggie War Hymn”) is the official fight song of Texas A&M University.
 
History
It was written by J.V. “Pinky” Wilson, one of many Aggies who fought in World War I. Wilson combined several yells (the Aggie version of cheers) then in use at the time into a song called “Good-bye to Texas University.” It was originally written as a ballad set to the music of an old ragtime song, “Hello, My Coney Island Baby,” and was sung frequently by a quartet Wilson organized after returning to Texas A&M after the war.
 
One night in 1920, several of the Aggie Yell Leaders heard Wilson’s quartet singing the song, and asked him to let them submit it in a contest for a new fight song to be held that fall (after Wilson graduated). Wilson agreed, and the song, considerably jazzed up, was officially adopted that fall under its current title.
 
In 1997, the song was rated as the No. 1 college fight song by USA Today. It was also used by NASA Flight Director Terry Griffin to wake up astronauts in space from 1983 to 1995.
 
The song is noted for beginning with Recall, an old bugle call, in two different keys. This is a nod to Texas A&M’s past as a military school. Indeed, for many years, the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band’s halftime show has begun with the drum major shouting “Recall! Step off on ‘Hullabaloo!’” When the song is sung during a game at Kyle Field, after the second verse, everyone links arms and sways, causing the upper deck (including the press box) to sway. This is called “sawing Varsity’s horns off” and usually unnerves football writers who are covering their first Aggie game.
 
Lyrics
The beginning words of the song refer to the sound of a train crossing the tracks in College Station, Texas, home of Texas A&M: “Hullabaloo, caneck, caneck! Hullabaloo, caneck, caneck!”
 
In 1928, Wilson wrote another verse at the request of several Aggie students who thought the original was too focused on the Aggies’ rivalry with the University of Texas. This verse is now the first verse of the song but never caught on, in part because many felt it sounded too much like an Ivy League song. To this day, the second (original) verse is usually sung twice.

The second verse opens with “Good-bye to texas university”. These words were chosen since Aggies traditionally refer to their principal athletic rival, the University of Texas, as “texas university”, or “t.u.”
 
Texas A&M Yell Leaders - Aggie Yells
“The Aggie War Hymn”
(Words and Music by J.V. “Pinky” Wilson)
 
All hail to dear old Texas A&M
Rally around Maroon and White
Good luck to the dear old Texas Aggies
They are the boys who show the real old fight
That good old Aggie spirit thrills us
And makes us yell and yell and yell
So let’s fight for dear old Texas A&M
We’re goin’ to beat you all to
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem
Rough Tough! Real Stuff! Texas A&M
 
Good-bye to texas university
So long to the Orange and the White
Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies
They are the boys that show the real old fight
“The eyes of Texas are upon you…”
That is the song they sing so well (Sounds like hell)
So good-bye to texas university
We’re going to beat you all to
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem
Rough! Tough! Real Stuff! Texas A&M
 
The Fightin Texas Aggie War Hymn
War Hymn
The view from 30 years away
by Patrick Harris ‘69
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The main chorus of The Aggie War Hymn isn’t original music. It’s an old ragtime era song, but not rag music, called “Hello, My Coney Island Baby”. That’s the melody. I saw Tony Orlando (yeah, THAT Tony Orlando) perform once on television. I once spied a barber shop quartet in Cleveland singing it on local TV. I figure old Wilson heard the piece in New York before shipping out to France and calculated it would be the perfect backdrop for verses really insulting to Teasippers. It truly is a “shoot the lights out” kind of work: music to bar-fight by. Musically, the Band has a lot of respect for it. There’s not much goofing around. Just play the music. The baritones, and reeds have a couple of features, up and down runs that connect phrases. The trombones do not embellish but provide a downward tracking backbone, one note per beat where the rest of the Band has two. The drum cadence alone qualifies as a dangerous weapon. Just for effect, the Band plays it twice. The student body sings the second verse twice, “Good bye to Texas University” Good luck for the Aggies.
 
But what is this “stuff” at the end of the verse? Could it be a voice rendition of a drum roll off? “Chig a rig a rem. Chig a rig a rem. Rough stuff. Real Stuff. Texas A&M.” One A&M president (a non-Aggie, no less) said it was Chickasaw for “Beat the hell out of t.u.”
 
2 January 1921, San Antonio (TX) Express, “A & M Dance,” magazine section, pg. 8, cols. 4-5:
The members were in uniform and frequently evinced their enthusiasm when “Goodbye to Texas University” and other college tunes were played.
 
Google Books
The Pride of Aggieland:
Spirit and Football at a Place Like No Other
by Home Jacobs
College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press
2002
Pg. 124:
The saying goes that Bonfire symbolized the undying Aggie spirit and the “burning desire to beat the hell out TU.” (Aggies like to think “the” university of Texas resides in College Station, and “Texas” University is that school over in Austin.)
 
Google Books
Stadium Stories: Texas A&M Aggies
by Olin Buchanon
Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot
2004
Pg. 109:
Further raising the Aggies’ ire was that unabashed arrogance that the University of Texas projected. The very name—The University of Texas—seemed to shout “We’re better than you.” So, in an eternal act of defiance, the Aggies only refer to their rival as t.u. (Texas University, and always lowercase).
 
ESPN
Texas A&M has hated rival Texas to thank for some traditions
By Travis Measley
Special to ESPN.com
Updated: February 3, 2008, 2:18 AM ET
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Texas University
Already confused, right? “But I thought … don’t you guys hate … wait, what?” That’s right, as much as Aggies across the globe loathe Texas University, it is a cornerstone for many of our traditions.
 
First and foremost, Aggies do not refer to that school as “The University of Texas.” Common nomenclature around College Station is either “Texas University” or “t.u.” Founded in 1876, Texas A&M was the first state college built in Texas. Coming seven years later, t.u. was founded in 1883, after A&M was in full swing. To claim the name of THE University in Texas is completely pompous and false in the eyes of all Aggies. Now, there are semantics and technicalities that any t-sip (Aggie for “Longhorn”) would point out that say differently, but to Aggies it doesn’t matter.
 
The Aggies’ war hymn, played at every Aggie sporting event, has verses dedicated to the Longhorns.
 
Goodbye to Texas University, so long to the orange and the white. The eyes of Texas are upon you, that is the song they sing so well, sounds like hell.
 
Those words ring loud and proud at different points during the Aggies’ war hymn, and at the end of the song, all Aggies lock arms and legs across seats and sway back and forth, “sawing” off the horns of the Texas Longhorns.
 
In the Aggies’ marching band, the instrument known as the tuba is called a “bass horn” because the word “tuba” is spelled with t.u. And on the face of the clock tower in the center of the A&M campus, the Roman numeral for the number four is read as IIII because students once thought IV looked a little too much like t.u.