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View Full Version : Where Did The Saying "GTHCGTH!" Originate?



KYtotheCore
03-30-2012, 04:52 PM
I've seen it as a sig for several posters here.

cspan37421
03-30-2012, 05:02 PM
You know what it means, right?

Indoor66
03-30-2012, 05:05 PM
I've seen it as a sig for several posters here.

It means: Go to Hell Carolina, Go to Hell

juise
03-30-2012, 05:07 PM
It means: Go to Hell Carolina, Go to Hell

Origin: Ancient Chinese proverb.

CameronBornAndBred
03-30-2012, 05:09 PM
It means: Go to Hell Carolina, Go to Hell

I grew up thinking it meant "9F".

KYtotheCore
03-30-2012, 05:11 PM
You know what it means, right?

I do. Just wondering if it is a famous quote or what.

MChambers
03-30-2012, 05:14 PM
I do. Just wondering if it is a famous quote or what.

I remember it as a cheer at games and graduation.

cspan37421
03-30-2012, 05:14 PM
The origin may be very hard to pin down with any measure of certainty. I bet that there are multiple origin stories.

lotusland
03-30-2012, 05:20 PM
I think it was written on some stone tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain.

Indoor66
03-30-2012, 05:22 PM
Actually it was originally penned by James B. Duke as an amendment to the original Indenture creating the University.

wilko
03-30-2012, 05:26 PM
I thought it was came into being after multiple encounters with rowdy, drunk, mouthy, UNC fans.... but then I repeat myself..

cspan37421
03-30-2012, 05:28 PM
to quote a beer commercial, "here we go!"

Indoor66
03-30-2012, 05:29 PM
Not to rumor monger, but I spoke to Wylanta Rochelle Holt Duke (widow of Brodie Duke (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55331015)), before she died in the 1980 and she told me that Brodie told her that those were the last words spoken by Washington Duke on his death bed.

OZZIE4DUKE
03-30-2012, 05:34 PM
I think it was written on some stone tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain.


Actually it was originally penned by James B. Duke as an amendment to the original Indenture creating the University.

I tried to Zpork you both, but have to pass them around some before I can do you again!

I was indoctrinated during freshman orientation in August 1972. I learned my lessons well! http://www.crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/devil9f.gif http://www.crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/devil9f.gifhttp://www.crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/devil9f.gif http://www.crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/devil9f.gif

OldPhiKap
03-30-2012, 06:06 PM
It is an a priori, innate pre-conscious valuation of quality.


(Well, I know it already existed when I came to Duke in '84 and was joined by an invitation for Dean E. Smith to sup on excriment.)

Actually a very interesting question -- I am hoping some of our more seasoned attendees can answer this.


The internets have a theory:

http://www.definition-of.net/gthc

Zeke
03-30-2012, 06:17 PM
I know it was well entrenched in the mid 50's. Must go WAY back.

BD80
03-30-2012, 06:44 PM
Probably started with carolina's first road game. It's like saying "Go to Raliegh, NCState, go to Raliegh."

wncgrad
03-30-2012, 09:12 PM
Probably started with carolina's first road game. It's like saying "Go to Raliegh, NCState, go to Raliegh."

Great answers above, most likely all true. Actually this is two questions. "To Hell With Carolina" is the original phrase inserted in the old well known Fight Song as stated in the Definitions link. I learned it as a freshman in 1957 and am sure it is much older. One would have to look at the file of cheers and fight songs in the University Archives to see when it first appeared in print which probably would not be its first use.
I would guess the current GTHCGTH is a replacement as the familarity and use of the fight song declined. Perhaps a cheerleader, official or unofficial, could help zero in on a date. I would say late 1960s or '70s.

RC73
03-30-2012, 09:23 PM
Besides the other references, I remember hearing this one:

If you can't go to college, go to State (clap,clap)
If you can't go to college, go to State (clap,clap)

If you can't go to State, be a ref (clap,clap)
If you can't go to State, be a ref (clap,clap)

If you can't be a ref, go to Hell (clap,clap)
Go to Hell Carolina, go to Hell (clap,clap) Repeat this line as appropriate

Reilly
03-30-2012, 09:28 PM
Might be hard to pin down *the* origin ... other permutations should be able to be remembered ... like, when did the east-west buses first use the saying as a destination sign? When I saw that freshman year before the football game, it helped drive home the seriousness.

OldPhiKap
03-30-2012, 09:32 PM
By '84:

If you can't go to college, go to State (clap,clap)
If you can't go to college, go to State (clap,clap)

If you can't go to State, go to jail (clap,clap)
If you can't go to State, go to jail (clap,clap)

Devil in the Blue Dress
03-30-2012, 09:39 PM
Might be hard to pin down *the* origin ... other permutations should be able to be remembered ... like, when did the east-west buses first use the saying as a destination sign? When I saw that freshman year before the football game, it helped drive home the seriousness.
Those were the days!:cool:

JBDuke
03-30-2012, 10:03 PM
Actually it was originally penned by James B. Duke as an amendment to the original Indenture creating the University.

This is urban legend. But I did consider it...

uh_no
03-30-2012, 10:12 PM
By '84:

If you can't go to college, go to State (clap,clap)
If you can't go to college, go to State (clap,clap)

If you can't go to State, go to jail (clap,clap)
If you can't go to State, go to jail (clap,clap)

if you can't go to jail...go to hell

go to hell carolina go to hell!

hurleyfor3
03-30-2012, 10:24 PM
"To Hell With Georgia" is officially part of the Georgia Tech fight song, so the sentiment's been around other places for awhile.

Jarhead
03-30-2012, 10:47 PM
It goes back a long time ago when I was overseas. I had a girlfriend named Caroline. She sent me a Dear John letter. It upset me so much that I sent a Postal Union telegram. I wanted to say, "Got to he11 Caroline. Go to he11." The clerk at the Postal Union Office told me that I could save some money if I made it shorter, so I cut it back to just the first letter of each word. I never heard from her again.
What a surprise when I enrolled at Duke a couple of years later, and the students were chanting my telegram.http://crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/happy/bouncyblue.gif

sagegrouse
03-30-2012, 11:31 PM
In my era (eons ago), I most remember it coming into play when the Carolina fans chanted, "Go, Tar Hells, Go." It drew the predictable "Go to hell" rejoinder from the Duke fans. And by the way, there were Carolina fans at Duke for both football and basketball.

sagegrouse

ricks68
03-31-2012, 01:43 AM
I remember it chanted at my first Carolina game my freshman year at Duke during the '64-'65 season. But then, as many of you already know, my memory is getting worse every single day---seriously.

Care to comment, Janet? Your memory is a lot better than mine, and you were attending the games before me.

ricks

SupaDave
03-31-2012, 09:39 AM
I got a nice little chuckle when I was reading Tony Parker's Round table and Dion Glover mentioned that he was told to hate Georgia.

One look at GA Tech's fight song will show you that variations of "To hell with ####" have been going on since the mid 1800s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin'_Wreck_from_Georgia_Tech

I wouldn't be surprised if "GTHC" started with the very FIRST game.

In fact, we may even have Teddy Roosevelt to thank...

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/to_hell_with_the_constitution_when_the_people_want _coal/

Supa "probably way more than you were looking for" Dave!!

weezie
03-31-2012, 10:13 AM
I think it was written on some stone tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain.

And it's what St. Peter says to any holes standing at the pearly gates....

BD80
03-31-2012, 10:24 AM
And it's what St. Peter says to any holes standing at the pearly gates....

Amen

Devilsfan
03-31-2012, 10:36 AM
Lotus was correct! When Moses first came down the mountain with the famous tablets their were eleven commandments. The eleventh was GTHCGTH! I believe the story goes that he saw his people with idols and committing sins so he smashed the original tablets and returned to receive a new tablet. This new one had the eleventh commandment inadvertently omitted. But before smashing the original commandments, in a fit of anger and disappointment, he was quoted saying, "Let it be Written, let it be Said", "not let it be done". So the story goes. Thus GTHCGTH! Go Devils!

Nepos
03-31-2012, 12:11 PM
Could it have been in response to this Dean Smith quote?:

“I do believe in praising that which deserves to be praised.”

Perhaps uttered simultaneously in Durham and Raleigh?

Kimist
03-31-2012, 12:43 PM
Great answers above, most likely all true. Actually this is two questions. "To Hell With Carolina" is the original phrase inserted in the old well known Fight Song as stated in the Definitions link. I learned it as a freshman in 1957 and am sure it is much older. One would have to look at the file of cheers and fight songs in the University Archives to see when it first appeared in print which probably would not be its first use.
I would guess the current GTHCGTH is a replacement as the familarity and use of the fight song declined. Perhaps a cheerleader, official or unofficial, could help zero in on a date. I would say late 1960s or '70s.

Although I am nowhere near a reliable reference, I certainly remember attending Duke football games (I was pre high school) in the early 60's, and the football stadium frequently rocked with "GTHCGTH" from a united....and large....student body section seated within the "fences." I was somewhat shocked by such language!:rolleyes:

OTOH, I definitely recall the response from the other side of the stadium when the faded blues were in attendance - "We're here, Duke....we're here!" or something along that line.

Now, back to my rocking chair.

k

devildeac
03-31-2012, 03:53 PM
It goes back a long time ago when I was overseas. I had a girlfriend named Caroline. She sent me a Dear John letter. It upset me so much that I sent a Postal Union telegram. I wanted to say, "Got to he11 Caroline. Go to he11." The clerk at the Postal Union Office told me that I could save some money if I made it shorter, so I cut it back to just the first letter of each word. I never heard from her again.
What a surprise when I enrolled at Duke a couple of years later, and the students were chanting my telegram.http://crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/happy/bouncyblue.gif

Don't try to kid us, Jarhead. Your name is really not John:rolleyes:;).

devildeac
03-31-2012, 03:56 PM
I think it was written on some stone tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain.


Lotus was correct! When Moses first came down the mountain with the famous tablets their were eleven commandments. The eleventh was GTHCGTH! I believe the story goes that he saw his people with idols and committing sins so he smashed the original tablets and returned to receive a new tablet. This new one had the eleventh commandment inadvertently omitted. But before smashing the original commandments, in a fit of anger and disappointment, he was quoted saying, "Let it be Written, let it be Said", "not let it be done". So the story goes. Thus GTHCGTH! Go Devils!

You are on the right track, folks. I think it was even earlier than that. I swear Adam said it to Eve. ;)

Mike Corey
03-31-2012, 04:11 PM
The phrase was actually born on May 20, 1861.

When North Carolina seceded from the Union, President Lincoln famously proclaimed to his wife, "The last of the Southern states has left us. Carolina can go to hell."

The utterance was recorded by Jimmy Duke (James B. Duke's grandfather), the unknown forebear of Washington Duke, in the diary he had been keeping. Young Jimmy, you see, was President Lincoln's personal assistant--his body man, if you will.

Years later, when Washington Duke helped bring Trinity College to Durham, he told the college's first class of students, "President Lincoln once swore this state to hell. We shall make this state worthwhile; we shall be a beacon of light in this dark place. Let Carolina go to hell; we've got all the heaven we need right here."

BD80
03-31-2012, 06:07 PM
You are on the right track, folks. I think it was even earlier than that. I swear Adam said it to Eve. ;)

Lilith was a tarheel

OldPhiKap
03-31-2012, 08:04 PM
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day."


So there you have it.

devildeac
04-01-2012, 02:15 AM
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day."


So there you have it.

So, in other words, if God is not a Blue Devil, why is the Divinity School at Duke;)?