A Sea Of Red

Read some stuff on the Presbyterian addition to the big south, as I was reading, I thought I caught a few misspellings until I went their site and realized that it was not a misspelling, their nickname is the Blue Hose.

That's got to be a tough one to come up with mascot and other ideas. Flames seems pretty easy compared to that.

Would be interested to know the meaning behind it though.

Isn't it a bird?

here is your explanation.

WHAT'S IN A NAME

This is from Ray Frank’s book “What’s in a Nickname.” “It has been asked many times where Presbyterian College received it’s nickname, Blue Hose. Several rumors exist. One story has it that the Presbyterian Scotch-Irish wore blue stockings in the Puritan beginnings of our country. Another says that a fierce war-like band of Scotch-Irish named the Hose painted their entire bodies blue before going into battle. Yet, probably the true story lies in a letter dated June 15, 1935, written by then athletic director Walter Johnson to an inquiring English professor in Virginia...[quoting from Walter Johnson’s letter] ‘It was about the second or third year, 1915, if I remember right, Stockings. I think it happened this way: I changed uniform colors to blue, wearing blue stockings and jerseys, and some sports writer started calling in his articles the Presbyterian College teams the Blue Stockings.’ ...In later years “Stocking” became abbreviated to “the Hose,” particularly in newspaper headlines, and was more or less officially adopted by the student body in the late 50’s.



From the 1996 PC football media guide (quoting from Hammett): “Johnson always insisted on the fact that his players wore long blue socks similar to stockings (after all, there were White Sox and Red Sox in baseball). Coach Johnson’s explanation may simply be coincidental to the fact that the phrase “Blue Stocking Presbyterian” goes back informally quite a few years in the denomination’s history.”

From the Oxford English Dictionary: “bluestocking” usually associated with overly-intellectual women, traces back to those who attended salons in England. There is some mention of the Bluestocking Parliament convened by Cromwell in 1653. According to Charles Coker’s (a retired professor), however, this parliament was not in fact Presbyterian, as the Presbyterians had been ejected from Parliament by Pride’s Purge in 1648. He cites Antonia Fraser’s “ Cromwell: The Lord Protector” (pp.431-50), W.S. Churchill’s “A History of England” (p.416), and the Oxford University Dictionary on Historical Principles (p.194b.1.a).

In an article by Walter Lingle (former president of Davidson and Presbyterian Scholar), published in the Christian Observer on Feb. 22, 1956 where he discusses the origins of the term Blue Stocking Presbyterians. He says that an early connection of Presbyterianism with the word blue or true blue occurs in Samuel Butler’s “The Presbyterian Knight,” where he speaks of “Presbyterian true blue.”





Copyright © 1999 by Presbyterian College

wow... I wouldn't have thunk it.

So everyone be afraid of those socks!

with much love to out presby bros, at least we don't have to carry that explanation around with us everywhere we go.

You know those idiot students who would yell "At least God's on our side"

would they still yell this against them?

the sad thing is I think they truly beleive it

I smell a name change coming on with their Div. 1 unveiling a la Elon Fighting Christians/Phoenix. But will traditions die hard at PC.

I get the feeling many Elon folk miss the old moniker. I doubt that PC will make any change. Its rather unique ... something uncommon in NCAA athletics these days.

IMHO they definitely need to keep that. I liked the Ramblin' Wreck of Georgia Tech, also like the Green Wave and the Thundering Herd. Anything distinctive.

Man you guys are late to the Blue Hose band wagon!! I have posted chants songs and everything!!!
As for its origins, I have two friends (and one enemy!) who went there and they are sticking to the Blue "Socks" origin. THey said that was a way to diffenetiate yourself from other denominations/religions/etc. Sort of like Gang Colors for white colonists!!

"We Beat Hose We Beat Hose"

that's great! LoL

and the student section is "Da Blue Pimps"

and they all sing together "We beat Hose, We beat hose"