Chant – University of Southern California

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 23
Occupation: Housing IT
Residence: Hilo, HI
Performance Date: April 10, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese

“Ohhhhh S-O-U-T-H-E-R-N C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A

Southern Califorrrrrnia!

Beat the Bruins!

Eat the Dongos!”

Gavin first learned the So-Cal spell out as a freshman at USC in his dorm from his residential advisor. People usually perform the So-Cal spell out at school wide events or anywhere just to express USC pride. Crowds of people just start yelling it at football games, tailgates, basketball games and other rallies. And then Gavin joined the fraternity, Gamma Epsilon Omega, and that is where he heard the additional two lines. He believes that it came from the 1980s when older members use to be very crazy. They most likely created it at a USC versus UCLA football game where people got incredibly enthusiastic and rowdy. Gavin also says that dongos are a Japanese pastry, resembling a donut. Since Gamma Epsilon Omega is an Asian-interest fraternity, many of its members were Japanese and so they all ate dongos.

I am thinking that since alcohol was still allowed in the Los Angeles Coliseum back then, these students probably started yelling these phrases on a whim and it just caught on due to its catchiness. I also heard this version of the spell out last semester at football games from my sorority sisters. I never knew where it came from and we all thought that dongos were another team’s mascot. We thought it was incredibly disgusting and strange that someone would incorporate eating an animal in the spell out. However, just asking more people about the origins of it, I found Gavin who says that his fraternity made it up. It makes sense that my sorority sisters would know it because the older girls use to be very close with the Gammas. They would tailgate and go to football games together. Just being around the Gammas, they would learn it too and then share it with younger members of the sorority.

It is interesting to see how a school-wide chant can be personalized to fit a smaller group just by adding a few lines. Outsiders would never be able to figure out the meaning or origin of it. USC students would understand the “Beat the Bruins” line, but only Japanese people would know what “Eat the dongos” means.