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Given the mano cornuto gesture is supposed to ward off the evil eye and that it is customary to raise this gesture when the song The Eyes of Texas is played, I wonder if the Longhorns' use of the gesture doesn't come directly from it's anchient roots, not just as a reference to the team's mascot. Consider the lyrics of the song:

The Eyes of Texas are upon you, All the live long day. The Eyes of Texas are upon you, You can not get away. Do not think you can escape them At night or early in the morn- The Eyes of Texas are upon you 'Till Gabriel blows his horn.

Does this theory hold water?

BenFrantzDale


(The above theory is fromUser:BenFrantzDale who probably just forgot to add his signature). It is a very interesting theory. I can't dismiss it entirely, but I tend to think it is not correct. These days, mano cornuto is widely used as symbol in the Rock and Roll community. First, let's establish a relationship between the usage at The University of Texas and the usage as a Rock and Roll symbol. The "Hook 'em Horns" gesture was introduced at UT in 1955. That pre-dates the introduction of Heavy Metal and the popularization of the hand sign in that genre. However, BenFrantzDale is not proposing those two are linked, but rather that they both date back to the more ancient usage as a totem to ward off (or perhaps give) the evil eye. This timeline does not rule out the Hook 'em Horns sign being related to the more ancient usage of the gesture, which definitely predated the usage at the University. It is possible that head cheerleader Harley Clark was aware of the ancient usage when he introduced the sign to The University. If so, it is not something he seems to have spoken about as an influence.

Let's now look at the origin of the lyrics to The Eyes of Texas. The song was written in 1903 by John Sinclair for a cowboy minstrel. The lyrics were intended to poke fun at University President Colonel Prather. Prather was known for including in his speeches the admonition "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You" meaning that the state of Texas was watching and expecting the students to go out and do great things. Prather enjoyed the song and promoted its usage. He died not long thereafter, and the song was played at this funeral. After that, it achieved its complete dignity and meaning. This origin is well documented, so it is clear that the lyrics to the song owe their existence chiefly to Prather's famous phrase. It seems unlikely that he intended any double entendre between the phrase "The Eyes of Texas" and the evil eye, though this cannot be proven for certain.

Therefore, I think the most likely explanation is that hand gesture was derived as a symbol of the University completely independently of its older (and newer) association. Johntex 17:59, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

  • The origin of "Eyes of Texas" was that Prather had attended Washington and Lee College, where Robert E. Lee would frequently tell his students "The eyes of the South are upon you". It has absolutely nothing to do with the "evil eye", that's just silly. --JW1805 18:25, 13 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]
    • Personally, I think the articles should be merged since it's exactly the same sign, only with different meanigns. But even within ghe article about the Corna sign, there are some different meanings (satanism, "rock on", giving/shaking off the evil eye), so personally I don't see why this article should exist separately. RagingR2 14:11, 19 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
According to an account printed in the Daily Texan, it was improvised on-the-spot during a 1950's pep rally, as a way for students to show "longhorns". Mediterranean peasant gestures would have been the last thing on their minds... AnonMoos (talk) 13:38, 18 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Is this artical really needed?J'onn J'onzz 14:42, 29 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I dont know if it is really needed but I dont think that it should be merged, since they mean totally different things. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.151.205.118 (talk) 03:23, 27 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Spelce, not Harley

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NOTE: The man in that screenshot is not Harley Clark, but is in fact Neal Spelce, who (as the article states) was present at the first pep-rally demonstration of the hand sign as a student, and went on to become a noted Austin newsman. Other photos of both Clark and Spelce are available on Google for comparison.

Outside Texas?

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In Texas it's the Hook 'em Horns sign. But what does it mean at a rock concert for example? "I'm horny"? Virgil H. Soule (talk) 14:48, 29 August 2008 (UTC) zbvhs[reply]

Goat

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I'm shocked to see that the heavy metal reference doesn't mention it's a goat's head. The devil. Satan? ;) -dxo — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.48.95.51 (talk) 01:06, 18 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Spelling/Grammar

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Should it not be "Hook Them Horns", or--more grammatically correct, "Hook Those Horns" since it appears with the imperative form of the verb, "to hook"? -- 03:17, 1 February 2013‎ 98.206.143.173

Actually, I think "Horns" is vocative, so technically there should be a comma. In any case, for most purposes Wikipedia goes by common usage, not what might be considered theoretically most correct. AnonMoos (talk) 01:00, 2 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Identical uses

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There's a reference to "startled reactions in Norway" (with no citation) to Jenna Bush throwing the horns, which, as a Norwegian, I feel the need to correct. Some articles on Norwegian tabloid news websites did indeed address the incident, but none (as far as I can tell) without referencing the similarity between the "Satan horns" and the Hook'em greeting and also explaining that Jenna was displaying the latter. One article had the formulation "most likely displayed the latter", which is typical tabloid smoke-without-fire talk. The articles also mentioned that the gesture had sparked controversy in the US. Basically, this was a case of "hey, here's a catchy headline with Jenna Bush and Satan" click-bait. This then was misunderstood by american websites as "startled reactions". Replacing the "startled reactions" formulation with "made news in" and attaching citation to one Norwegian article.Transmogriff (talk) 09:30, 29 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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