By Craig Kartchner
BYU is in the middle of an identity crisis. Thousands of people across the country know Y students as “zoobies,” despite the fact that few Cougars know what the word even means.
To solve the mystery of the origin and meaning of the word, BYUSA”s 100-hour board was asked April 11 to share its wisdom.
Although it took about 140 hours, several responders elucidated the situation.
“The idea is that you get married at BYU, and then the couple breeds like rabbits,” said one responder. “Essentially, it becomes a ”zoo.” Thus, the zoobies.”
Coming from a Ute mouth, however, the term means “whimpy, goodie-two-shoes,” said Mark Christensen, an avid Utah fan. “A BYU student”s usage might connote the epitome of an orthodox, letter-of-the-law ”Peter Priesthood.””
John Overson, another U fan, said he used zoobie to describe someone who overzealously cheered for a floundering sports team because he couldn”t play himself.
Now that BYU sports teams consistently pommel the Utes, zoobie refers to anyone who goes to the Y, Overson said.
“When I was in school, (20 years ago) zoobie was the worst thing you could say to a BYU student,” he said.
BYU linguistics professor Alan Manning explained a different etymology.
He asserts “zoobie” originated in a popular ”60s T.V. kids show called “The Rompers,” in which two groups of children – the “do-bees” and “don”t-bees” – taught object lessons in quaint skits. The “do-bees” were the perfectly obedient, holier-than-thou children while the “don”t-bees” were rebels without a clue.
Manning said it”s easy to see the link between “do-bee” and “zoobie,” especially since BYU students are typically seen as perfectly obedient “Molly Mormons.” But a university that is populated with don”t-bees has not yet been specified.
Christensen said BYU was a zoo in his day, referencing the animal-like crudeness of some Y students and the meat-market atmosphere of those eager to get married. Thus anyone who went to the zoo became a zoobie.
“BYU is full of strange creatures relentlessly chasing after each other,” he said. “They should either be called zoobies or hornies.”
One BYU freshman who grew up in Provo came to the same conclusion as a child.
“We theorized it means students run around crazy like animals or make babies like animals,” said Jillian Doria, 19, majoring in communications.
But a Hogle Zoo official said the comparison is not exactly accurate because animal courtship at the zoo works differently.
“A committee decides which animals are paired together,” said Stacey Phillips, public relations manager for Hogle Zoo. “I would liken it to computer dating.”
Another difference is that you don”t see a lot of monogamy in the zoo, Phillips said, because animals are transferred in and out for breeding.
“Along these lines I would not compare it to BYU guys. They want a solid relationship,” she said. “In the wild, that just doesn”t happen.”
