I’m sure most of you have heard a chant/cheer using the tune/cadence I’m talking about, but it’s really hard to describe something like this in text. Most of the chants that use this tune starts with “Let’s go” and then some two-syllable word following it. For example, “Let’s go Jackets” or “Let’s go Buckeyes”.

What I’m asking is whether there’s a name for that particular tune/cadence and/or if there’s an origin story behind it.

  • shepherd
    16•1 year ago

    I love your question! I think these words are examples of a trochee!

    In English poetic metre and modern linguistics, a trochee (/ˈtroʊkiː/) is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.

    It’s usually easy to recognize a word that’s a trochee because it’ll sound like kids TV show title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Power Ranger Mega Turtles lol.

    In this case, it’s trochaic dimeter because there’s two trochees. “LET’S-go RAN-gers!” You may have heard of iambic pentameter, somehow that one always seems popular to people. Well an iamb is just the reverse of a trochee, and pentameter means you’d put five of them on each line.

    Now that you know what trochees are, you’re gonna see 'em everywhere. Or maybe that’s just me lol.

    Edit: For extra fun, what do you think is going on with the clapping afterwards? I feel like we’re doing something with this at the end, but it’s late and I should go to sleep hahah. Good luck!