[Montana Moe]

List of Texas A&M traditions (and there's a LOT of them):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditi...26M_University

Howdy

Many incoming students at Texas A&M choose to attend the campus because they feel that the students are friendlier than those at other universities. This perception is created partly by the Aggie tradition "Howdy", the official greeting of Texas A&M University.

Students are encouraged to greet everyone they pass on campus with a smile and a howdy. Howdy is the preferred method for a speaker to get a large group's attention, as the members of the group are expected to return the "Howdy" back to the speaker.


Gig 'em

Rather than end a conversation with "goodbye," many conversations between Aggies end with "gig 'em," usually accompanied by a hand signal in which the hand is fisted and the thumb extends upwards in a thumbs up.

This tradition began at a 1930 Midnight Yell Practice held before the football game against the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs. In an attempt to excite the crowd, Pinky Downs, a 1906 Texas A&M graduate and member of the school's Board of Regents, asked "What are we going to do to those Horned Frogs?" Using a term for frog hunting, he answered his own question, "Gig 'em, Aggies!" For emphasis, he made a fist with the thumb extended. The phrase and hand signal proved popular, and it became the first hand sign of the Southwest Conference. Gig 'em is also the name of one of the school yells, which is used during football kickoffs.