Ski-U-Mah: more than a parking lot? (Minneapolis, Madison: 2015, university, live)

[Yvanung]

Sorry if I'm asking a stupid question but I didn't even spend a week in Minneapolis (had to shop back and forth, away from Prospect Park and other university districts) and I saw a rather large amount of merchandise (mostly clothes) with the words Ski-U-Mah written on it. I have a long-sleeve shirt with these very words written in yellow on my left sleeve myself.

Yet the only concrete manifestation of Ski-U-Mah I know about is that parking lot close to TCF Bank Stadium... I can't imagine a major research university being so proud of a parking lot (even if said lot was named in an university-wide contest) that it would have such wide offerings of merchandise named after it.

So what exactly is Ski-U-Mah beyond a parking lot?

[Glenfield]

Ski-U-Mah was a sports cheer from the late 1800s. It was put together by combining a Sioux Indian term for victory (ski) with U-M for the University of Minnesota and adding the "ah" to make it rhyme with rah rah rah, another popular cheer at the time. Ski-U-Mah. It has since evolved into a sort of sports related nickname for the University of Minnesota.

[Yvanung]

Then what relationship would it bear to the parking lot?

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by Yvanung

Then what relationship would it bear to the parking lot?

Ski-u-mah came about well before cars were invented, let alone parking lots. I think a safe assumption is that they wanted a University-themed name for the parking lot. The relationship would be the parking lot is at the U of MN, and Ski-U-Mah is a U of MN cheer.

[StilltheSame]

Thank you. I've lived here over 6 years and had zero clue WTH it meant.

[WoodburyWoody]

In the umn rouser:
University of Minnesota Official Athletic Site - Traditions

And as Glenfield and UU write, been around since the 1800s:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski-U-Mah_(slogan)

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by Yvanung

Then what relationship would it bear to the parking lot?

I think you need to let go of the parking lot association.

It's as if you saw a bar named Mill City Bar here and asked why Mill City. I would explain that Minneapolis is called Mill City because of the flour mills that lined the river. The appropriate follow up question would not be to ask about the relationship between flour and a bar because there is no relationship.

There is no relationship between the term Ski-U-Mah and a parking lot. They simply used a name for the university for the parking lot.

[Yvanung]

Behold, the Ski-U-Mah Parking Lot!

As for where the parking lot is, in relation to the campus at large: http://www1.umn.edu/pts/maps/Library/pdf/EBank15.pdf

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by Yvanung

Behold, the Ski-U-Mah Parking Lot!

As for where the parking lot is, in relation to the campus at large: http://www1.umn.edu/pts/maps/Library/pdf/EBank15.pdf

And your point is what? So they used a nickname for the university for a parking lot at the university. It would be like see a parking lot called the Badger Lot at UW Madison. How does this not make sense to you?

You write very well but I wonder from your user name if perhaps English is your second language and somehow the idea of a custom like this might be escaping you.

[ellysbelly]

It's the same as if there was a parking lot in Montreal happened to be called GO, HABS, GO-- nothing more, nothing less. Welcome to MN.