Note: Thank you to everyone for the phenomenal responses to our TOOTs question. There were a number of different reasonings, and I’ve included as many here as possible. It’s never too late to add your own! -Kevin

TOOTS = Tech out of towners

Bill Doman ‘85
Kevin,  I attended Tech in the late 60’s and the engineering students were known as “Toots” and the Forestry students as “Twigs”.

The three prof’s that had the greatest impact on me at the time, and in my subsequent career were Dr. Berry, Dr. Bradycamp, and Dr. Gilbert Boyd  (it’s been 45 years, but I can still draw the iron phase diagram from memory).

Steve Coburn  BSCHE 70’
hi kevin,

in the current alumni magazine you ask about “toots”.

i was a freshman in 1957 and the local males were quite upset with the influx of tech students beginning in september. they called us toots as a term of derision on their part. they were referring to railroad engineers as opposed to the engineers we all hoped to become. i graduated in 1963 and i really don’t remember if the term was still widely used by the locals or if we didn’t adopt it as sort of a term of endearment and pride. we called each other toots all the time and when i run into many of my old class  mates (some graduated from tech and some not,some stooped so low as to graduate from michigan state and other below the bridge inferior institutions) we still refer to each other as toots.

you’re right, when i mention this term to newer graduates of tech i get a blank stare.

we had a not so nifty cheer at hockey games, mainly from the band behind the west goal at dee.

rooty toot toot

rooty toot toot

we’re the boys from the institute.

make of that what you will.

kent a. werger
class of ’61

Kevin

Back in the 60’s we were known as “TOOTS”. I never knew  the story behind “TOOTS” and I doubt it was very positive so I probably didn’t want to know.

Bill Haire ‘74

Hi Kevin-

Graduating as a Chem. E. from MCMT in 1959, I heard the term “toots” as lot – I was one!  I recall it coming from the longer term “roo del i toots”.  From a piece of music, military term, I don’t know.

Hal Seppala  ‘59

The term toot came about because of the habit of tech guys honking their car horns at females on the streets.

Al Schulz, class of 1962.

Hi Kevin, WE were toots through my graduate year of 1974.  When I visited MTU in 1984 the reference to toots was fading, but not forgotten.

Hopefully others will fill in more details.
Roy Aydelotte Class of 1972 And Graduate degree in 1974

For your information, we were called “TOOTS” during my stay on campus from 1948 to 1953.

Peter Meyers ‘53
Hello, Kevin,

My husband and I graduated from “daTech” in 1983.  Local people still called Tech students “toots” at that time.  I had forgotten all about it until I read your story.  I wonder why it faded away?  Probably because people take for granted now that most “engineers” don’t drive trains!

Regards, Liz Waidelich ‘83
Hi Kevin, the term TOOTS was a reference to Tech students from out of town.  I grew up in Houghton and a member of MTU (MCMT) class of 1962.  The term is still used by some of the older residents of the area – I get back to Houghton twice a year and my old friends still use the term :>). The students from the area were “Local Yoocals”.  The term TOOTS was very common back then, mostly by the local boys that did not like the Tech students dating “our local” girls.  Not sure when the term faded from local use.

Lt Col Paul E. Gauthier, USAF (Ret)
Class of 1962
My recollection is that, back in the day, students east of Houghton used TOOT (train whistle sound) as a term of derision, equating Tech engineers to railroad engineers.

Andy Perrie, ’64
“Toots” were a reference to Tech engineering students in my day (’54 – ’61). Engineers drive trains and trains go “Toot, toot, toot” No big mystery!

Merle Potter ’58 and ‘61
When I was at Tech in the early 1970′s, the engineering students were referred to as Toots by everyone, because of engineers-> drive trains -> trains go “Toot.” The interesting thing to me was why train drivers were ever called engineers in the first place. I believe that the first train drivers were actually the engineers who had developed the trains and designed the tracks. After a while railroad companies realized that actual engineers didn’t have to drive the trains, but the term stuck.

Being in the life sciences, I wasn’t a toot.
Carole Grimley ‘76
Kevin,

In my recollection, I thought a TOOT stood for “Tech Out Of Towner”.  In other words a Tech student that wasn’t from the local area.

Regards,  Dennis Boismier (’82)

Kevin:

Remember the word Toot very well. It was used by the local residents ( mainly young ones ) as a label on any Tech. student. Don’t know how it originated or what it actually meant.  I only assumed it was still a common term used in the Copper Country.

Jim Blake ‘63
Kevin,

We had the Toot expression when I graduated in 1973.

Michael Wade ‘73
Kevin,

We were never called TOOTS in the 90s. More of a 60s and 70s or prior thing is my understanding. But what I was told at the time I was a student was that is stood for Tech Out Of Town Student.

Thanks. Ryan Towles ‘99

Yes, I remember being called a TOOT by the locals.  But it wasn’t a term of endearment.  When I attended Tech, a TOOT was a Tech Out Of Towner.  You were someone who went to Tech, but were not from the local area.  As it was, I was known as a TOOT and a Troll.

Bridgette (Chapman) Rillema ‘96
Kevin,

Being a local student in the 80’s TOOTS referred to “Tech Out Of Town Students”.  Locals used the acronym to identify Tech students that were not from the Keweenaw.  They also had a term for students that were local.  They were “Tech In Town Students”.  I’ll let you figure out the acronym.

Walt Reini
I went to Tech from 84-88 and I never heard it from the community, but my dad called me a toot.  He used to live in L’Anse and Copper City/Laurium area and may have picked it up then.  His father was a fireman on an actual railroad called the Soo Line.  Technically, I am not even an engineer, but a computer scientist.  A number of his cousins also went to Tech.  He went to Northern and so did my mother and brother.  I had to be the odd one out of the family.

Stacey E. Keener ‘88
I attended Tech from 1968 to 1972, graduating with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and a commission as a 2 Lt in the US Air Force (ROTC).  I grew up and graduated from high school in the UP, in a small (even for the UP) town south and west of Houghton.

I was intrigued that the term TOOT has fallen out of use by the locals and is not even in use on campus.  In case anyone was wondering, TOOT stands for “Tech Out-Of-Towner”.  Therefore, almost all students at Tech are/were TOOTs, unless they happen to have lived in Houghton or Hancock prior to attending Tech.

Hope this sheds some light on the term TOOT.
Douglas Repaal ‘72
We were the boys from the insti-toot, that’s why.

Onni Perala  ‘60
I too am curious regarding the year that Tech students were no longer termed “Toots” by the locals. When I graduated (’67) the sardonic legend about the origin of the term went something like this:

“Tech students are engineers.  Engineers drive trains.  Trains go ‘toot, toot.’  Therefore, Tech students are toots.”

Pete Dohms, ’67
We were all “Toots” when I was there ’71 – ’76.  “Tech Out Of Towners” was the official name I was told.  I’m sure they had other words from that acronym…

Dave Plumeau ‘76
Toots was the relevant term for students attending “Da Tech” when I left in 1973.  I started coming back to campus regularly as a company recruiter in 1984 and I think it might have been gone by then, but I can’t swear to it.

Kerry Irons ‘72
“Toots”, as I was told dates back to when cars were first introduced to the Houghton area.   Apparently most of the cars belonged to Michigan College of Mines students who “tooted their horn” and were thereafter known as “Toots” by the locals.

Joe Kantor Class of 1966 – Geology
Kevin:  Ref your paragraphs on Toots.  Don’t know if this little ditty was a Tech original or picked up from some other institution of higher learning.   I picked it up somewhere and I suspect at MTU in the 1950s.

Rooty Toot Toot
We’re the boys from the institute
We don’t drink and we don’t smoke
And we don’t go with girls that do

L H Christensen, Class of ’56.

Dear Kevin,

I started at Tech in 1980 and graduated in 1983, TOOTS were still in vogue at that time. Along with Trolls and Yoopers.

Blessings,
Don Kolehmainen ‘83
Kevin,

I can certainly comment on the Toots story. I don’t remembering hearing the term living in the dorm my freshman year, but I got a heavy dose of Toots starting my second year at Tech (1971) living in the H&T house with our cook Art White being a local from Hancock. He used the term frequently. As I understand it the term comes from railroad engineers tooting their horns. I guess maybe the locals could relate better to engineers driving trains than CEs, MEs, and EEs, etc. When my son and daughter attended Tech in the late 90s and early 2000s, the term no longer seemed to exist. My wife Jill Nyman ’75 having grown up in Houghton was also very familiar with the term.

Jim Botz ‘74

Kevin

This was a very common aphorism applied by locals to Tech students during my years at Tech; 1952 -57. I believe it stems from the term “Rooty Toot”  which has this meaning:

This is a person, man or woman who walks around like they are the hot stuff. This person is an overblown braggart who believes in themselves like some people believe in God. This person is recognized by exaggerated stateliness; and oh so pretentious in speech and manner.

I heard this term applied to us by the local gentry when we got to know them better in the bars/taverns as we socialized with them. This was in 1952 and was still heard in 1957.

Unfortunately I believe many of the student body deserved this title because of  their condescending attitude to residents.

Many residents at that time still had a thick Finnish accent in their spoken English which became the brunt of many jokes. Local folks heard these comments and were understandably offended. It is likely that their response to this attitude was the  application of the term “Toots” as they commiserated amongst themselves. This attitude of some Tech students was not based on fact and resulted in an understandable and predictable outcome in retrospect.

Perhaps some other graduates of my vintage can add to this.

Cheers,
Fred Uhlig  ’57 bsme, bsea, P.E.
Hi Kevin,

When I was at Tech from 1970-1973, I was told that the name “TOOT” was used by the locals in a not too  endearing way to mean “Tech Out Of Towners”.

Jerry White
BSEE & BSEA 1973

Kevin
TOOTs= Tech out of towner student is what my local Houghton friends always told me. Also if you came from below the bridge you were a troll….

Toot and Troll
Robert Earley, PE
Class of *86&88″ MSME

Hi Kevin,

I was born and raised in Houghton and attended Tech (1965-68), although I graduated from Northern. Toot means Tech out of towner, so the locals were not toots.  I was known as a coed since there were so few women on campus at that time.

Liz (Sermon) Herrick
Kevin,

The use of “toots” as a shorthand reference to Tech (train) engineers, was not the story I was told by locals (I’m was a local). It referred to Tech students’ drinking habits (“going on a toot”). I’d be interested finding out how far back the reference goes. It certainly pre-dated my days at Tech.

Paul Kotila BS ’72, MS ‘74

Kevin,

I attended Tech from ’62 until ’67 and we always self-identified as Toots.  For instance, the Saturday evening movies on campus were always referred to as “the Toot movies.” The most common notion about the source of the term was that we were going to be engineers and that the local folks thought all engineers drove trains, and trains went toot toot. Thus they gave us that pejorative nickname. I recall that there were one or two competing stories which I no longer remember, with the bottom line being that no one was sure of the origin.

Looking back, I don’t recall any local person ever using the term, but it was used ubiquitously on campus. Toot seemed to define and capsulize us and our culture at Da Tech. It was almost a source of pride. That is, being a Toot, without connection to the term’s supposed origin, connoted membership in a special, comfortable community. This legitimized our behavior which would have seemed strange elsewhere. Maleness predominated, so practicality won out over fashion in our dress, and attention to social niceties tended to be at the low end of the acceptable range, at least when there were no women around which was almost always. The male-to-female ratio at the time was far more skewed than today. I’m not sure if these numbers are accurate, but the commonly used numbers of the day were 2,800 males to 100 females in the Fall of 1962, and 4,000 males to 300 females in 1967. In that era we transited the campus dressed in the heaviest coats, hats and boots without worrying about appearance, with our canvas book bags hooked over our shoulders by a leather strap and our slide rules hooked to our belts. In this predominantly male setting, one might burp naturally without any attempt to suppress it, at which time all those around him would point and say “Tooooot!” and have a good laugh.

I look back fondly at having been a Toot. The shared experience “us guys” had enduring rigorous academics, harsh winters, separation from family and scarce opportunities for female companionship made it easy to form bonds with fellow students; probably not unlike the force that bonded the so called “band of brothers” veterans formed during war. But, considering the bigger picture, it is probably a good thing that life on campus has gotten a bit more civilized over time, which I suspect is a logical evolutionary trend correlating with the transition to a more natural male/female ratio.

Don Ingersoll ‘67

I don’t know how the community referred to us, but as a student in Forestry, I recall the terms  “toots” and “twigs” commonly used. You can guess which one I was.

Tim Trombley
1982 grad

I am a 1960 EE graduate.  Yes I remember the term used all the time.  the story I was told was that the Tech students drank so much in town, especially at

the locals referred to non-local students as TOOTS; Tech Out Of Town Students- reference in the singular was, for eg: “you a TOOT?”- where it’s abbreviated to Tech Out Of Towner.

Walt Cherry ME ’62
Hi Kevin:

The term “toots” was used all the time when I attended 1966-1970, by the local community, an old reference to engineers who ran the mines and the trains carrying ore in the old days – “Michigan College of Mines”. It applied to any MTU student, but I felt it was a carryover from the times when metallurgical engineering and related fields were a larger part of the student body.

By 1997-2000, when my son attended, I don’t think the term was in common use anymore.

Ray Berg
Electrical Engineering
Class of 1970

Peter Remali

Kevin -

I saw the email on the term ‘Toots’ in the newsletter.  I recall this term still being around when I was at MTU (Chem Eng) from 1980-1986, but it was fading in usage and perceived as ‘outdated’ by students.  We did not identify with it nor did we use the term. You would see it in cartoons or in news articles. You could probably do a search of Lode back issues from each decade as a data point if you really cared!

Brad Rick