If you are a student at North Atlanta it is almost guaranteed that you have heard the famed phrase “Go Dubs.” Whether you or your peers are shouting it at a sports game, hearing it on the announcements, or simply just using the phrase within the classroom, you are sure to in one way or another become familiar with the saying. As it slowly has become an ingrained habit to use these two words on practically an everyday basis, you would expect people who use it to understand the meaning behind it. Shockingly enough, it has been recently brought to light that many people don’t even know what the phrase “Go Dubs” means! 

This two word motto originally derived from the saying “Go W’s” which is short for “Go Warriors.” The phrase was adopted at North Atlanta as our school mascot is the Warriors. Before that, it was a common saying for the Golden State Warriors NBA basketball team. Its origin has a quite simple and easy explanation which makes it difficult to understand where it got lost in translation as students continued to pick up the phrase.

As it is heard everywhere around the school, many students begin to use the expression despite the fact that they are unclear on its true meaning. Commonly, students are aware it is used to cheer on our school in some way; they just don’t understand where it came from and why. “In all honesty, I had no idea what it meant and I was confused,” said senior Hattie Schuessler. “I knew it had something to do with our school, obviously, I just wasn’t sure what.” 

There is still hope. Despite some students lacking understanding of the spirited saying, many do and always have known the true meaning of the phrase. To some students, they felt as though the explanation was obvious and didn’t take much thought to it. “Since the first time I heard the phrase I quickly understood where it came from,” said senior Owen Mahaffey. “I was familiar with its application to the Golden State Warriors which made it easy for me to understand.” 

Whether you are an avid user of the phrase and have understood its meaning from the beginning, or needed a little clarification, you should now hopefully recognize the origin in which it emanated. Now we can continue using these two short words to cheer on our school, maybe with a little bit more purpose and understanding. Keep up the immense school spirit and Go Dubs!