If you grew up in or around Seattle, the term “tolo dance” may evoke memories of corsages and sweaty palms, or perhaps a first formal gown or tux. If you’re from another part of the country, however, the term probably prompts only confusion, possibly with YOLO (You Only Live Once).

But “tolo” is no acronym. And the word has a more interesting, and historic, backstory than most internet slang—as does the dance itself. 

First, the dance: It’s nothing so unusual, except the girls do the inviting. The rest of the country knows it as a Sadie Hawkins. These days, tolo dances are usually held in high schools. But they first popped up at the University of Washington at the beginning of the twentieth century. The whole gender-reversal thing wasn’t just a cute quirk, but also one connected to a noble cause.

In December 1909, nine women met at the University of Washington to form a female honor society. At the time, there were two UW honor societies for men, but none for women. The goal, according to one chapter history, was to give those students a “greater voice in campus affairs and more recognition for work well done.” 

One of the honor society’s earliest endeavors was to create a loan fund for female students in need of help with college expenses. To raise money, the society held a dance. With some cheek (for the day), they decided that the gals should invite the guys this time. The name of the dance came from the name of the society: the Tolo Club.

Beloved UW history professor Edmond Meany had suggested the name for the club. Tolo can mean “to win,” “to earn,” “to succeed,” or similar in the Chinook jargon trade language, a pidgin that combined the tongues of various Northwest Native American nations with bits of English and French. According to George Coombs Shaw in his 1909 The Chinook Jargon and How to Use It, the word originally came from the Kalapuya people of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. 

So there you have it: from a Native language in what’s now Oregon to a regional trade language; from a university honor society to a Washington school dance tradition.