An Inquiry From Indiana
Rob and I were watching the Purdue ~ Ohio State game last night and a commercial came on TV about Big Ten football. What I really noticed was this giant Indiana Jones looking Buckeye was barrelling down the street with other so called symbols of the big ten school teams. Now, I can not even tell you what other characters were , there were lots of animals that they showed along with the buckeye, but I asked Rob, What is a Hoosier? I mean what would they use in this commercial to represent a Hoosier? His answer was , IU would never be represented in a commercial like that. So it was obvious to me at that point that it was about football. Because we all know that Indiana is always included whether they deserve to be or not when basketball is the topic of conversation. I have lived in Indiana for almost 20 years and really, I don't know what in the hell a Hoosier is. So I looked it up. It's not a pretty picture.
The first explanation I found said something about crackers, hillbillies and an unmannerly objectionable person. Well if that is the case there was this lady in New York City at a bagel shop who acted like a Hoosier and she sure as hell had a freaking New York accent. Then I read on before it's use in America, Hoosier was used in England to refer to someone who lived in the hills or the mountains. Well I do not understand how that would have been translated to Indiana, cause Indiana is a pretty flat state. Now we do have some hills down here where we live now, but for the most part the state is flat. Ask anyone who drives across I- 70 for any length of time.
While searching the Inter net I found another long-time resident of Indiana, Michael Molenda who had the same quest as I , but he actually did the leg work by going to the library and researching the dang thang. (I figure if you all have the same views of Hoosier as my previous paragraph, I may as well play the part.) I was surprised to find out that, the first time the term Hoosier used as a person from Indiana, was in a newspaper in 1832. So the connotation has been around quite awhile. Then here is another take, and I actually like this explanation. He stated that during the American Civil War many soldiers from all over the US came together for the first time and nicknames ensued , some with negative connotations, eventually were accepted in a positive light, he states. Indiana=Hoosiers, Maine=Foxes, Delaware=Muskrats, Ohio=Buckeyes, Wisconsin=Badgers, Iowa=Hawkeyes and New York=Knickerbockers.
That sorta made Hoosiers more palatable for me. Now, touching on the folklore of where Hoosiers has derived is very interesting and actually these were the stories that I have heard from the time as residents of Indiana. One story about the early settlers being ferocious fighters, and would frequently not only scratch and gouge, but bite off noses and ears, not much unlike Mike Tyson, (was he from Indiana or just tried here?) While during the fight these small body parts lying on the floor, and someone asking, whose ear? Another story tells of settlers being very inquisitive people and opening doors saying who's here? Which sounds to me some guy was in a bar watching a basketball game and came up with that one. There's another legend that it was derived from a family name. The foreman over the group of men working on the banks of Ohio River was named Hoosier. The workers were from Indiana side of the river and eventually the Indiana workers in general were referred to as Hoosiers. I'm really not buying that one. At any rate I guess I found some answers to the... what's a Hoosier question. Probably more than anyone reading this blog would like to know on the subject.
My thoughts on the exact origin probably leans toward the rustic, poor white farmers, or hillbillies. Even in French, osier means someone from the countryside. I want to cringe at the uneducated hilljack connotation. Even the movie Hoosiers follows the poor white farmer attitude, when the basketball team from a small rural community came to the big city, Indianapolis and beat the big school from South Bend to win State. (That was taken from a true story)
I guess being a Hoosier is better than a rooster or even a nut. Now will someone please tell me what a Knickerbocker is?
The first explanation I found said something about crackers, hillbillies and an unmannerly objectionable person. Well if that is the case there was this lady in New York City at a bagel shop who acted like a Hoosier and she sure as hell had a freaking New York accent. Then I read on before it's use in America, Hoosier was used in England to refer to someone who lived in the hills or the mountains. Well I do not understand how that would have been translated to Indiana, cause Indiana is a pretty flat state. Now we do have some hills down here where we live now, but for the most part the state is flat. Ask anyone who drives across I- 70 for any length of time.
While searching the Inter net I found another long-time resident of Indiana, Michael Molenda who had the same quest as I , but he actually did the leg work by going to the library and researching the dang thang. (I figure if you all have the same views of Hoosier as my previous paragraph, I may as well play the part.) I was surprised to find out that, the first time the term Hoosier used as a person from Indiana, was in a newspaper in 1832. So the connotation has been around quite awhile. Then here is another take, and I actually like this explanation. He stated that during the American Civil War many soldiers from all over the US came together for the first time and nicknames ensued , some with negative connotations, eventually were accepted in a positive light, he states. Indiana=Hoosiers, Maine=Foxes, Delaware=Muskrats, Ohio=Buckeyes, Wisconsin=Badgers, Iowa=Hawkeyes and New York=Knickerbockers.
That sorta made Hoosiers more palatable for me. Now, touching on the folklore of where Hoosiers has derived is very interesting and actually these were the stories that I have heard from the time as residents of Indiana. One story about the early settlers being ferocious fighters, and would frequently not only scratch and gouge, but bite off noses and ears, not much unlike Mike Tyson, (was he from Indiana or just tried here?) While during the fight these small body parts lying on the floor, and someone asking, whose ear? Another story tells of settlers being very inquisitive people and opening doors saying who's here? Which sounds to me some guy was in a bar watching a basketball game and came up with that one. There's another legend that it was derived from a family name. The foreman over the group of men working on the banks of Ohio River was named Hoosier. The workers were from Indiana side of the river and eventually the Indiana workers in general were referred to as Hoosiers. I'm really not buying that one. At any rate I guess I found some answers to the... what's a Hoosier question. Probably more than anyone reading this blog would like to know on the subject.
My thoughts on the exact origin probably leans toward the rustic, poor white farmers, or hillbillies. Even in French, osier means someone from the countryside. I want to cringe at the uneducated hilljack connotation. Even the movie Hoosiers follows the poor white farmer attitude, when the basketball team from a small rural community came to the big city, Indianapolis and beat the big school from South Bend to win State. (That was taken from a true story)
I guess being a Hoosier is better than a rooster or even a nut. Now will someone please tell me what a Knickerbocker is?
posted by Jill | 10:53 AM
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