| THE NICKNAMES:
The Hoosier State: In an 1831 letter from G.L. Murdock to General Tom Tipton, Mr. Murdock
states "Our Boat will [be] named the Indiana Hoosier." On January 1, 1833, the Indianapolis Journal used John Finley's poem,
"The Hoosier's Nest" as their "Carriers' Address".
Indiana may have been referred to as "The Hoosier State" since the early 1830s. There are many explanations for this
nickname, some of them quite illogical and humorous and others believable. Like many nicknames, Hoosier may have
been used contemptuously to refer to the people in Indiana.
The Who's Here Story - This explanation builds on the story that Indianans were a nosey lot who called out
"Who's here?" to every house they passed. A variation of this theory has the inhabitant of the house calling
"Who's yere?" when a visitor knocked on the door. The story goes that "Who's here" or "Who's yere" eventually
evolved into the word "Hoosier."
The Who's Ear Story - Another sound-alike story, this one perpetrated by
James Whitcomb Riley,
"The Hoosier Poet," facetiously
suggests the term "Hoosier" was born of the unruly and pugnacious nature of the early settlers in Indiana.
Early Indianans fought viciously during tavern brawls, gouging, scratching and sometimes biting off a nose or
an ear. So common were these incidents that when a settler entering a tavern the next morning saw an ear on
the floor, he would nudged it casually with his shoe and ask "Who's ear?"
The Fighting Indianans - One story asserts that the term Hoosier came from the bullying and rambunctious Indiana
rivermen, always ready for a brawl, who were reputed to be quite successful in coming out on top, "hushing"
their opponents. They became known as "Hushers" and eventually "Hoosiers."
Mr. Hoosier - It is said that a contractor named Hoosier liked to hire Indiana men for work on the Louisville and
Portland Canal. These men became known as "Hoosier's men" and later, "Hoosiers."
The Indiana Historian - Jacob Piatt Dunn, Jr., Indiana historian and longtime secretary of the Indiana Historical Society found
that the word, "hoosier" was used, in the south, to refer to woodsmen and rough hill people. Mr. Piatt traced this word back
to England and the word "hoozer," meaning anything large in the Cumberland dialect. This was derived from the Anglo-Saxon "hoo"
meaning high or hill. Mr. Pratt suggests that this word was brought from England and applied to people who lived in the southern mountains.
This word then migrated north to the southern hills of Indiana. "Hoosier" is still sometimes used in the southern United States to
characterize someone who is less then sophisticated, or more bluntly, an "ignorant rustic."
The Methodist Preacher - It was originally put forth by William Pearson in the June, 1995 issue of the "Indiana Magazine
of History," that the term "Hoosier" was derived from the name of a southern, black Methodist preacher named
Harry Hoosier. According to William Pearson, Hoosier served white ministers and preached when allowed. Harry
Hoosier was an excellent speaker and one of the most dynamic preachers of his time.
According to Pierson, some were disturbed by an anti-slavery african-american man preaching to multiracial audiences
and Hoosier was especially disliked by Virginia Baptists. Animosity toward "Black Harry Hoosier" may have caused
a negative veil to settle on the name that may have eventually evolved to mean someone who was ignorant and/or
uncouth. Of course, like many nicknames, originating as slurs, the negative conotation has been lost to history.
Crossroads of America: Indiana is sometimes as the "Crossroads of America." This is the Official State Motto of
Indiana.
Source: The Indiana Historical Bureau, ((http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/emblems/hoosier.html), September 22, 2002
Meriam-Webster's "Word for the Wise", (http://www.m-w.com/mw/textonly/wftw/97oct/10797.htm), September 22, 2002
Monroe County Public Library, What is a Hoosier, (http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/indiana_room/indiana_facts.html), September 22, 2002.
Indiana University Diversity News, Human Mosaic for February 1998, (http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/ocm/tips/Mos0298.htm), September 22, 2002
Shearer, Benjamin F. and Barbara S. State
Names, Seals, Flags and Symbols Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut - 1994
Shankle, George Earlie, Phd State Names, Flags, Seals, Songs, Birds, Flowers and
Other Symbols H. H. Wilson Company, New York - 1938 (Reprint) |
