posted on August 18, 2000 07:17:18 AM
I moved to Indiana a couple of years ago and, of course, got all the comments about being a "Hoosier" now. So... just what IS a "Hoosier"? Believe it or not, I have asked numerous Indiana natives and all I get are blank stares. This has become an (almost) obsession now. Anyone out there have the scoop?
posted on August 18, 2000 09:19:05 AM
Being a Hoosier, transplanted. But married to a true Hoosier. I asked her this same question. Her reply. "Many years ago in the days of Daniel Boone. A Kentuckian rowed his boat across the Ohio, to see his Neighbor on the Indiana side. When he knocked on the cabin door, the neighbor replied "Who's thar".
On a serious note there was a book written about it. You can find it in your Public Library.
posted on August 18, 2000 09:43:48 AM
From Dictionary.com
Word History: As the fame of Indiana basketball grows ever greater, perhaps a larger number of people have become curious about the origins of the word Hoosier, the nickname for a native or resident of Indiana. As more than one of the curious has discovered, the origins are rather opaque. The most likely possibility is that Hoosier is an alteration of hoozer, an English dialect word recorded in Cumberland, a former county of northwest England, in the late 19th century and used to refer to anything unusually large. The transition between hoozer and Hoosier is not clear. The first recorded instance of Hoosier meaning “Indiana resident” is dated 1826; however, it seems possible that senses of the word recorded later in the Dictionary of Americanisms, including “a big, burly, uncouth specimen or individual; a frontiersman, countryman, rustic,” reflect the kind of use this word had before it settled down in Indiana.
posted on August 18, 2000 12:15:06 PM
Meya..
A hoosier is a hutch?....Huh?
If it weren't for Barry(Lets get to the bottom of this)Barris I would be even more confused.
I just don't get it, but then it's 110 degrees in the shade today.(Ok I exaggerate a little ,it's only 108)
posted on August 18, 2000 12:18:46 PM
Wow... what have I started?
To fred: Cute story. As to the library, I live in a tiny rural community... population
around 560, 90% Amish. Our library is in a 1 room schoolhouse and extremely limited. Since I'm unable to drive, getting to a "real" library is not an option.
To barrybarris: I can certainly appreciate the "rustic" part of the definition. Most of the residents here don't even have electricity. I do of course but, I'm an "outsider"... one of the "English" as the Amish refer to the non-Amish.
Thanks for the input so far. I'd really like to hear more.
posted on August 18, 2000 06:52:46 PM
msmas - Hello!
Well, I was born in Indiana and raised there (for a while) and the story Fred's wife shares (HI Fred ) is the one I was always told.
I think the different English dialect mentioned by Barry(gotta love 'im)Barris was what I was told when the pronunciation didn't sound right to me either. I was told they just spoke differently in those days, and then learned to speak proper (American) English.
My father was raised on a farm on the Ohio River in Indiana and always explained it pretty much as Fred explained it. The only difference is that if someone knocked on the door the person would respond "Who's Here" and the phrase coming out as hoos hier. It was probably the same as a boat pulled up to the bank in fog or dark.
