Hoosier

Hoosier

Yeah, I live in Louisville, KY, but I never fully understood what the hell a Hoosier meant. I knew people from Indiana were called that name. People from Louisville use the term in a derogatory manner. Like this, “Those freaking Hoosiers clog up our expressways when they head over the bridge.”

Given that Indiana is right across the river, you would think I’d know about it. Well, another guy asked me what a Hoosier meant, because I’m known as Mr. Knowitall. I was very shameful when I couldn’t answer his question. So, I looked it up.

((The term is commonly accepted and employed at all levels of discourse by people from Indiana themselves, and is considered neither derogatory nor informal when used to describe people from Indiana.))

Okay, this is certainly not a bad term in this statement. However there is a negative connection to this term.

((The term has long had a derogatory connotation as used by Americans in general, reflected in the definition given in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary: “an awkward, unhandy, or unskilled person; esp.: an ignorant rustic.” The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., defines a Hoosier as an inhabitant of Indiana or “an inexperienced, awkward, or unsophisticated person.”))

Now, it’s becoming clear. I wonder why Kentucky doesn’t have a term like this, well other than rednecks. Then again, people see U of K fans as being one big joke about Kentucky.

Here is the history behind the name.

((Although the linguistic etymology is murky, its historical attachment to Indiana is rather well documented. In colonial America, the terms “cracker” and “hoosier” were widely used to refer to white farmers who did not own slaves or large plantations.))

Now, Hoosiers take pride in their name it seems.