Haha. I just found this!
What is a Hoosier?Hoosiers are described as "shrewd, independent, horribly stubborn, conservative, tradition oriented, a teller of tales and willing to stretch the truth if it makes for a good story, fair minded, and somewhat shy, observant and evasive, but the best friend a person could ever have once they get to know you".
Partial source: "Indiana" by Darrel Jones and Jared Carter (Published by Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co. Portland, Ore.
That's not me, is it??
Here's what else the book said about the Hoosier state....
"It is decidedly "un Michigan-like", one Indiana writer suggested back in 1922 while ruminating about his home territory. "Although it tinges off toward Illinois on the west and Kentucky on the south, the community is neither nebulous nor indefinite. It is individual."
"But what about Ohio, to the east - is it like Ohio? Ah yes, "the Buckeye State" said Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley, "where a Hoosier is scrutinized as critically as a splinter in the thumb of a near sighted man."
No. It is not at all like Ohio. Another Hoosier savant, Kin Hubbard,explained what happens when you cross the line from Ohio into Indiana: "I'm told by transcontinental tourists who cross Indianny west on the ole historic National road that they no sooner hit Richmond on the eastern border till plots fer novels an' rhymes fer verses come o'er 'em so fast an' thick that they kin hardly see the road, an' often go in the ditch."
Part of the Indiana legend is that practically everybody in the state is a writer. They tell outlandish stories about this. They claim that a visiting eastern writer once thought to coddle his Hoosier audience by inviting any local authors present to join him on the platform during his lecture - whereupon everyone in the audience stood up and moved forward.
They add that when he recovered from his shock and noticed one old man still seated at the back of the hall and inquired about him, the others said, "Oh he writes too. He's just deef and didn't hear what you said."
The truth is that the old man wasn't deef, he was contrary. This is the chief Hoosier character trait, when all said is done.
Hoosier contrariness is different from other forms. It is a mixture of stubbornness, skepticism and occasional downright foolhardiness carried to such an outrageous degree that it reverses itself all over again and becomes sensible and calm."
The book goes on.....
"I once knew an old farmer who lived up by Fortville who was contrary, in the classic sense. His name was Frosty Moore. "Frosty Moore is the salt of the earth", one of his neighbors announced one day while we were standing on an old trestle bridge, looking down at the water, "but he's so contrary, if he fell in the crick, he'd float upstream."
Which brings me to a few more Hoosier words and phrases! (I told you I would post them if I thought of any more!)
Icebox - A refrigerator.
Crick - Creek
Fence Runner - a small lizard found in Indiana, often seen sitting on a fence rail.
Poke - A bag or sack.
Stool - A toilet. Sometimes the Hoosier will refer to it as a "toilet stool".
Don't know why I just said all this! I'm bored I guess!
Topic: Messages From The Heartland (Read 2162932 times)