What's a Hoosier?

What's a Hoosier?

What is the origin of the word Hoosier? In fall 2005, Emily Armstrong's (BS'94, MS'02) fourth-graders at Marlin Elementary School in Bloomington, Ind., sent us their theories. Read their stories below, and read “What's a Hoosier?” from the July/August 1992 issue of the Indiana Alumni Magazine.

You can buy the “What's a Hoosier?” poster, by Cheryl Gregg Duckworth, BFA'81, for only $5 at the IUAA's online store.

Hoosier Legends
By fourth-graders at Marlin Elementary School, Bloomington, Ind.
Fall 2005

A long time ago, the army walked through the woods and an owl went “hoo.” One of the people was talking to the captain and said, “Sir.” So it sounded like “Hoosier.”
By Sophie

One day two men were in a jumping contest. The judge couldn’t talk well. When they would jump, the judge would say, “Who’s higher?” and in a long time he said “Hoosier.”
By Logan

Once upon a time there was a girl whose name was Hooter. Two people started making fun of her. They called her name “Hoosier.” They were at school when this happened, so all the kids heard about it and started calling her Hoosier, too. They made fun of her so much that her family moved to Indiana. Then they started calling everyone in Indiana, Hoosier.
By Mariah

When football was made, we were the Losers because we lost so much. The announcer messed up and said, “Hoosiers lose.”
By Reese

Once upon a time there was a girl called Sally Hoosier. She always went around saying the song she made up. She said, “I’m an Indiana Hoosier.” Then the song spread around! Then she eventually got rich off the name! The end.
By Jordyn

There once was an old man who lived in a rusty old trailer. One day a man came up to the old man’s door, knocked and said, “Who’s here?” The old man was too old to hear. So the man had to say it so many times it sounded like “Hoosier.”
By Taylor

“Knock knock!” “Who’s there?” “Hoosier.” “Who’s there?” “NO — Hoosier!” A long time ago, pioneers lived in Indiana and so did Indians. Pioneers were scared of the Indians. Whenever the pioneers heard someone on their land, they would shout, “Who’s there?” To the Indians, it sounded like “Hoosier!!”
By Grant

When people lost a shirt, they would say, “Whose shirt?”
By Courtney

Long ago when someone would go to jail someone would ask them, “Who’s your father?” Then they said it fast and it ended up saying “Hoosier.”
By Lindsey

Once upon a time, there was a woman who made paintings. They weren’t the best paintings ever. This woman had many customers who liked her paintings and some that didn’t. One day she had already made $99. All she needed to make $100 was a one-dollar bill. Moments later, she heard a knock on her store’s door. She opened the door to find a child at the door. She said, “Whose ear is that in the painting?” “That’s his ear, that man in the painting’s ear.” “I like that painting. How much is it?” said the child. “It is $1.” “OK, here you go.” That night when the child said, “Whose ear?” it sounded like “Hoosier.” So, that’s how Hoosier was made.
By Miranda

We are called the Hoosiers because an old man said, “Whose year were you born?” The man was from Indiana and thought that would be a good name for Indiana to be called. Then we became the Indiana Hoosiers.
By Lacey

Once upon a time a man said, “Hood sure,” and it came out to be “Hoosier.”
By Will

Reisooh used to be a college in 1112 for cavemen. There was a caveman that said everything backwards. “I dluow ekil ot og ot Hoosier,” said the caveman. “What did you say?” “I dluow ekil ot og ot Hoosier.” “Hoosier?” “We should change our school name to that.”
By Andrew

Once upon a time there were women in Indiana. They whistled when they worked. One of the women had no teeth and it sounded like she was saying “Hoosier.” And that is how Indiana got their nickname Hoosier.
By Kadie

Once there were pioneers and they had to shoot deer and hang them up before dinner. They would go looking for their deer, yelling “Whose deer?” Eventually it sounded like “Hoosier.”
By Eva

Once upon a time… A girl named Stacey Sorenson was singing a song. It went something like this: “I like big Hoosiers and I cannot lie…” She stopped singing for a minute and said, “Hoosiers is a great name for Indiana.” So, they named us the Indiana Hoosiers.
By Destiny

It all started a long time ago. There was a football team. They were called the Hosliens, and they played against the Wrens. The team was an all-kid team. They played their first real game at Spring Mill Park. The sad thing is the Hosliens lost their very first game. So people started yelling out, “Who are you to lose? You’re not losers, you’re winners.” After that game people started calling them Hoosiers. At the time when they called Hoosiers, they won their very first game ever, and they were called Hoosiers the rest of their games.
By Jade

Once upon a time in a newspaper there was a girl. If you guessed her name, you would get 1 million dollars. People kept on saying “Who’s her?” until they said “Hoosier.”
By Nick

One day there was an old farmer and he had many cows. He had a favorite cow. Her name was Annabell. One day, the farmer went to feed and went to check on Annabell. She went “HOOOOOSIER” and not “MOOOO!” So, that’s why we’re called Hoosiers.
By Shelby

Once upon a time in a village, there was a car show called Hodders. It became so popular, it was said so much, the name changed into Hoosiers. That is why we are called Hoosiers.
By Nick

Once upon a time, there was an alien named Ekak Hoosier. He flew down to ask a farmer for some cows. The alien told the farmer that they could never tell anybody about him. So, they just said “Hoosier” all the time.
By Keenan

I think about 100 years ago, there was the first kosher pickle factory in Indiana. Over time, people destroyed the factory. It turned into the city known as Bloomington. And they kept saying “kosher” faster and faster and it turned into “Hoosier.”
By Matt

Once upon a time there was a king that was named Hoosier. Then, we became Hoosiers and now we are the Hoosier state.
By Sam

Once upon a time there was a man named Joe. And if someone would step on his mat, he would yell, “Who’s there?” and now there’s a name in Indiana called Hoosier.
By Shelby

Once upon a time there were four people who lived in a tent. One day they were telling jokes. The dad went first. “Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?” “Her.” “Who’s her?”
By Miranda

A long time ago people would walk to their friend’s house and knock on their door. Whoever was inside would say, “Hoosier, I mean, who’s there?”
By Shane

Once upon a time… People would say, “Hoo there,” and they would say, “I’m coming.”
By Ashley

Once upon a time people walked by the King that was sitting by a woman and the people asked, “Who’s her?”
By McKinzi

A long time ago people instead of saying “hello,” they would say “Hoos.” And one day a man from out of town said “Hoo-a-sier” and that’s how we became the Hoosiers.
By Shania