Kind of an outta the blue question. I saw an old Monon boxcar today, and it said “The Hoosier Line” on it. What is a hoosier?
A native of Indiana.
I live in Indiana,here is a defination of “Hoosier” from a book on folklore.There was once a rowdy bar in Indiana that had a lot of knife fights.Ears were cut or bit off in these fights.Every night at closing time the bar tender would ask “Who’s ear is this ?” .After a while" who’s ear "changed to hoosier . So I guess a Hoosier was a person who got into a bar room fight on a regular basis. Joe G.
I’m a Hoosier, too. Fact is, no one knows what the original meaning of “hoosier” is. Historians have made a career out of trying to define it. One thing we all know, is that it reflects a certain state pride. GO Colts; Komets, Pacers, etc. It is good to be a Hoosier.
Never heard that one. The definition that I learned in grade (elementary) school in the 1950s was that Indiana was the home of many many woodsmen (true) who seldom went to the door to answer a knock without first asking, “Whoos 'ere?” There you have it. ‘Hoosier’. No knife fights. Nothing that special, just someone asking who the visitor was. I expect that there is more than a little truth in this.
The Monon operated almost exclusively in Indiana from Louisville KY to Chicago IL with their lines forming an X thorugh the town of Monon IN. They served Bloomington (Indiana University), Lafayette (Purdue University), Indianapolis and numerous small towns along the way.
A Memorial was just dedicated to the workers at the Monon Shops in Lafayette.
Photos may be found on my Railroads of Madison County web site at:
http://madisonrails.railfan.net/photo2004.html
and on the Monon Historical Society site at:
http://www.monon.org/smdedication.html
l
The Indiana Magazing of History has had many, many articles over the years on the origin of “hoosier.” If you’re interested, see the site for the magazine:
http://www.indiana.edu/~imaghist/index.html
One example of a fairly recent article is Piersen, William D., “The Origin of the Word ‘Hoosier’: A New Interpretation,” Indiana Magazine of History (1995): 189-196.
The way I always heard it was that people from Kentucky would always ask “Who’s yer Daddy?” when they met someone from Indiana, under the mistaken notion that we too were in-breeds. Don’t know if it’s true, just what I heard…
You know wut hoosiers say: “why did they build all the bridges across the Ohio? So the Kentuckians could swim across in the shade.”
Bad, bad, bad, I know. But that’s typical Hoosier humor. Though we know that Kentucky always seems to win the bball games. [:D]
Another neat thing about the Monon was they painted their engines in the colors of Purdue University AND Indiana University. They took pride in being called the Hoosier Line.
As another native Hoosier (now transplanted), I’m not so sure. Our neighbors (you know who you are!!) tend to use it as a slur. “What a Hoosier!” I think most of the pride in the name resides around Bloomington.[;)]
One thing on which Hoosiers can agree is that the Monon was a neat railroad.
“Hoosier by birth, Boilermaker by the grace of God”
Ort007
Hey, what happened to the Boilers this season? They are starting to look like the Hoosiers? [:D]
Yea, the ‘Ole Oaken Bucket’ game ought to be quiet a struggle this year.[xx(]
At least the Purdue has a cool mascot for railfans/model railroaders. I wonder if anyone has every produced a scale model of the Boilermaker Special?
Cheers,
Ort007