Venue July 15th- Indiana Grand

[RUFFIAN]

If any of you ever wondered what HOOSIER means ~ I Have

It comes from the word Hoosa, which means American Indian maize or corn.

Hoosier’s Men was a term used for Indiana employees of a canal contractor named Hoosier.

“Who’s ear?” – Writer James Whitcomb Riley joked that this question,

supposedly posed by early Indiana settlers following tavern fights which had resulted in someone’s ear being cut off and left on the floor, eventually became the word “Hoosier."

“Who’s yer/here?” –
This was supposedly the way early Indiana settlers would respond to a knock on their cabin doors.

The story goes that it was eventually shortened to “Hoosier?”

“Who’s your [relative]?” –
Again, legend has it that this question was eventually shortened to “Hoosier