Comments on: American Nicknames Part 2: Hoosier

By: Randall Hooser

Randall Hooser — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:14:19 +0000

And Dixie while you are not at fault, I do believe you are captured by Indiana’s version of the “Stockholm Syndrome”. You might look to Indiana’s historians to find relief over your moniker. However regardless of the modern day taunts like “HOOSIER_Daddy” and Dave Berry’s piece on the “Stupidest State Moniker — A Hoosier”, your state hisotrians will not tell what they know to be true only because of the embarrassment it will bring. 187 years of folly and parlor games over simple family name Anglicization of the Hauser family (read Hoosier).. In 1911 / 1912 Jacob P Dunn’s work was so significantly flawed and today even James Madison the so called current Indiana expert proclaims his academic drivel that “Indiana may never know”. Translation: the “Hoosier” historians have STOPPED looking. Period. And my response to these same “Hoosier Historians” is: Please use the original definition of “Hoosier” about the state sponsored effort to date over your moniker. At the very least Dixie, a responsible group of academics would PROVE Dr. Liberman’s endorsement and my research to be wrong. In fact they would indeed do the same for each and every moniker on their list. Words like the Indian word for corn or “Hooza” — simply does not exist anywhere. “Hoozer” cannot be found in a modern Cumberland of England dictionary or an Oxford English one. While James Whitcomb Riley is funny — no one believes his “WHOSE EAR” contribution. So when does Indiana get serious? Now that is the real question.

By: Dixie Richardson

Dixie Richardson — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 20:50:50 +0000

I am a Hoosier and feel the true origin is probably lost forever. I am interested in the evolution of names and notice lately that people in southwestern Indiana are now
saying “hilljack,” instead of hillbilly. These terms have to start someplace by someone but who?

By: OUPblog » Blog Archive » Monthly Gleanings: July 2010

OUPblog » Blog Archive » Monthly Gleanings: July 2010 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:33:36 +0000

[...] Almost exactly two years ago, on July 30, 2008, I posted an essay on the origin of the nickname Hoosier. In it I expressed my cautious support of R. Hooser, who [...]

By: Rolland K Hauser

Rolland K Hauser — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:19:56 +0000

Thank you, Professor Liberman, for making R. Hooser’s 1999 article part of the debate over the origin of the nickname “Hoosier.” His idea deserves to be one of the theories which is seriously considered by the historians of the state of Indiana. I can provide census and family history evidence which shows that Hauser family members whose migration to Marshall County, Iowa, in the 1900 – 1930 time frame (from Forsyth, Davie, and Yadkin Counties, North Carolina, via Owen and Bartholomew Counties, Indiana) pronounced their family surname on their arrival as Hoosier. Keep us posted on the ensuing debate, won’t you?

By: Randall Hooser

Randall Hooser — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:34:27 +0000

Professor Liberman, Yesterday I emailed you The “BerlitzKrieg”
The German War of Words From America’s 2nd Great Awakening
– The Beginning of “Hoosier” — By Randall Hooser

Berlitz, as you know is a famous language school in Europe and lesser so here in the US. Thus I fashioned “Berlitzkrieg” as a play on “Blitz krieg” emphasizing Germanic conflict in language not warfare.

In that article – published first in 2004 and again in 2009 by Owen County Indiana Historical Society, you will see how the moniker is applied to all of Indiana. John Finley himself plays a key role. He needed a word that meant ill-mannered because he was about to do battle with Fannie Trollope (A British “Mrs Manners”) and to a lesser degree with Basil Hall. He blasts both in his poem “The Hoosier’s Nest”. John W. Davis finishes the hat-trick (Berlitzkrieg, The Hoosier’s Nest”, a statewide toast) when at a state dinner, Mr. Davis dubs his glass in toast to honor John Finley’s work – “The Hoosiers of Indiana”.

The German nature of Wachovia also plays an important role here. The simple truth is that the Moravians much like the Amish or Mennonites did their level best to maintain speaking German in “Wachovia” NC. All towns and villages would do so until around 1850 when all vestiges of the language German departed from Wachovia. The Hoosier beginnings, the Hoosier slur development – everything is shrouded in this timeframe and the German language up to 1850. IU scholars, should they care must descend on the Moravian Archives in North Carolina especially Old Salem, and Bethania (“Hoosiertown”) and unearth these German antiquities/holdings if they have not been destroyed already. If IU or Indiana would just retrace their steps back to North Carolina – the Shakers in Kentucky, the Appalachian region (home to the “sier” in “Hoosier” and Frazier”) and a few top notch Swiss / German translators like members of the Indiana German Heritage Society – founded by the Eberhardt & Ruth Reichmann they will find their “Eureka” moment.

I believe the absolute proof positive can be linguistically unearthed in those holdings. Simple German translation will NOT be enough. I am sure you are quite aware of the German language path to modernity that High German pursued starting in the late 1800’s under Bismarck. Our Swiss / German translators must dial back another 100 years or so to be effective in this pursuit. The Hoosier moniker out of North Carolina begins to shroud itself in 1850, when Wachovia transitioned from German to English. In 1850, not even the Germans had adopted HIGH German. So please NO HOCH DEUTSCH!!

I say linguists and etymologists everywhere unite under the PURSUIT of the real etymon of “HOOSIER” because in all honesty the “Hoosier” Historians have botched this for over 177 years. Enough is enough.

By: Randall Hooser

Randall Hooser — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:14:53 +0000

Mr. Liberman, as a senior systems engineer working in missile defense, I confess I am not a linguist nor a historian. Therefore in the “battleground of etymology” my moniker of “rocket scientist” may not apply. However I appreciate your defense of my work because one discipline that I have garnered in 27 years of missile defense is the ability to do research. I would be honored to share with you much of that raw research data to which I formed my conclusions. I may not win the politics of Indiana’s beloved parlor game — but no one (please take my challenge), I repeat no one can disprove any aspect of my published work so far. Every “ill – mannered” Hooser historical thread, every “botched” Hooser reaction – and every “awkward” Hooser religious encounter has been researched and documented in multiple ways. If the Indiana historical class would only delve into this work, they might find that I too might be worthy of “Hoosier” Historian status. Email me if and when you decide to “chip away at this CHESTNUT”.

With Highest Hoosier Regards
Randy Hooser Author of “Burned Into Memory — The Hoosiers to Indiana”, “Migration, Ministry and a Moniker”, and “The Nickname Hoosier and its Ethnohistoric Background”

By: Monthly Gleanings: January 2010 : OUPblog

Monthly Gleanings: January 2010 : OUPblog — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:55:53 +0000

[...] See my post from July 30, 2008. I received a poem written by a man from the state of Mississippi some time [...]

By: j. vanhoosier

j. vanhoosier — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:00:39 +0000

my last name is vanhoosier the name was changed many times since our family can to new york in the middle 1600 . we moved from there to pa. to n.c. to montgomery co va. moved to tenn. to ky. on into southren indiana in the early to middle 1800 .there were hoosers not related vanhoozers-vanhoosiers-vanhooser all related .they were early enough to be the first hoosiers.crawford perry and a couple other counties in in..davies and more counties in ky. we were in va. in1777 and earlier