Hoosier ( ) is the official demonym for a resident of the U.S. State of Indiana. Although residents of most U.S. states typically adopt a derivative of the state name, e.g., Indianan or Indianian, natives of Indiana never use these demonyms. In St. Louis, Missouri, the word is used in a derogatory fashion in similar context to "hick" or "white trash".J. Graf The Word Hoosier Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington The State of Indiana adopted the nickname "Hoosier State" more than 150 years ago. "Hoosiers" is also the mascot for the Indiana University athletic teams and the title of an award-winning 1986 movie Hoosiers starring Gene Hackman, based on the story of the Milan High School basketball team and its road to winning the state championship. The word Hoosier is sometimes used in the names of Indiana-based businesses. In the Indiana High School Athletic Association, seven active athletic conferences and one disbanded conference have the word Hoosier in their names, the conferences names are Hoosier Athletic, Hoosier Crossroads, Hoosier Heartland, Hoosier Heritage, Hoosier Hills, Mid-Hoosier, and Northeast Hoosier with Northwest Hoosier being the disbanded conference. In other parts of the country, the word has been adapted for other uses (see Other uses). “Hoosier” also refers to the cotton-stowers, both black and white, who moved cotton bales from docks to the holds of ships, forcing the bales in tightly by means of jackscrews. A low-status job, it nevertheless is referred to in various sea shanty lyrics. For example, Shanties from the Seven Seas includes lyrics that reference hoosiers.
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