Understanding Hoosier Culture 101

* Know the state casserole.*
The state casserole consists of canned green beans, Campbell's cream ofmushroom soup and dried onions. You can take this casserole to any social event and know you'll be accepted.

* Get used to food festivals.*
The Indiana General Assembly, in an effort to grow bigger athletes, passed legislation years ago requiring every incorporated community to have atleast one festival per year dedicated to a high-fat food. It's your duty as a Hoosier to attend these festivals and buy at least one elephant ear.

* Know the geography.*
Of Florida, that is. There are Hoosiers who couldn't tell you where Evansville is but they know the exact distance from Fort Myers to
Bonita Springs. That's because all Hoosiers go to Florida in the winter. Or plan to when they retire. Or are related to retired Hoosiers who have a place in Sarasota. Hoosiers consider Florida the Lower Peninsula of Indiana. If you can't afford to spend the winter in Florida, use the state excuse ... you stay here because you enjoy the change of season. You'll be lying, but that's OK. We've all done it.


* Speaking of Indiana weather, wear layers or die.*
The thing to remember about Indiana seasons is they can occur at any time. We have spring-like days in January and wintery weekends in October. April is capable of providing a sampling of all four seasons in a single 24-hour period. For these reasons, Indiana is the Layering Capital of the World. Even layering can pose danger. Golfers have been known to dress for hypothermia and end up dead of heat stroke because they couldn't strip off the layers of plaid fast enough on a changeable spring morning.

* Don't take Indiana place names literally.*
If a town has the same name as a foreign city--Valparaiso and Versailles, for example--you must not pronounce them the way foreigners do, lest you come under suspicion as a spy. Also, East Enterprise has no counterpart on the west side of the state. South Bend is in the north. North Vernon is in the south and French Lick isn't what you think, either.

* Become mulch literate.*
Hoosiers love mulch and appreciate its subtle differences. Learn the difference between hardwood, cypress and pine bark at least. Researchers think the state affinity for mulch derives from its relatively flat terrain. People have a subconscious need for topography, and when it can't be supplied naturally, they're more likely to make little mulch hills in their front yards.

* You gotta know sports.*
In order to talk sports with fans in Indiana, you have to be knowledgeable on threelevels--professional, college and high school. The Indiana sports fan knows not only the name of the hotshot center at Abercrombie and Fitch High School, but also what colleges he's interested in, how much he bench-presses, who he took to the prom, and what he got on his biology quiz last week.

* Remember that Hoosiers are never first to embrace trends.*
When they do embrace them, they do so with Midwestern pragmatism. For example, if you see a Hoosier with a nose ring, there's a good chance he's had it undercoated to guard against rust.

*The best way to sell something in Indiana is to attach the term "Amish" to it.* The product need not be genuinely Amish. This would explain the existence of Amish moo shu pork.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM INDIANA WHEN:
* You think the state Bird is Larry.
* You can say "French Lick" without laughing.
* There's a college near you named "Ball State."
* You know Batesville is the casket-making capital of the world and you're proud of it.
* You could never figure out spring ahead-fall back, so screw Daylight Savings Time!
* Your feelings get hurt when someone points out the acronym for Purdue University is PU.
* You know several people who've hit a deer.
* Down south to you means "Kentucky".
* You have no problem spelling or pronouncing Terre Haute.
* Your school classes were canceled because of cold.
* Your school classes were canceled because of heat.
* You know what the phrase "knee-high by the 4th of July" means.
* You've heard of Euchre, you know how to play Euchre, and you are a master of Euchre.
* You've seen a running car with nobody in it in the parking lot of the grocery store, no matter what time of year it is.
* Detassling was your first job. Bailing hay, your second. Or you could stack hay, swim in the pond to clean off and then have the strength to play a couple of games of hoops, all in the same barn lot on the same day.
* You say things like cattywampus and kittycorner and know what they mean.
* You install security lights on your house and garage, then leave them both unlocked.
* You carry jumper cables in your car.
* You drink pop. You catch frogs at the crick. If you want someone to hear you, you holler at 'em.
* You know that baling wire was the predecessor to duct tape.
* You know that strangers are the only ones who come to your front door.
* Kids and dogs ride in the passenger seats of cars and the backs of pickups.
* You think nothing of driving on the roads and being stuck behind a farmimplement in spring and fall. You just hope it's not a hog truck or a manure spreader.
* High school basketball games draw bigger crowds on the weekend than movie theaters.
* Driving is better in winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
* The local paper covers national and international headlines on one page but requires six for local sports.
* You can repeat the scores of the last eight NBA games, but unless the MVP is a Hoosier, you're not sure who he is.
* You can see at least two basketball hoops from your yard.
* You can name every one of Bobby Knight's exploits over the last few years.
* The biggest question of your youth was IU or Purdue.
* Indianapolis is the BIG CITY.
* Getting stuck by a train is a legitimate excuse for being late to school or work.
* Everyone knows who the town cops are, where they live, and whether they're at home or on duty.
* You've been to the Covered Bridge Festival. And you took back roads to get there. Why sit in traffic?
* To you, tenderloin is not an expensive cut of beef, but a big, salty, breaded, fried piece of pork served on a bun.
* You end your sentences with prepositions, as in "Where's it at?" or "Where's he going to?"

If you're a Hoosier or have Hoosier roots you'll have found everything mentioned perfectly normal.

Dave Oesterreich, reporting from Indianapolis