9 Things Hoosiers Say That the Rest of the Midwest Doesn’t
You say something perfectly normal at a get-together, and an out-of-state friend asks what it means.
Some of what Hoosiers say doesn’t mean much a state or two away.
Here’s the vocabulary that can give away an Indiana upbringing, and where a few of those words came from.
1. The Region
The Region is a nickname for Northwest Indiana, according to the Purdue University Northwest archives.
It’s a short name for a big area.
The Kankakee Marsh to the south initially cut the area off from the rest of Indiana.
You can ask a friend from the Region which county they mean.
Six counties fit that answer.
Which Counties Make Up the Region?
Hoosiers who say the Region mean these counties: Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, Jasper and Starke.
Much of the area sits on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, so it’s sometimes called the “South Shore.”
2. Sweeper
Sweeper, as a word for a vacuum cleaner, stuck around primarily in northern Indiana and a few other places, according to the hosts of Wayword Radio.
A neighbor in northern Indiana who asks you to run the sweeper is asking for the vacuum cleaner.
It’s the same machine.
3. Pitch-In
Pitch-in is the Hoosier version of a potluck, according to a 2022 Indiana Connection article.
Illinois calls it a scramble.
If you’re invited to a pitch-in, you’re bringing a dish to share.
Bring something.
4. Semi-State
In the Indiana high school boys basketball tournament, semi-state is the third round, after sectionals and regionals.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association held the 2026 regionals on March 14, the semi-states on March 21 and the state finals on March 28.
Go to a semi-state game, and you’re watching the third round.
Psst! How much do you know about Indiana’s words? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Hoosier Word IQ
Answer these questions on Indiana’s words and where they come from. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
In 1907, a department store janitor named James Spangler built one of the first portable electric vacuum cleaners in which Ohio city?
5. Right Smart
A 1905 article in the Indiana Magazine of History said right smart was used generally in central and southern Indiana and rarely met with farther north.
Merriam-Webster defines the noun as a good deal and labels it South and Midland.
The adjective, labeled chiefly Midland, means considerable.
The article's example is a right smart chance of corn.
If you read it as a good deal, that's a lot of corn.
6. Valpo
Valparaiso is colloquially known as Valpo, according to a 2022 Language Log post.
Valparaiso University uses the short form too.
It describes itself as prominently located in Northwest Indiana, the same corner as the Region.
If you hear somebody say they're from Valpo, you know where to look on the map.
7. Hoosier Banana
Hoosier banana is a nickname for the pawpaw, according to Purdue horticulture.
The name is probably used only by Hoosiers.
The fruit tastes somewhat like a banana, though others have described the flavor as similar to mango.
The pawpaw is native to the eastern and central United States, with the heart of its territory in the Ohio Valley.
A Hoosier banana is a pawpaw, not a banana from the produce aisle.
If you want to find one, the harvest usually comes in late September or October.
Look for it in fall.
8. Hoosier Hysteria
The Indiana Historical Bureau says the excitement around basketball later earned the moniker Hoosier Hysteria.
The name ties to the Franklin Wonder Five, a high school team that won three consecutive state championships.
Franklin beat Anderson 35-22 in the 1921 title game, with more than 10,000 fans at the Coliseum.
If you picture 10,000 people packed into the Coliseum for a high school game, you've got the idea.
9. Hoosier
Hoosier has an uncertain origin, according to the Indiana Historical Bureau.
If you've ever wondered where the word came from, you're in good company.
The earliest known printed instance ran in a Vincennes Gazette letter to the editor on Feb. 19, 1831.
It came eight days after a Feb. 11, 1831 letter to Gen. John Tipton that named a steamboat the Indiana Hoosier.
Neither writer explained the word, so it's safe to assume people were using it locally before 1831.
Psst! How many of these Indiana words have you said? Run through this checklist and see where you stand.
Where the Words Overlap
Sweeper also shows up outside Indiana, according to Wayword Radio, which places it in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
The pawpaw has other nicknames as well, including the Michigan banana and the Kentucky banana.
If you've heard sweeper in Ohio, you're not imagining it.
The 1905 Caveat
If you're hunting for words only one state uses, a 1905 article in the Indiana Magazine of History has a caveat.
The article is titled "Folk-Speech in Indiana."
They couldn't find a single expression they'd call confined to Indiana alone.
Some of its examples, such as passel and juberous, might still sound familiar to you.
The editor added that teachers and newspapers had changed how people spoke.
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