1. When It Comes To Basketball, Southern Hoosiers Are Seeing Red
It’s an understatement to say basketball has always been a big deal in Southern Indiana. While there are several great basketball teams in the state, those in Southern Indiana will be cheering for the Hoosiers every day of the week, starting every season with the hope that a sixth championship banner will hang high in Assembly Hall.
2. Southern Hoosiers Are Crazy For Deep Fried Food
If at first you don’t succeed, throw it in the fryer. While it’s a guilty pleasure at times, every Southern Hoosier is secretly thinking “this would be better deep-fried” while they chow down on their favorite snack.
The evidence is easy to find, as a trip to the Evansville’s West Side Nut Club Fall Festival offers up hundreds of deep fried foods. You can feast on deep fried pizza, deep fried elephant ears, deep fried cookie dough a la mode, and deep fried Coca-Cola. With new crazy things tossed in the fryer every year, most Southern Hoosiers are fine trying anything at least once, as long as it’s been deep fried first.
3. If You Ask A Southern Hoosier Where They Live, Get Ready For A Geography Lesson
If you live in Southern Indiana, you’ve gotten used to people having no clue where you’re actually from. So now you instinctively add the “in the [insert larger city here] area” clause at the end of your hometown response.
Whether it’s “Decker in the Vincennes area” or “Newburgh, in the Evansville area,” you know that most people, especially those more than a few hours away, will have no clue what you’re saying without the extra clarification.
4. Everyone in Southern Indiana Knows At Least One Person With A Tractor (And They May Have Even Driven It To School)
Even in the larger cities, every Southern Hoosier knows someone that lives out on a farm, probably with a few tractors and four-wheelers locked up in their barn. Sure, everyone in Southern Indiana might not have a green thumb, but whether they like it or not, there’s a reason their part of the world is accurately depicted as farmland by any out-of-towner.
5. In Southern Indiana, Cheap Beer Reigns Supreme
In Southern Indiana, most people prefer to drink the cheap stuff, meaning anything with the word “light” after the name. If you ask “What’s on tap?” in most small town bars, you’ll get the same answers regardless of where you are in the region: Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite.
While the rest of the country seems to be hopping on the craft brewery trend, Southern Indiana prefers something they can sip all day long.
6. To Folks In South Indiana Sprite Is Coke, Dr. Pepper Is Coke, Pepsi Is Coke…. You Get The Picture
If it’s got carbonation and sugar in it, in Southern Indiana, it’s not soda or pop, it’s a coke. This means the serve staff at restaurants will always ask the follow-up question of “what type of coke do you want?” when someone places their order.
7. Southern Hoosiers Judge Others Based On Where They Went To High School
Southern Hoosiers take high school sports more seriously than anywhere else in the country, as lots of people base who their friends are on whether or not they went to the right school, students and young adults alike.
Every high school in Indiana has a reputation, whether it’s being rich “cake-eaters,” the country farmers, or the school from the big city. The home team will always make sure their opponent knows they’re in their house.
8. Southern Hoosiers Wash Their Grippos Down With Ski
When someone from Southern Indiana relocates, there are two things they’ll crave with a passion, Grippos barbecue chips and the refreshing citrus snap of Ski.
It might have something to do with the way the chips are spicy but sweet, chewy but crunchy—you know they have to be good when they’re shipped to out-of-state customers by the pound. The same goes for Ski. Because any Southern Hoosier will agree, nothing beats a snack of Grippos and Ski on a hot summer day.
9. Southern Hoosiers Are Experts At Dodging And Weaving Around Would-Be Road Kill
If someone grew up in Southern Indiana, there’s a good chance they’re professionals at dodging things on the road. Whether it’s a deer or an opossum, day or night, you can expect a Southern Hoosier to instinctively swerve to miss whatever is in their path without breaking conversation or even batting an eye.
10. In Southern Indiana If It Burns, It Goes In The Bonfire
There seems to be a bonfire policy in Indiana, “everything that can burn gets tossed in.” Southern Hoosiers grew up throwing bonfire parties in cornfields and they all have their own tricks to make the fire roar. It’s not uncommon to see anything from firewood to couches to cars in a Hoosier’s bonfire, which is sure to be filled with beer cans in the morning after the party dies down.
11. Southern Hoosiers Prefer To Keep It Casual
While every Southern Hoosier has a few nice shirts for special occasions, most of the time they’ll be seen rocking jeans and a t-shirt. This laid back atmosphere is something that anyone who leaves Southern Indiana will long to get back to. Because in Southern Indiana things are simpler, the people are nicer, and everything moves just a little bit slower.
Feature Image Source: Flickr user Alex Maldonado photos
Did we miss anything? Tell us what you think of Southern Indiana in the comments below! 
