Apologize if this is a repost, but a former Hoosier (my Dad) e-mailed this to me today and I found it funny enough to share. I just can't believe there's nothing in it about morel hunting.

GUIDELINES FOR UNDERSTANDING "THE HOOSIER CULTURE"
1. Know the state casserole. The state casserole consists of canned green
beans, Campbell 's cream of mushroom soup, and dried onions. You can safely take this casserole to any social event and know that you will be accepted. [This is not exclusively an Indiana thing, by the way.]
2. 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 at least one festival per year dedicated to a
high-fat food. It is your duty as a Hoosier to attend these festivals and
buy at least one elephant ear.
3. 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 to be the Lower
Peninsula of Indiana. If you can't afford to spend the winter in Florida ,
use the state excuse .. which is that you stay here because you enjoy the
change of season. You'll be lying, but that's OK. We've all done it.
4. Speaking of Indiana weather, wear layers or die. The thing to remember
about Indiana seasons is that they can occur at anytime. We have spring-like
days in January and wintry 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,
however, can pose danger. Golfers have been known to dress for hypothermia and end up dead of heat stroke because they couldn't strip off their layers of plaid fast enough on a changeable spring morning.
5. 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 the 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.
6. Become mulch literate. Hoosiers love mulch and appreciate its subtle
differences. Learn the difference between hardwood, cypress and pine bark at a minimum. 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 are more likely to make little
mulch hillocks in their front yards. (It's great for Impatiens!)
7. You gotta know sports. In order to talk sports with obsessive fans in
Indiana , you have to be knowledgeable on the three levels -- professional,
college and high school. The truly expert Indiana sports fan knows not only
the name of the hotshot center at Richmond 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.
8. Remember that Hoosiers are never the first to embrace trends. When they
do embrace them, they do so with a 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.
9. 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.

This one isn't as good but drew a few smiles:

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM INDIANA WHEN:
You think the state Bird is Larry.
You can say "French Lick" without laughing out loud.
There's actually 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 forward-fall back, so screw Daylight
Savings Time!
Your feelings get hurt whenever someone points out the acronym for Purdue
University is PU.
You know several people who have 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 Fourth 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 catty-wampus and kitty corner 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 regularly.
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 farm
implement 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, IF you have a movie theater.
Driving is better in the 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 are 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 with pickle and onion.
You end your sentences with prepositions, as in "Where's it at?" or
"Where's he going to?"

You end your sentences with prepositions, as in "Where's it at?" or
"Where's he going to?"


Very funny Otis, but if I ended my Hoosier sentences with prepositions, my dead high school English teachers in Anderson would turn over in their graves. Actually, the last sentence would be, "Where's he goin'?" Hoosiers drop the last g.

Zoe

This is hilarious, and it also made me a little homesick. :)

I saw this article about the time I was replanted on Hoosier soil. Rather than "culture" I call it Hoosier nostalgia. I should have known all these items, but some never made into our home. Dad has always been a Hoosier, Mom "show-me" Stater.

Social events were, and are, important to rural communities. You met your neighbors to raise barns and raise money to build churches and schoolhouses. These were BIG events. Your participation was expected. Nowadays, you just pay taxes and let someone build it.

I experienced my first belt-bustin' pork tenderloin only 6 years ago. Mom NEVER fixed these for us. They are mighty tasty when done right, but there is no law that says you have to finish it. DH had one for lunch every Saturday as a kid. I've never had an elephant ear either ... bad Hoosier.

As a kid, I thought Larry Bird had it rough. He came from French Lick and he looked goofy to me.

We do like our mulch! And none of that color-enhanced stuff you see.

Absolutely true about high school sports. But the fever isn't what it used to be when there was just one State Basketball Champion. The social event(s) of the week always included attending Friday and Saturday night games. Many older folks had season, reserved tickets for football and basketball. Now you are lucky to fill the gyms with the class system. It's been a while so I don't know the hotshot center from Richmond High School. But I'm sure everyone still knows what school he's going to attend next year, who his girlfriend is, what his GPA is and what he ate for lunch and who sat at his table. That hasn't changed!

The first I heard of morel hunting was through letterboxing.

I saw a wall poster with Kurt Vonnegut's words ... (forgive me for not getting it exactly) ... "You will find Hoosiers everywhere in the world doing something very important."