Monday, August 18, 2014

Origin of the Name 'Sooner State'

Oklahoma is the Sooner State. Now what caused this nickname to come about?

There's the Official Version. According to this, there were a series of land rushes when Oklahoma Territory was settled. Some people did not play by the rules, but sneaked past the starting line early in order to get the best locations for their land claims.

In short, the state nickname enshrines people who cheat in land rushes.

But there's an Unofficial Version. When the territory was first settled, the settlement camps drew large numbers of prostitutes who had a large clientile. There was one amazing fact that these daring doxies discovered: the settlers were so excited to see them that they had hair trigger problems. Because of this, they could turn over more business per night than they otherwise could! They were able to turn a healthy profit because of this regional peculiarity among the males.  The state was named after a quaint 1890's term for a male sexual problem: premature ejaculation.

And because they finished so much sooner, the state became known as the Sooner State.

Which version do you prefer?

6 comments:

  1. I heard the first story before, I rekkon that's the true one!

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  2. I prefer not to live in Oklahoma. It might be catching.

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  3. Oh, my....I'll go for the first one. The second sounds like a lot of folk lore!

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  4. I think the first one is correct, but I like the second better. It's the one I'm going to send to my friend who is a die-hard Oklahoma U fan.

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  5. ha - hair trigger, that's funny.

    I'd have to go with the first version - the second one sounds more like it belongs in new zealand than the us.

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