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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
A Simple Act of Genuine Concern
2
4 Steps to Setting Better Goals With Your Children
2
Everything You Need to Know About Cargo Spills
3
The Case of the $54 Million Pants
3
Deep-Fried New Year’s ‘Cookies’
4
Why Is Missouri the Show Me State?
print during the 1890s as a colloquialism to refer to Missourians, but its original meaning is up for debate. One story holds that the phrase is connected to free railroad passes issued in 1897. Missouri legislators and their families received hundreds of free train fares. When boarding the train with the complimentary ticket, the conductor would insist, according to proponents of this explanation, “You’ve got to show me.” Another version of the phrase’s roots traces to 1898, during the Spanish- American War. All of the guards at a base in Tennessee were from St. Louis, and they were required to check passes before anyone could leave the site. Before allowing anyone to exit, they would allegedly demand, “Show me your pass.” Others hold that the “show me” moniker has more derogatory beginnings, referring to Missouri workers who migrated to Colorado as strikebreakers.
Being unfamiliar with the local mining methods, they required additional instruction. Bosses would introduce new workers by explaining they were from Missouri and stating, “You’ll have to show them.” But the most likely and commonly accepted explanation maintains that the phrase originated with Missouri U.S. Representative Willard Duncan Vandiver during a speech made in 1899. “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me,” he said. “I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.” Though he may have been using an existing idiom, Vandiver does appear to have launched it to national prominence. Whatever its origins, the Show Me State nickname has stuck around because it resonates with the reputation of Missourians as resolute and rational people. The unusual name is just one of many things that makes the state unique.
Jan. 4 has been declared National Missouri Day, celebrating the entrance of the nation’s 24th state to the union. All states have nicknames, some more famous than others. But perhaps none is as memorable and enigmatic as Missouri’s moniker of the Show Me State. Though the nickname is all about requiring proof, its origins are murky. The phrase first began appearing in CELEBRATING NATIONAL MISSOURI DAY With a History of the Show Me State
Practicing in Missouri and Illinois
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