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From the archives: The term "Okie" – is it an insult?
Published: 8/29/2011 8:18 PM
Last Modified: 8/29/2011 8:18 PM

From Monday's Twitter feed came this tweet from SuperFanHD (a guy named Brian, an Oklahoma City resident and OSU fan): "Surely I can't be the only Oklahoman who absolutely hates being called an 'okie.' . . . I hate (the term) Okie State the most."

In a September 2008 blog, I addressed the "Okie" issue:

In the discussion of Oklahoma State athletics, coaches and players from other Big 12 schools often refer to Oklahoma State as "Okie State." I have never heard anyone at OSU object to the word "Okie."

As someone who moved to Tulsa during the early '90s and probably will spend the rest of my life here, I regard the "O" word as being somewhat insulting. I have attended nearly 20 OU-Texas football games, and when Texans direct an "Okie" comment at a Sooner fan, it certainly isn't presented as a term of endearment. It is soaked with contempt.

In a July 2007 Tulsa World article commemorating Oklahoma's Centennial, staff writer Kevin Canfield quoted Tulsan David West as having said this of the word "Okie": "I think of it as a derogatory term. I think of it as a limited-minded, very conservative, Bible-Belt hick. Those are the things I associate with it."

Former Oklahoma Gov. David Hall was known to have detested the term "Okie." But even Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, an Oklahoma native who attended OSU, sometimes refers to Oklahoma State as "Okie State."

"Okie": is it or is it not an insult?

-- Bill Haisten

Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer



Reader Comments 5 Total
pnut (last year)
The origin of the word has a dual connotation. It can refer to the strength of the Oklahoma spirit of survival as captured in The Grapes of Wrath. It can also refer to uneducated migrant laborers. We're known as the Sooner state which means we've already embraced the history of cheating during the land run. Okie State or Okie Sooner. I'd prefer seeing "Oklahoma" in those names rather than "Okie".
SixGunSam (last year)
The term "Okie" or "Oakie" was a term coined by Californian's in the 1930's to label migrant farm workers that had fled the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma.

It was popularized in John Steinbeck's work, Grapes of Wrath.

In its original context, it was coined and used as a derogatory insult. Originally, it was no different in its nature than is the term "Wet-back" to describe Mexican migrant workers.

While there is little doubt that the term is now most often used outside of its original context and as one that thinks Political Correctness has exceeded all reasonable bounds, as a proud Oklahoman born and bred, I still find the term to be distasteful at minimum.

In addition to, the fact is, Oklahoma is not now populated by "Oakies" ("Okies") by definition. They all left the State.

The fact is, what were the "Oakies" ("Okies") are now most commonly referred to as "Californian's".

Of greatest irony, the referenced "Grapes of Wrath" migration raised the collective IQ's of both States (both Oklahoma and California).

In reality, it is the Cal Bear, the Stanford Cardinal, and/or the USC Trojan that should be referred to as "Okie", if any at all.
MexiMike (last year)
The only people who do not find this term offensive are the ones who have lived in Oklahoma (or close enough to the state) long enough that they've heard it so often that it has become casual.

I'm originally from the west coast and it is definitely used as a derogatory term. It carries the definition of a simple-minded hick and generalizes an entire populus.

As an OSU fan, I shudder every time a sportscenter anchor or other national media member says "Okie State."
raiford (last year)
Why do some national sportscasters refer to Oklahoma State as "Okie State" but do not refer to the team from Norman as "Okie U?"
AC!JC Poke Fans (last year)
As an Oklahoman my whole life, I can refer to myself as an Okie or my best pal as an Okie. However,I don't appreciate it when anybody else who is not from here calls me one though. It's like the other cultural words of race... when in doubt people shouldn't use it for the mere reason that they may place it improperly or make the wrong impression upon somebody. Yes, it can be insulting if expressed in the incorrect manner or directed at somebody with an emphasis upon insulting them. They have no idea how a person will "feel" when they are called an okie. There are similar insulting words, perhaps more insulting, for other races I do not need to list.
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OSU Sports

Tulsa World Sports Writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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Tulsa World Sports Writer Kelly Hines joined the World staff in September 2007. She grew up in the Oklahoma City area, was valedictorian at her high school and attended Oklahoma State University. She previously worked at The Oklahoman and KOTV and in the World's web and news departments.

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