- For the musical, see Oklahoma!. For the musical 1955 film, see Oklahoma (1955 film)
Oklahoma is the 20th most extensive and the 28th most populous of the 50 United States. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people". It is also known informally by its nickname, The Sooner State, in reference to the non-Native settlers who staked their claims on the choicest pieces of land prior to the official opening date, and the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889, which opened the door for white settlement in North America's Indian Territory. Its residents are often called Okies or Oklahomans.
Quotes
- Oklahoma is nothing but vast wasteland; no place for black people... The Oklahoma Sooners and the Hornets are the only brothers in town.
- Charles Barkley, as quoted in "Barkley: Oklahoma a vast wasteland" (10 February 2006), by Andrew Gilman, The Oklahoman
- You can call me what you want to
But Okie is okay with me.- Zeke Clements, Oklahoma Blues.
- Going home to Oklahoma.
Yes I am.
Here's my train coming now
I homeward bound.
Yes, I'm going home today
And I expect to stay.- Spade Cooley, All Aboard for Oklahoma.
- Oh, howl away you wild coyote,
I hear your sad, your lonesome song.
It's calling me to Oklahoma
Back to those hills where I belong.- Jack Guthrie and Woody Guthrie, Oklahoma's Calling.
- Let me hear a coyote howl,
Or a lonesome hound dog bay.
Back to the heart of those lonesome hills
I'm gonna be some day.
For Oklahoma I'm yearning.- Jack Guthrie and Wava White, For Oklahoma, I'm Yearning.
- I'm gona settle down
When I reach that city fair.
I'm homeward bound
And I Know I'll soom be there
Where tall corn grows,
And the black oil flows,
In old O-K-L-A.- Jimmie Hall and Leon McAuliffe, Tulsa Straight Ahead.
- I don't believe I ever saw an Oklahoman who wouldn't fight at the drop of a hat — and frequently drop the hat himself.
- Robert E. Howard in a letter to H. P. Lovecraft, July 13, 1932.
- I want to go back to Oklahoma.
I'm happy there
Living next to the soil.- Billy Hughes, Next to the Soil.
- And now I'd like to settle down,
In Oklahoma in my home town.- Leodie Jackson, Ramblin' Okie.
- But the sun in California
Doen't shine one half as bright
As the one Oklahoma,
So I'm startin' back tonight.- Merl Lindsay, Lonesome Okie Goin' Home.
- Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
And the wavin' wheat, can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.Oklahoma, ev'ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk, and watch a hawk
Makin' lazy circles in the sky.We know we belong to the land,
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say
Yeeow! A-yip-i-o-e-ay!
We're only sayin'
You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!
- Got my ticket in my hand
Gonna cross a lot of sand.
Oklahoma here I come!- Paul Westmoreland, Oklahoma Bound.
- Bought a round-trip ride today,
Throwed the come-back part away.
Oklahoma's dear to me.- Paul Westmoreland, Oklahoma Bound.
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