“I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs… frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me.
“I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.”
These words were spoken by Missouri’s U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver (bio), who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903. (1)
The phrase is now used to describe the character of Missourians; not gullible, conservative, and unwilling to believe without adequate evidence. (2)
The Missouri License plate also bears the unofficial nickname “Show Me State”:
