h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Hillbilly - What It Means, When (Not) to Say It - A87774871
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni (GE, Post Editor), Not here the darkness, in this twittering world - U1590784

Ask is inspirational. Somebody got talking about the etymology of the term 'hillbilly', and so I went a-huntin', as my grandfather would have said. This is what I found, so I tied it into a history lesson about the home folks.

Let me know if anything doesn't make sense to an outsider.

Hi Dmitri;
Good subject,

One or two minor suggestions

When you talk about the major migration into the southern Appalachians, I believe a brief mention of the 'Whiskey Rebellion' would not be out of place. How much influence it had on emigration I leave at your discretion, but it is a commonly held belief that this had a large influence on people moving south.

I would also like to see a brief mention of the 'Beverly-Hillbillies' comedy of the 1960's as I recall there was a great deal of concern from the sponsors that the premise would offend potential viewers, and customers, living in the hills.



FS

Interesting one. It has lots of little links to other related subjects that you could include - so many that knowing where to stop would be the issue! So I wouldn't suggest adding anything more, really. You've struck it about right.

I've come across the "King Billy" etymology before, but like you I have my doubts. It just seems a bit contrived. I suspect "hillbilly" came about simply because, well, "Bill" *rhymes* with "hill".

I like the rhyming hypothesis, KB.

FS, as the migration down the Great Wagon Road was largely a colonial phenomenon at its flood about 1765-1775, I don't think the Whiskey Rebellion had much to do with it.

I'd be more inclined to put the Whiskey Rebellion into a discussion of Pittsburgh history - along with the Hot Water Rebellion and other wonders.

I don't want to get into an elaborate discussion of entertainment - as KB points out, that's a whole 'nother subject. As to the Beverly Hillbillies - as you said, it may have bothered some people. Nashville musicians, however, loved it, as did everybody in my family, mountain and Memphis.

The real break-through, though, was Hee-Haw. Baptist churches changed their Sunday evening hours so we could go home and watch it. We felt rather patriotic about that show.

Nice one, Dmitri!

Thank you for this article.

I've sometimes wondered what a hillbilly was. Partly because my town is called Burgess Hill, and I saw a pejorative reference to 'Burgess Hillbillies' who went down to Brighton, got drunk and made a made a nuisance of themselves. Not guilty, of course. There was a local group of that name, too.

As usual, you've made the history both clear and entertaining.

Thanks, MVP. I'm imagining these Burgess Hillbillies...

Nice entry
I was reading a book of berber folk tales from western Sahara for my book group, and there was a word which the translator had translated as 'hill billy'. A footnote told me the literal translation was mountain man, but as they were thought of as backward by the desert tribes who wrote these folk tales, he had thought hillbilly a more apt translation'.

I imagined an appalcian at a Berber feast! .

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005WQPE80/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Z, your story reminded me of a US TV commercial a few years back.

They were trying to get people here to eat couscous. I don't know if it worked, but the girl saying dismissively to her brother, 'You are SUCH a couch couscous,' is seared in my memory.

They'd probably try to get them to trade for grits.

Excellent as always Dmitri


wonder if this might be better as:

Good thought! Thank you.

On hillbilly culture, (one of my grandfathers was born in the town of Ozark, the other in the state of Missouri) especially with the Ozark subculture, many of the popular folktales are derived from the same oral tradition Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" is rooted in, though some have also African and Native American roots.

http://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/ozarkswatch/ow904d.htm

Lots of folktales out there. In North Carolina, they have organised storytelling, and even give out prizes. Here's an award-winning storyteller:

http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/collateral/articles/S02.me.and.jack.tales.pdf

If you're a folklorist, or familiar with British folktales, you'll recognise this as a version of 'The Brave Little Tailor'. That tale is hundreds of years old, but it gets an Appalachian refurbishing here.

In terms of the word redneck: The soil in central Georgia (the US State) is red. Farmers working up a sweat in the Georgia fields might get red necks from working in the fields. I think the earliest usage of the term referred to Georgia rednecks, it was only later that the term was expanded to include dumb farmers everywhere. Commedienne Jeff Foxworthy had a lot to do with that with his series "You might be a redneck if..."

It's a possibility, Shagbark, but only one. As a philologist, I'm really wary of folk etymologies...if I weren't, the ghosts of the Grimm Brothers would haunt me...

It could be sunburn and farmer tans. It could be clay, who knows? It wasn't the fault of William of Orange, though...

I think we are agreed on that.

As to Jeff foxworthy check out http://www.countryhumor.com/redneck/mightbe.htm

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