[meteorite-list] Re: A Sign From Above (Sylacauga Meteorite)

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:17:38 2004
Message-ID: <3FCC365C.19CE84A4_at_bhil.com>

Hi,

    The term "hicks" refers to the inhabitants of Hicksville, New York, located on Long Island, which was once (a century ago) a totally rural environment. Hicksville, which is on the end of Long Island nearest to New York City, had its quiet rural
existence immortalized by George M. Cohan's long-ago hit song "Only 45 Minutes From Broadway." So, by extension, a "hick" has become a term for any inhabitant of a small town or rural area, wherever located.

    A "hillbilly," though more easily found in those Appalachian (and Ozarkian) states (and West Virginia and Missouri and western North Carolina, etc.), is essentially a cultural classification, so members of that group could be found anywhere. That
culture is nothing more or less than the general rural culture of the US in times past, now surviving only in mountainous enclaves. Eighty years ago, "hillbilly" would have applied to a much wider area of the South and parts of the Mid-West, and a
century and a half ago would have well described about half to two-thirds of the population of the US.

    And "redneck" is originally a term for a non-industrialized agricultural worker. As there are very few folks out hoeing cotton by hand these days, the term is widely applied in those areas where they used to be numerous (like Alabama). Although I
live in rural Illinois (not Alabama), there are plenty of folk about whose necks are literally red from a lifetime spent in farm fields before tractors had air conditioned cabs, GPS, laptop computers, stereos, and tinted glass. All those "rednecks"
would also be "hicks" by definition (non-urban populace) and some of them would be "hillbillies" too, although some would instead be German, Italian, Polish or "Bohemian" in cultural origin.

    The English article, of course, was not about hillbillies, hicks, or rednecks; it was about stereotypes. More exactly, the English version of stereotypes and is riddled with errors. Can you imagine an Alabama county that had only ONE frog-gigger?
The term "cattywampus" is dialectically wrong; it should be "cattywhumpus" or "cattywompus." Miz Hodges sez "As sure as grits is grits," when any fan of country music could tell you this expression should be in the form of a comparative, as: "If I doan
love you, then grits ain't groceries!"

    Perhaps somebody should write an American parody about a famous English fall, like Wold Cottage?


Sterling K. Webb
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RYAN PAWELSKI wrote:

> Actually, there is no such thing as an Alabama "hick", there are only "rednecks" in Alabama. Just to clear things up, the following are the three different subgroups of the of the "subclassy" society, better known as hicks, hillbillys, and rednecks:
>
> Hicks: Found in Midwestern states such as Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
>
> Hillbillys (mountains or hills): Found in Appalachian and Ozark states such as Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas (Or "Our Kansas", because the hillbilly founders were jealous that Kansas had a "too-cool-for-school" name).
>
> Rednecks (from hot southern sun): Found in south, southwestern, and southeastern states such as Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.
>
> Maybe Jeff Foxworthy should write a word collection with all this here information in it!
>
> Anyway, hope I helped ya'll in decipherin' them terms!
>
> -Ryan
>
>
Received on Tue 02 Dec 2003 01:51:08 AM PST