Rednecromancer

Our Crack won't kill you

Our crackers are another story.

 

This is the third and final in a series on Appalachian epithets.  Up until now we have dealt with labels that most true Appalachians would accept or at least recognize as fitting at least some of the hillbilly population.  We include cracker because of its historic connection to Appalachians and to put a finer point on the differences.

 

I reckon that most everyone has heard the term cracker used in a derogatory way towards European Americans mostly in the south.  Most anyone with an Internet connection probably knows something about the term originally meaning a loud braggart. My educated guess is that braggart could probably be more accurately replaced by raconteur given the context of the root word crack.  In the Anglo-Saxon languages of northern Britain, crack means fun usually in relation to a pub with music and drink.  I would assume that the German word gemutlikeit is similar in meaning.  We have the word in American English today in the from of a wisecrack or crack a joke. 

 

A few years ago while in Dublin I noticed provocative signs in the windows of the local pubs proclaiming, “Our Crack won't kill you.”  It would seem that southern Ireland had also absorbed the Scots-Irish word so totally that it had even been adopted into Irish Gaelic as “craic”. Indeed some young Irish are unaware that the word is foreign. 

 

In colonial American I could certainly see the other colonists turning the northern Brit's own word on them in a derogatory fashion.  These folks had to have gotten on their neighbors' nerves.  They were obnoxious and dour Covenanters on one hand and loud, whiskey swilling drunkards on the other.  A bunch of damn “crackers” I would think.  It isn't a good time until some Ulsterman breaks some crockery. 

 

In a way the term cracker is more fitting of Appalachians today than redneck.  Redneck with its origins in the Presbyterianism is more limiting than cracker.  I really have no problem being called a loud, joyful drunkard even if I haven't had a drink in 10 years.

 

But the truth is that cracker today has a much different meaning and I agree with some of our readers that I would be uncomfortable accepting the label with its current connotation.  For all of the negatives linked to the other Appalachian epithets, there is something more sinister about cracker.  There are a number of social clues that leads one to understand that there is just “something” about the term that unsettles folks.  Anyone who knows David Lowery's sensibilities would certainly deduce that there is something dark and ironic in the term for him to select it as the name of his post Camper van Beethoven band.  The fact that a number of Georgians and Floridians proudly call themselves crackers should not lead one to believe that they do so without owning its darker connotations.  There are many American sub-cultures who enjoy being seen as slightly dangerous and I tend to see cracker in this category.

 

I recall an encounter almost 25 years ago that defined the term for me and opened my eyes to a darker side of America.

 

My junior year as an undergraduate at Ohio State I shared a three story townhouse with three other young men.  I have described Mike in other articles as the life of the party and the leader of our gang.  Mike like me was from Scioto County, Ohio but unlike me Mike had been raised Catholic and was not what I would call 100% hillbilly.  I seem to remember that Mike's maternal family may have been from Pittsburgh.  Alex was, I believe a second generation Russian Jew from around the Dayton area and Chuck was a black guy from Reynoldsburg a mostly white suburb just outside of Columbus.  I was a recent convert to Catholicism but had been raised nominally Methodist.  Truth is I  mostly went to nondenominational churches with my aunt Rosemary whenever I spent the night with my cousin Mark which seems like every weekend of my childhood.

 

Two Catholics, a Jew and a black guy.  We were just a K.K.K weenie roast waiting to happen.  We made great fun of the fact that we were a cliché every time we walked into a bar together. 

 

To make some extra money we would sometimes deliver cars for Mike's dad who ran a leasing agency.  The most regular gig was to drive a brand new Chevy Chevette to rural post offices in the deep south and Mike would drive us all back in a family truckster of a station wagon.  We seldom came home with much extra money as we often stopped in Myrtle Beach or Gatlinburg.  It was great fun and exactly the type of thing that young guys are supposed to do so that they may develop  a keen understanding of just what it means to be free.  Sometimes we would bring our former roommate Greg along.  Greg was from central Florida so having a native along was good for translating.  Greg was also one thing that none of the rest of us were.  He was a Protestant I think but so was Chuck.  No, Greg was relatively rich compared to the rest of us.  So we had that class thing covered too.

 

Having all of your bases covered north of the Mason-Dixon line is something totally different and the Charlie Daniels-esque reality check that we were about to receive clued us in pretty damn fast.

 

I won't mention the name of the deep southern town nor even the state.  And don't think for a second that I would paint all folks with the same broad strokes.  I hold no one in higher regard than I do President Carter and he is as southern as they come.  But this is about a different type of southerner.

 

As was our habit we usually pilled out of the station wagon and into the air conditioned post office while Mike went over the paperwork with the local postmaster.  That navy blue wagon could get mighty hot might fast and besides I think Mike liked to show off his crew of “professional drivers.”  Most times the postal workers were warm and friendly but sometimes there was that creepy vibe.  It was hard to figure out where it was coming from.  You could never be sure if it was a class thing or a north-south thing.  My paternal grandpa was a local postmaster so I have nothing but respect for the position. Heck I  obviously had enough respect for government work to have done nothing but all my adult life.  But there were times when the folks at these facilities were subtly hostile for no apparent reason.  I recall that one of the boys hopped off the dock instead of taking the stairs as a 21 year old guy in a hurry will do.  This drew a “boy you would never work here a-jumpin' off like that.”  We of course demurred and apologized for the reckless behavior when in our mind we were thinking, “piss off Cletus, I don't think a guy with a mechanical engineering degree from Ohio State is in any danger of ending up needing a job on your dock.” But we only thought it and as respectful as these boys were and given that there was little likelihood that we would ever be that way again, there was really no reason to bitch at the boy.

 

But that was mild.

 

Alex, Greg and I were standing in the office of one of these postmasters while Mike conducted his business with the man in charge.  Chuck had a real job and didn't make these trips often.  Thank the Lord.  Mike had just finished up and was gathering his folder when the postmaster took note of Greg's Ohio State t-shirt.  It really would be impossible to parody this guy.  He was straight from central casting.  His scalp shown through his crew cut exposing a slightly moist plate that he mopped periodically with a gray handkerchief.  The air conditioning was working fine but the 60 extra pounds of recycled bacon fat he was barely hiding beneath that khaki cloth and overworked buttons had to be given his capillaries a hard time.  The man was a heart attack on a stick. 

 

“So you boys are all from up there at Ohio State?”  “Yes sir, go Bucks!”  “I understand you all have a problem up there with integration?” “Not that we know of.  Folks are pretty much free to go where they please, and if anyone is kept out of a business or such the authorities take care of it and newspapers jump on them with both feet.”

 

“Yeah, that's what I meant.”

 

My blood ran cold and I felt helpless in a way I have only experience a few times since.  Like when my daughter was born by C-section.  I had no control over the situation and I didn't know quite what to expect.  I saw out of the corner of my eye, Greg's hand come up on Alex's shoulder in a motion meant to herd him to the door.  Not only did Alex bare a slight resemblance to Garry Shandling he sounds like the comedian and shares his off beat wit.  You also never knew when Alex's righteous indignation would show up and this wasn't a High Street bar after an Ohio State game. Wise-crack or tirade either of the two most likely replies from Alex would not have been good for our health and Greg knew it.  I could see in Greg's eyes that he was spooked.

 

At that time while looking at my feet I noticed my St. Christopher's medal dangling there from around my neck like a big “shoot me I'm a Papist” sign.  I honestly think it was Mike who glided us out of there with his business chatter.  All I remember is that somehow we got back in the car and pulled away.  Greg let out his nervous fake laugh.  He knew these folks and he knew we were probably never in any real danger but you couldn't be sure and that is the way THEY wanted us to feel.  As we were headed out of the little town the blood came back to our heads and we started to gain our bravado and humor.  He laughed with the typical, “yikes, what a piece of work that cracker was.”  But we didn't really start to breathe easy until we crossed the state line later that night and we drove straight through back to Columbus, only stopping for gas.

 

I know it doesn't sound that bad but you had to be there to feel the malice come off this man.  He wanted us to know how he felt about us and our ideas and he knew that we knew that there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it because we were in his world.  Only later did my more adult empathy cause me to imagine what my life might be like if I had been born black and poor in that man's world.  I had $20 in my pocket, no family in that God forsaken little village and a big ass Chevy to get me the hell out of there. I was free.

 

So when I hear the word “cracker” I have a reference point.

 

 

 

Cuz I'm a Hillbilly, yes I am

I had a chance to watch Hillbilly: The Real Story the other day after missing the first two airings. 

 

As a propagandist for the “hill folk” I can't complain too much since its intent was to be sympathetic but if I had a couple of million dollars lying around with which to make a documentary about the Appalachian people I would have done things a bit differently.  For the most part it was factual and the more important the topic the more accurate they seemed to be.

 

I do think that they made some poor choices on editing. They begin the two hour program with a segment on moonshine after only the slightest mention about how Appalachians are misrepresented.  To be honest moonshine is a far better item of introduction than coal but I still think I would have gone to the Scottish border wars first off.  My guess is that the producers wanted to set the stage by displaying the hillbilly as both self reliant and resistant to what they see as unfair governance. Moonshine and the Whiskey Rebellion are perfect as a hub to illustrate this point.  They must be given credit for stating that the hillbillies did not “invent” moonshine in the hills of Appalachia but brought it with them from Northern Ireland.  Indeed today whiskey is so common a spirit that we tend to see it as a universal but whiskey or uisce beatha which means water of life in Gaelic is an Irish/ Scottish spirit and was even more so then.  The importance of pointing out that the new settlers to Appalachia brought their whiskey with them is that it illustrates an older heritage and a heritage that was already separate from the rest of the rum drinking colonies.

 

The following segment on marijuana is unfortunate but true and does follow somewhat the pattern of the moonshiners.  I am more inclined to accept this comparison than any between moonshiners and crystal meth production.  Given that marijuana is not a dangerous drug in and of itself other than causing the habitual user to waste his life it is not surprising that hillbillies would be more inclined to turn a blind eye to its production as stated by this portion of the program.  The problem as the police officers illustrate is that these dope growers resort to violent tactics to protect their crop which is often grown in remote patches on public lands such as national forests.

 

One difference between the classic battle between the revenuers and the moonshiners is that the anti-drug officers are often local people.  As stated by one of the officers interviewed, these hollers and hills are home to these police officers and where their children are being raised.  They have a vested interest in eradicating this blight.  One truth that was not mentioned that I know from my personal experience is that the drug producers are often outsiders.  These outside criminals move into the area and corrupt locals to make use of their knowledge of the community and geography.  As Billy Ray says an average household income of less than $8,000 a year makes such activity much more tempting than it would be otherwise.

 

In the next section of the program the producers examine the origin of the Appalachian people.  I was pleased to see that they take the high road and go with the truth instead of the politically correct, multi-cultural garbage that is popular in our universities.  The hillbilly culture has its origin in the borderlands of Scotland and England starting in the 13^th century.  The constant battles and strife of the area caused a clan society to develop.  As Senator Jim Webb explains this type of uncertainty leads individuals to form bonds with those closest to them and on their level. 

 

Starting in 1610 the Scottish King James the VII who became James I of Great Britain thought that he could kill two birds with one stone and send many of these rough lowland Scots to Northern Ireland.  This would relieve the population pressures on largely infertile  southern Scotland and send a force to “pacify” the native Irish.  Many of facts surrounding the plantation of Northern Ireland are glossed over in this segment but what facts are there are accurate.  The program does not mention the religious persecution of the Presbyterians by the Anglican Church of Ireland. 

 

The show accurately describes how a quarter of a million people from Northern Ireland settled in the back country of America in a short period of time.  The bulk of these settled  between 1750 and 1775.  There is no mention of James Logan, the Scots-Irish, Quaker and secretary for the Penn family.  Logan is largely responsible for the settlement of the Scots-Irish into western Pennsylvania.  He stated explicitly in a letter that he hoped the Ulster Scots could act as a “human frontier” between the passive Quakers in the east and the native “savages” in the west. This program is sympathetic to the Scots-Irish settlers concerning the Indian Wars but it makes no mention that they were performing a bloody task that they were specifically recruited for.

 

Although they do not use the exact words the program makes clear that before long the Scots-Irish become the new “savages” gaining much knowledge of surviving in the back country from their enemies the Native Americans.  Eventually this knowledge of guerrilla warfare would help them turn the war in favor of the American rebels.  Perhaps too much time is spent on the single Battle of King's Mountain, but it is by far the most famous battle won by the new Appalachians. Interestingly the British force that the Over-mountain Men defeated at King's Mountain were largely Scottish Highlanders.  Also a fact not mentioned.

 

There is no mention however of Sargent York Syndrome which would have fit perfectly into this segment.  This syndrome which was coined by a Veterans' Hospital physician in Tennessee, describes the phenomena of Appalachia having the highest casualty rate in all of its wars up until the current Gulf War. Nor would I expect them to delve into the horrible way in which the government exploits the likes of both Jessica Lynch and Lynndie English.

 

What many viewers probably will not catch but is so very important at the end of this section before the commercial break is the mention that for the next 100 years the Appalachian culture develops separately from the rest of the nation.  This is crucial to understanding modern Appalachian and her hillbillies.  We did not degenerate from the same basic British culture as the rest of the country; we were different from the beginning.  We came from a different branch on the British tree and naturally developed a culture that was familiar yet separate from those other largely English communities.  And this 100 years of development took place before COAL.  Hillbillies were hillbillies before coal.

 

The next segment starts with an account of the local color writers.  Certainly the local color writers of the mid-19^th century are a bunch who have to be rotting in Hell.  More than any single group including the robber barons, the local color writers so degraded the people of Appalachia that the unscrupulous industrialist were able to mistreat the citizens of the hills without fear that the nation at large would be sympathetic to the plight of the hill folk.  These same industrialist often owned the publications in which these lurid tales appeared.  Go figure. Poor and uneducated Appalachian farmers were swindled out of land or gave up timber and mineral rights for pennies on the dollar only to be left with poisoned wells and ruined moonscapes that took generations to heal.  The Industrial Revolution has come and gone and with it the economic benefits, but the negative stereotypes still survive.

 

From the local color articles to the railroad, coal mines and independent Christian churches the program by way of the most notable examples such as the Clinch Valley Line, Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain and snake handling highlights some of Appalachia's famous and peculiar elements.  One may be quick to point out that these are single examples of very common items in Appalachia but I assume that the Moore-Huntley production team's focus is taking on these “well known” Appalachian elements and demystifying them.

 

Many areas of Appalachia were always open to the rest of the nation.  Travelers going from east to west would have a very long detour if they did not cross Appalachia by many of her gaps and passes, stopping at the many Appalachian villages and towns that serviced these roads and early rails.  But railroads like the Clinch did open up Appalachia to the industrial age and no doubt advanced the building of rail lines into most every county in the region.  The railroad made coal possible and coal made the railroad possible.  The industrial revolution also brought new people to Appalachia from Italy and eastern Europe.

 

I have often wondered if the Battle of Blair Mountain could have happened in any other region of the nation at that time.  Certainly the wild west witnessed similar violence only a generation prior but in the 20^thcentury, I doubt that the public would have tolerated company guards dropping bombs on or machine gunning citizens in New England.  I reckon the same factors tahat allowed the Battle of Blair Mountain to take place allows MIC to be produced at Institute, WV next to the campus of WVSU.

 

There were many conflicts between the labor unions and the mine owners in Appalachia and the legal battles go even today but Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain are certainly the best known and perhaps the most egregious examples of industrial arrogance besides the lesser known Hawk's Nest disaster.

 

Most controversial is the segment on snake handlers.  Here the producers do a masterful job of making the members of this religious sect look rational while being clear that most Appalachians do not practice or even condone this ritual.  As a hillbilly it distresses me that West Virginia is the only state where snake handling is legal.  And this is the point.  Appalachia is full of little cinder clock churches.  Billy Ray tells us that there are 80 different Baptist denominations alone.  As one interviewee explains, if a group of folks doesn't like what is being preached at their current church they will just up and build another little church down the road. 

 

Religious freedom was one of the reasons for the Scots-Irish ending up in these hills.  The program does mention the tent revivals of the 18^th century but does not call them as such and does not go into detail about the New Light and Appalachians transformation from Presbyterianism to Baptist and Methodist sects.

 

All of these little white washed churches stand in stark contrast to the suburban mega-churches in the rest of the country.  I have sincere doubts as to whether any of those little churches fund political action committees.  I would rather risk my life by handling a copperhead than risk my soul by shaking hands with the pastor of a mega-church.

 

From the pious little churches the program turns to the moonshine runners who became the proto-stock car drivers.  The motor sport born in Appalachian Georgia that would become NASCAR may have mutated into something that the foreigners watch but I sleep better at night knowing that there are still dirt tracks out there like Lavonia Speedway in Georgia and my hometown track Portsmouth Raceway.

 

I reckon the next segment on the TVA illustrates the bittersweet realities of progress in our region.  I am a proud Luddite, but I am not about to get all Amish on anyone.  I like electric stuff and I like good paying jobs that make that stuff. When the reservoir was filled and those Appalachian communities were flooded they were lost true enough, but anytime we allow the outside world to come in so that we can have jobs we risk losing a bit of our community.  That said I can remember when the steel mills, shoe factories and the nuclear enrichment plant were all still in production in Portsmouth, Ohio.  There were  40,000 more hillbillies and their friends living in that little river city then and the Waltons  could not have been more Appalachian than my family in 1969.

 

As dangerous as it may be to welcome job producing industry into our Appalachian communities it is far more dangerous to allow our children to leave in order to find work outside of the region.  Without alternatives we have to rely on destructive extraction industry or we end up with a population of old folks and trash and the few folks in the service industry that any community needs such as hospital workers, teachers and other government types.  The producers don't say it out right but even a place as beautiful as Appalachia with workers as brave as coal miners need an infusion of industry to survive.

 

Appropriately Billy Ray states that perhaps the greatest gift that the hillbillies have given to the nation (and the world) is our music.  We have transformed the Celtic folk music we brought with us 300 years ago into a global art form. I may bristle at the pop-with-a-cowboy-hat that dominates America's airwaves but I have to admit no small bit of satisfaction that it may be watered down but it is mine. I can't expect everyone to be into John Prine or Dwight Yoakam.

 

I think the producers were also brilliant in drafting Billy Ray Cyrus as the narrator.  Of course I cheer for Billy Ray as a fellow tristate boy, but Billy Ray is a living example of the hillbilly spirit.  From the moment he gained national attention he was a target of ridicule for his mullet.  But Billy Ray didn't let that stop him.  He had a nice little show, kind of an anti-House, called “Doc” where he plays a kindly country doctor in the big city.  He started a charity for the needy children of the Ashland-Ironton area.  And now his daughter, Miley is the biggest star Disney has with her show, Hannah Montana in which Billy Ray plays her dad.   Let's just keep her away from some of the other former Disney stars.

 

So Hillbilly: The Real Story gets a Rednecromancer thumbs up.  It could have been more in depth but it would have had to have been longer which would have probably precluded it from showing up on the light weight History Channel. The facts for the most part were accurate ( the battle of Blair Mountain was NOT the origin of redneck ) and some of the most important issues were addressed.  It was biased in favor of hillbillies but that is just fine since we have years of anti-hillbilly bias to make up for.

 

The important statements made by the program are that hillbillies have a pre-American origin and that we have developed separately and not degenerated.  And while we are a separate American culture we have contributed greatly to the overall American experience. 

 

Or at least the most important items.

 

Freedom, loyalty, country music, etc, etc

 

Hillbilly: The Real Story

Our friend Cat from over at Mouth of the Holler sent me a note a few weeks ago to tell me that Moore Huntley Productions were going to have a special on the History Channel titled Hillbilly: The Real Story.  Naturally this could cause some trepidation on the part of an Appalachian advocate but the accompanying description let me know that this was at least a Boswellian social history of our people and may indeed end up being a pro-hillbilly piece of propaganda.  I reckon some folks like David Moore-Huntley realize that resistance is futile and that they are hopping on the Hillbilly World Domination bandwagon early.

The two-hour special, hosted by celebrity Billy Ray Cyrus, brings these mythic people to life through stories that span 300 years. Outcast immigrants, war heroes, isolated backwoodsmen, hard working miners, fast moving moon shiners, religious warriors, musicians and statesmen make up the rugged cast of characters.   from the History Channel site

Rating: TVPG

In the email apparently sent out by David Moore-Huntley, he mentions the battlefields of the English-Scottish border and Northern Ireland.  This makes me think that this production company has a better understanding of the social and political situations in Britain that led to the creation of this unique ethnic group and their home region compared to most film makers who focus solely on events in America.  Hillbillies were created in Northern Ireland and then moved to Appalachia where they “recruited” peoples from other cultures and backgrounds.

I am also happy to see that someone so representative of contemporary Appalachians is hosting the program. Billy Ray Cyrus, like Appalachians in general, has had his share of ridicule for no good reason but just seems to keep on going.

I am optimistic that this two hour special will help to reverse so much of the damage that the media has done to our image.  Please send us your thoughts and reviews on the program.

Schedule

Sunday, September 23 08:00 PM

Monday, September 24 12:00 AM

Thursday, September 27 08:00 AM

Thursday, September 27 02:00 PM

Addressing a need (or I need an address)

Hey folks,

I am tickled to death to send you all stickers and buttons but I have to have an address to get them to you. It is true that The Rednecromancer (the hillbilly super-hero who watches over us) does have super powers but ESP ain't one of them.

I don't keep addresses on file so if you have sent your address in the past there is a good chance that it has been deleted and that you will need to send it again.

Meet John Doe

I have posted a review of the John Doe and Dead Rock West show at the Capital Ale House Music Hall on Aug. 2.

But of course I came to see John Doe. And talk about conservation.  Three quarters of Dead Rock West acts as the back up band for John Doe with the addition of Nick Luca on keys and guitar.

Photo by Autumn De Wilde
publicity photo

Read the full review on Hillbilly Music

White Trash

don't call me that

This bit of text is a continuation of our exposition on the various names, labels and epithets used to describe members of the traditional Appalachian culture and diaspora. We previously took a look at Appalachian, hillbilly and redneck. But before we delve into new terms, I would like to share a new item that I have found that is related to the term “redneck”.

 

In Adams county, Ohio in the Ohio bluegrass region against the physical Appalachian foothills is the small community of Cherry Fork.  This village is north of Manchester, Ohio where in 1790, Col. Massie, a Virginian from Goochland county began the settlement of the Virginia Military District.  Among the soldier-pioneers were men from Goochland and Rockbridge counties as well as men from other states, especially Pennsylvania.  Many of these men were Scotch-Irish. 

 

Fourteen years later and a year after Ohio became a state, a group of Coventanters from Rockbridge county, built a church in Cherry Fork.  This is the same group of folks who had been known as rednecks in Great Britain.

 

White Trash

The history of this term is fairly well documented and we know that at least by the Civil War the term was in wide use.  The entry in Wikipedia is just about as good as it is going to get as far as an etymology.  The term originated in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1820s and was used by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1954 to title a chapter in her defense of Uncle Tom's Cabin. She quite rightly pointed out the slavery degraded poor whites as well as blacks.

 

The term was mostly used in the south and Appalachia by anyone who was not at the very bottom to describe those white folks who were.  In my area we seldom use the term “white trash” but “trash” or the adjective “trashy” to mean the same.  A locality would often be combined with “trash” such as holler trash or Jackson street trash or Farley Square trash.  A related term would be “trailer trash”. 

 

Today the usage of the term has become national while the power of the insult has somewhat softened.  Many folks will use the term in a self deprecating attempt at humor.  But the term still has a unique sting that perhaps comes from the dismissive nature of the epithet or the pity that is inherent in the term when used with less hate.  The song White Trash from Southern Culture on the Skids seems to capture the view of most of us hillbillies in regard to the term white trash.

 

White Trash, don't call me that

you know I love you baby
don't you think just maybe
the way you talk down to me
would send a chill right through me

 

Most folks have a bit of fear or trepidation for hillbillies, rednecks and briars but not so much for white trash.  If we are going to be hated I reckon we would also liked to be feared too.

 

Briar

The term briar brings us back to terms that are specifically for Appalachians.  According to Wikipedia, a briar is a term for a migrant worker from Appalachia.  The Wikipedia also states that the term is most used in Ohio and directed at Kentuckians and West Virginians.  This would indeed be my personal experience growing up along the Ohio River. It may just be my view, but the term briar also has a connotation of “someone you don't want to mess with.”

 

In the 1989 film, Next of Kin  staring Patrick Swayze, the character played by Liam Neeson is named Briar Gates.  The general plot of the movie involves Kentucky hillbillies terrorizing mobsters in Chicago for the murder of their brother.  I relate to this movie.  I terrorized Clevelanders by marrying their sister.

 

Hilljack

While searching the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles database of vanity plate names, hilljack was the only name that I found out of all of the possible hillbilly labels that was not taken.  I was gratified but seeing as how Hilljack is the name of a country act I didn't want folks to think I was a fan and not a hilliblly so I have the non-vanity plates still.  But while running a Google on hilljack, I learned that the term is again widely used in Ohio for Appalachians but has a wider but more specific meaning.

In common usage a hilljack is a hillbilly who may be of a slightly higher socio-economic class and thus thinks that this makes him something other than a hillbilly.  Of all the labels in this series, hilljack probably best describes me although I am now reformed.  Many of the urban areas in and near Appalachia are full of hilljacks who think that they are somehow better than their cousins who are still living in the hollers. Charleston, West Virginia is full of them.  I love Charleston and these hilljacks but they are totally deluded.

 

Hoopies and Hoosiers

Hoopie is a term widely used in Appalachian Ohio and Pennsylvania to denote a West Virginian.  I find the term to be used more by the Catholic late-comers to the area from Italian and eastern European backgrounds and in that case used for any other Appalachian regardless of their home state.

 

Everyone is familiar with “Hoosier” as the nickname for people from Indiana and as the mascot of the university, but hoosier has a longer history as a synonym for hillbilly and indeed may come from the Anglo-Saxon word “hoo” for hill.

 

Hillican

This is perhaps the rarest of all of the epithets for hillbilly but the one I heard most often as a child. I have found only one entry of this spelling and one of another spelling that is now lost to me but originated from a poster from Columbus, Ohio.  The lost post with the spelling that I cannot remember explained that the term was used by Ohio hillbillies to describe those folks of an even lower class. 

 

This other entry from an Ohio history site is a reprint of a 1902 history of Ross county, Ohio.  The text smacks of the local color writing of the era, but almost exactly captures the connotation of the term hillican as I experienced it as a child in that region in the 1960s.  Also, interestingly the piece used the term “do-less” which is a common term in our area for lazy.  I think the author has incorrectly rendered the word owing to some backward folk etymology.  This term which I know to have been used in western West Virginia is probably related to the word “due”.

 

As always we are interested in your experience with these labels and epithets.

P.S. The third part of this series will deal with the term "Cracker".  So stay tuned, Anne.

 

 

 

Black Cash and the Bad Trips

"I don't get out much now, but when I followed a link on Hillbilly Savants to the website of Black Cash and the Bad Trips, I knew that I would have to make a rare trip into downtown Richmond.  In the five or six years that I have lived in the central Virginia area I can count on one hand how many times I have been downtown.  I don't know what it is about the greater Richmond area but there is this insular vibe and indeed a lack of a true outer belt which makes it difficult for the less adventurous transplants to get from one area to the other.  That is a shame because there is a bunch of cool things to do and see scattered all about this historic hamlet.   But my own difficulties be damned this time, I was going out to see me some live music."

read the rest of the story on Hillbilly Music

The brogue's tongue

Someone called my grandparents the other day asking for me.  This would not be odd in most cases except for the fact that I live seven hours away and have not lived in my hometown for 25 years.  I became aware of the incident during one of my weekly phone conversations with my dad.  Grandpa let dad know that the person had called.  Dad said that grandpa hadn't gotten the feller's name but that he asked for me or my wife using our nicknames and asked if he as talking to my grandfather.  It remains quite a riddle as to who it could have been and to be honest I am a bit uneasy about it.

 

A week or so later I was up home for our annual alumni dinner and dropped by grandma and grandpa's for a visit.  The topic of the mysterious caller came up and we tried to figure out who it could be.  At first my dad thought that it might have been a high school friend who expected me to be home for the dinner.  The only problem with this is that everyone I went to high school with knows my family and would have chatted with grandpa and further more would have called mom and dad to look for me.

 

I suggested that it may have been one of my college buddies who would not be quite so familiar with my family but know generally where to look for us.  We agreed that that could be it but grandpa then said that he thought the guy was a “foreigner” because he couldn't quite understand him.  Not understanding folks is not a give-a-way for someone being foreign since grandpa is 89 and is very hard of hearing.  I suggested that it was one of my past college students since I have had a number who were international.

 

At this point grandma said, “to grandpa it could have been anyone from a different part of the country.”  To this grandpa said, “yes it could have been an American from a different part of the country, all I know is that he didn't have the same brogue as we have.”  “Oh then”  I said, “it could be one of my roommates from Cleveland or the like.”  It is was the most likely explanation as to why the person would use both my wife and my nicknames and not remember my dad's name so the conversation turned to other subjects.

 

“The same brogue as we have” stuck in my head as I left for mom and dad's.  Now I am certainly familiar with the term brogue as a description of an Irish or Scottish accent but grandpa had used it as a general term.  I asked dad if he had heard grandpa use the term before.  His expression was one of slight disbelief, like the look he may have if I would have asked if grandpa had ever used the word “road” or some other common term.  Dad said that it was commonly used in the place of the word accent and that it didn't apply just to Irish or Scottish accents.  Mom who was standing near by also confirmed that my other grandparents had also used the term in such a way and that it was the common word for accent or dialect.

 

Certainly I had heard my family use this term in such a way in the past but I cannot recall it from memory.  As far as I know I had always used the term in the more limited way.

 

We know that brogue comes from the Gaelic for “shoe” although no one really knows how it became used as a term for accent or dialect.  The typical folk etymologies abound.    I am familiar with the related “brogan” which is a common Appalachian term for a work boot and which was also the name of the shoe worn by Civil War era soldiers on both sides but “brogue” as a general term for accent was something new.

 

Do any of you all who speak the same brogue as me have any knowledge of this?

 

 

Six Degrees of Irritation

As I have mentioned on Hillbilly Music, my wife and I used to go see live music, a lot.  No, I mean a whole lot.  If I wasn't playing music myself, we were out to see our favorite local, regional or international groups.  We also traveled all over the western world.  Now we stay home and watch TV.  It isn't as sexy as running down the Rue Royal in Versailles, France in the pouring rain but it is all we got now.

 

She likes police dramas.  I have my concerns about why we seem so enamored with the subject and if dwelling on what can often be disturbing content is healthy for the English speaking world but I endure it.  I will even guiltily admit that I like some shows such as Xstine's favorite: The Closer.  The show is pretty good and the interplay between the characters is entertaining.  I even like the “Easter Eggs” such as the name of the coroner, Dr. Crippen.  I am fairly certain this is a nod to the notorious wife murder, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen.  I also find it amusing that the boyfriend of the lead character, Brenda Johnson is named Fritz Howard.  Howard Johnson!

 

Last night's episode was disturbing for more than just the subject matter.  The story revolves around the abduction and murder of an eight year old girl by a child molester. As a father and a human being there is nothing more frightening in my mind and I am positive that James Madison and the founding fathers may have given the 8^th Amendment a second thought in such cases. 

 

To say that this is an emotional subject is an understatement and I am generally critical of using this sort of thing for entertainment purposes but after three seasons it is reasonable that the fictional “priority homicide” unit of the Los Angeles police department would have dealt with at least one such incident.  To  the producers' credit they have not built a show on such emotionally charged content.  As fiction or as a reality series, the subject of pedophilia is not entertainment and certainly should never be seen as humor.  I was very disturbed to see Chris Hansen and To Catch a Predator do a cameo on 30 Rock.

 

So we have established that the producers of The Closer do not over use lurid and emotional subjects like child molestation.  Why did this episode of The Closer upset me beyond that which should be expected by such a horrible topic?  The child molester had an Appalachian accent.

 

Now given that Kyra Sedgwick's character, Brenda, has a pretty horrible southern accent for an ex-CIA spook who speaks multiple central European languages, I could see where the producers may not even realize that this odious character had an Appalachian accent instead of a southern accent.  Indeed when I said, “great, the child molester had to have an Appalachian accent,” my wife said, “I think it may just be a southern thing and not necessarily an Appalachian accent.”  The problem is she had that tone in her voice.  After 26 years I have come to recognize that tone as the one that says, “I don't believe what I am saying but I just want you to feel better about an obvious slight.”    I have no idea who the actor is who plays this unfortunate role and indeed he may be a native Appalachian.  In that case I would be horribly conflicted as I would be glad that a fellow hillbilly found work in Hollywood but I would just as soon he affected a different dialect for this role.

 

I like Ms Sedgwick but as one of the producers and someone who obviously has a great deal of control over this project I would have hoped for a bit more sensitivity.  It would have been just as easy for this character to have had no accent at all.  The show takes place in Los Angeles for crying out loud.  It wouldn't be out of place for the character to have had no discernible accent given the cosmopolitan nature of southern California. 

 

My fear and suspicion is that the “accent” of the child molester just “seemed to fit” the character in the eyes and ears of the producers and director.  Of course this intangible appropriateness comes from a deeply held and seldom examined prejudice common throughout America.  This is the degenerate hillbilly.  This is the voice that haunts Ned Beatty's career.  This is the punchline in a Tarantino film.  And you wonder where the stereotype comes from?    If folks with an Appalachian accent are often portrayed in such ways it is going to rub of on the real Appalachians and make life difficult.

 

How can it be that a region that has one of if not the lowest crime rate in the nation always seems to get stuck lending a voice to any criminal who is not Tony Soprano or a South Central gang banger?  Is it that all of the folks who leave the hills become criminals and degenerates? 

 

Hollywood treated blacks pretty badly for generations.  They were either step-and-fetch-its or pimps back when being a pimp was correctly seen as a bad thing.  Morgan Freeman started out playing pimps in movies even though his television work had been in educational shows for children.  Now Mr. Freeman is God. Black guys aren't always the first dudes killed off in a movie now and they even get to be the hero.  Maybe hillbillies just have to wait their turn.

 

But while we are standing in the mercy line, I hope Ms Sedgwick will reflect on the people who are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She has a 19 year old son who plays in a band like his dad.  I am sure she has thought about what it would be like if he was one of those young soldiers and she is thankful that he has options that those other young folks did not have.  A lot of those young soldiers have the same accent as the child molester on last night's episode of The Closer and because of the way human beings hold on to stereotypes and how we punish groups of people because of those stereotypes there will be fewer opportunities for those people with that accent.

 

The child molester character told Ms Sedgwick's character that he had been out of work for three week since he had lost his job as a landscaper.  He said it was hard to find work when you were a registered sex offender.

 

It is often hard for people with an Appalachian accent to find work but being a hillbilly isn't a crime.

 

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