So Are West Virginians Really Hillbillies?

[mso489]

I think many mountain people take hillbilly as an honorific title and claim it with some pride. Certainly true in the Ozarks, and I think in the Blue Ridge as well. Just knowing your way around the terrain is an advanced skill. Just camping in the mountains for a week or two is a preliminary education.

 

[briarbuck]

Spent a ton of time in WV. It is what it is. Beautiful and trashy all at the same time.

 

[ryeguy]

Here are my 2 pence:
What do you mean by "hillbilly"--The term originally referred to the people--predominantly Scotts Irish immigrants--who lived in the Appalachians, on land that no one else wanted because--despite its beauty--it was remote and not suited for farming.
They were remarkably poor. They engaged in little commerce. Their agricultural pursuits were the equivalent of a big garden and a few animals. They were as much hunter-gatherers (wild American chestnuts were a major staple of their diet before the blight, and game was an essential source of protein, hunting wasn't just for sport) as they were farmers.
They lived in remote areas (nearest neighbor might be hours away, and the nearest town could be a day or more, and that is presuming good weather). True self-sufficiency was a point of pride. Naturally, they weren't too attached to education or other benefits of civilization.
The hillbillies are the "folk" of American folk-music, folk-medicine, folk-art, folk-wisdom.
There aren't very many of those, truly self-sufficient, mountain people around anymore. But aspects of the value-system and way of life (rugged individualism, a certain roughness-about-the-edges) do still dominate Appalachia (including most of WVa.) and it is easily identifiable to an outsider.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Funny, my wife is from NC, and she and her family are always talking about how they are so hill billy... ha ha, then drive across the state line into SC... Or drive from Space age Virginia into WV. Or, NASA Alabama into Mississippi. North Carolinians are as much a hillbilly as Einstein by comparison to SC. SC, MS, WV, are like decades behind in so many ways, aesthetically, financially, the buildings all look and seem older, and the smell... the people... it also affects what's on the radio. It's weird. When we go across the state line into one of these states it's so obvious. And, when I ask family in SC how the hell they can stand it, they don't understand. When you live somewhere, where it smells terrible, you are breathing it every day, so you no longer smell the stink.
Hillbilly has no real meaning nowadays. There are just states that have more opportunities for various reasons, and some where you're just screwed, no matter what you do.
And, don't get me started on that fake-assed Southern hospitality, nice to your face Southerners... I could write a book. I believe that areas where people are actually more truthful and honest... are not remotely similar to Southerners. Being Southern means smiling and saying what is expected... until they leave the room. I'd rather know where I stand, personally. And, I do it too. We all do it down here. And, I don't even like it. But, I was raised in this fake-assed culture.

 

[loborx]

I'll stay out here in the high desert... ::

 

[davek]

Spent a ton of time in WV. It is what it is. Beautiful and trashy all at the same time.

That was good.

 

[elbert]

When you live somewhere, where it smells terrible, you are breathing it every day, so you no longer smell the stink.

I grew up in "Sewer" City, Iowa before the last downtown meat packing plant closed. It's fine until you leave town for a few days, then you lose that magic stench immunity :rofl:
But hey, at least for us there's money in that stank.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"It is certainly not a direct synonym for "white trash"!"
Aldecaker, I'd like to think you know me well enough to know that that was not what is was trying to say.
Lately there have been several documentaries on British television about various geographical regions of the USA and of their peoples which I have watched and thoroughly enjoyed. You all live in a beautiful and very diverse country.
I do wish I was younger and had no fear of flying else I would be over there like a shot to enjoy such stunning places as the Grand Canyon, the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Niagara etc and to meet the peoples of wherever I found myself.
Going East to West via a Greyhound Bus and the return journey via a Harley would be the cream on the cake.
I've actually been invited over by at least three relative (Mormon) families (all costs paid for!) but declined as I am a confirmed atheist and fear that wouldn't go down so well.
Regards,
Julian.

 

[aldecaker]

Jay, I would never think such a thing of you. I only meant the statement in the general sense, in that some here in the U.S. do use those two terms synonymously.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

Spent a ton of time in WV. It is what it is. Beautiful and trashy all at the same time.

That was good.

It was... and I'll tell you what. Call me a hillbilly and see what happens.

 

[elbert]

I'm always interested to see a British perspective on America. I've just finished a book called English History Made Brief, Irreverent and Pleasurable. One anecdote struck me as relevant to your inquiries, Jay. An English family sent one of their daughters to New York, and wished to be assured of her safe conduct in America. Her mother wired an acquaintance in California asking him to meet the young lady at the port.
The reply from California to England; "Meet her yourself. You're closer."

 

[cranseiron]

When we go across the state line into one of these states it's so obvious. And, when I ask family in SC how the hell they can stand it, they don't understand. When you live somewhere, where it smells terrible, you are breathing it every day, so you no longer smell the stink.

Cosmic, just checkin'-- are you saying Alabama is way more progressive, educated, financially elevated, etc. than Mississippi? That was a bit of a ramble and I'm not sure if you were comparing AL to said neighboring states or just North Carolina.

 

[tulsagentleman]

I'm not offended by Cosmic's cynical posts. I just mostly ignore them.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"I'm not offended by Cosmic's cynical posts. I just mostly ignore them."
Tulsagentleman, with all due respect, Cosmic aka Michael is one of this forum's most respected members. Yes, he has a whacky sense of humour but you really need to know the guy afore you are able to appreciate the chap let alone criticise him.
You are new here, Michael has been around for many years, try to understand him then you might appreciate him more.
That aside, nobody here is perfect in every way and of course opinions are just what they are, opinions, so go with the flow and try not to be so judgemental, you will be the better for it.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[haparnold]

...are you saying Alabama is way more progressive, educated, financially elevated, etc. than Mississippi?

You know the motto of the Alabama Department of Education? "Thank God for Mississippi" :nana:
Me, I'm a 'patrician' Tennesseean who just moved away after a couple years in Alabama.

 

[cranseiron]

Well, Hap, AL, MS, LA and AR are all neck and neck-- or is it redneck and redneck?-- in most categories and one can say the same about the other for some metric at one time or another, right? I wasn't offended by Cosmic's comparisons, but curious as to how he came to those conclusions if his standard was AL vs. NC. NC has a much changed complexion as so many residents have transplanted from the Northeast and have brought those sensibilities with them. I am quite content to live in my little hick state where life is generally quiet, unfettered and uncrowded. MS has been labeled "America's Ethiopia", but paradoxically, has such a rich literary history with the likes of William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, John Grisham, Willie Morris, Shelby Foote, etc. Music? The home of America's indigenous music, blues and country both of which largely developed here. It's a state of paradoxical quirks, pockets of sophistication, a place of story tellers and close family ties.

 

[haparnold]

No digs meant at Mississippi at all, Cranse, just poking some good-natured fun from one Southerner to another!
Incidentally, I've had a lot of fun nights I barely remember at the Kappa Alpha house at Mississippi State University, but that's a story for another day...

 

[cranseiron]

Hell, Hap, everybody else takes digs, one more won't hurt! I didn't take it that way, Hap, so no worries. I just took the opportunity to say a few positive things about the state as most of what is heard is negative. It really is a much maligned state. I've been in NYC and was ignored by a waiter when I was introduced as someone from MS and when I was working I had someone from D.C. contact me about a program I was managing and wanted to come down and take a look at it. When I told her I was located in MS a pause occurred and she pretty much said "Ah, okay, I'll get back to you on that." Surprise, surprise I never heard from her again.
MS State, huh? Cool. I graduated from Southern Miss.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Working on my family tree as I have been nigh on 19 years I have recently found an enormous amount of family data from English settlers who worked the West Virginian coalfields from circa 1880...this I was not aware of when I initially posted on the subject.
Mostly in the Fayette County district, looking at and recording local census and marriage records to my database, they appear to have bred like bloody rabbits!
Surely I must have a kinsman on this forum?
Regards,
Jay.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

Pocahontas, Wetzel, and Kanawha county here. We may be cousins though?