# Am I a hick?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-hick/725205>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 15, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-hick/725205 "2015-07-15T02:11:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-hick/725205/1 "2015-07-15T02:11:24Z")

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The Online Etymology Dictionary says, _Meaning “awkward provincial person” was established by 1700._

I’m wondering established where? My guess would be to call this an Americanism, but I wouldn’t put money on it. They also talk about “rube” having a similar definition and also from a man’s name; hick from Richard and rube from Reuben, both from essentially the same time period.

I don’t think either name evokes anything in particular these days. I was certainly surprised to learn that Hick was a pet name for Richard. Were these common names for “hicks” in 1700? If you saw the name Richard Smith in print, would you assume this person was “country” or would it be that only provincial people used the Hick pet name for Richard?

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-hick/725205/2 "2015-07-15T02:26:22Z")

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From “A New Dictionary of Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew” from about 1698, which was an English dictionary of Thieves’ Cant:

Hick: A Person of whom any Prey can be made, also a silly Country fellow.

And then in the 1702 play “Grief A-la-mode” “Richard Bumpkin! Ha! A perfect country hick!”

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**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-hick/725205/3 "2015-07-15T02:27:24Z")

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You’re a hick if you use 20 miles of copper wire to connect to the closest fiber optic cable.

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**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-hick/725205/4 "2015-07-15T16:30:06Z")

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So definitely not an Americanism.

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**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-hick/725205/5 "2015-07-15T19:07:45Z")

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When we moved out of the city several years ago, we first decided to become ‘hicks’. But the connotation was off, so we switched to ‘bumpkin’ and it’s been pleasant ever since.

Bumpkin:

> [@](#):
>
> ```
> "awkward country fellow," 1560s, probably from Middle Dutch bommekijn "little barrel," diminutive of boom "tree" (see beam (n.)). Apparently, though itself Dutch, it began as a derogatory reference to Dutch people as short and dumpy.
> 
> ```

Notice that ‘hick’ is an awkward _provincial_ person, whereas ‘bumpkin’ is merely _country_. Small, but important, difference.