# Are you familiar with the "holler" pronunciation of "hollow"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 15, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457 "2016-06-15T19:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/41 "2016-06-17T01:56:40Z")
Specially if ya’ll gots a crik runnin through it. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/42 "2016-06-17T03:18:50Z")
This is my first time hearing (reading) it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/43 "2016-06-17T03:26:45Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > Great song. Fabulous song. And till now I had no idea what a holler was. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/44 "2016-06-17T04:25:28Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > You’re blowing my mind. I knew that a holler was a wooded valley, and I knew that a hollow was also a valley, but I never knew that holler and hollow were the same word. I didn’t, until now, know that people were writing and reading “hollow” but saying it with an r. Me neither. It took a long time for me to understand that “crick” is really spelled creek too, though. The pronunciations of both are just _so_ off from the spelling it never occurred to me that they were saying those words instead of entirely separate ones. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/45 "2016-06-17T05:10:34Z")
We should be grateful Washington Irving was a Yankee–“The Legend of Sleepy Holler” really stinks as a title. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/46 "2016-06-17T08:22:11Z")
I am very familiar with the word “holler,” living here in the other hillbilly place with a remarkably similar accent among the old folks. However, I never made the connection to “hollow” until you mentioned it. I always assumed it was connected to the other word “holler” which means to yell. A holler is usually a place that has a nice echo. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/47 "2016-06-17T13:16:24Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > If I, in a thick Appalachian accent, referred to a location as “a holler,” would you know that it meant “hollow,” as in “valley”? Yes, but then, my in-laws are all “Mountain People” so I’ve been hearing the dialect for nearly 30 years now. Figuring out that “flares” (which as they say it has 1.5 to 2 syllables) meant “flowers” took me a bit longer. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/48 "2016-06-17T13:41:23Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Yes, but then, my in-laws are all “Mountain People” so I’ve been hearing the dialect for nearly 30 years now. > > Figuring out that “flares” (which as they say it has 1.5 to 2 syllables) meant “flowers” took me a bit longer. My father said “flars.” It rhymes with “cars.” Other words that rhyme with cars: showers, tires, hours. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/49 "2016-06-17T14:14:56Z")
I’m familiar with the word holler. But always thought it was a different word from hollow Country people do sometimes create the er sound Old Yeller. Instead of old yellow. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457/50 "2016-06-17T14:47:41Z")
Yep. Holler as a verb = to yell Holler as a noun = low land spot usually between hills/mountains [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-familiar-with-the-holler-pronunciation-of-hollow/757457.md?page=2)