# Hillbillies, hicks, Yaroms (Israel), bumpkins from the sticks: etymology similarities in kind? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032 "2015-10-18T18:36:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/21 "2015-10-19T19:57:10Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > A year or so ago it came up, and I was stumped, when I was speaking Spanish and wanted to diss somebody as just-off-the-boat, and only came up with “farmer,” and it didn’t make sense at all. > … > Along those lines, calling someone a “peasant” in the US is odd and affected (not that it can’t be used as such effectively); but it is never thought about any much at all as a current American thing, no matter for how poor or countrified a person is. It’s Old World. Interesting that “bourgeois,” a word from equally foreign birthplaces, has been assimilated so readily as “middle class.”… Yes, very true. Even in the US, the term “farmer” is neutral - it simply describes a person who owns and operates a farm, which is an honorable profession. It _can_ (but does not have to) carry an implication that the average farmer is politically and socially conservative and/or lacking in higher education, though this is fading rapidly as farming has become more difficult. It’s a _profession_ now, like being a doctor or a lawyer. It’s not for everybody, but for those who do it it is respectable. You are right, the term “peasant” is almost never used to refer to people in the US. We speak all the time about how our ancestors were European peasants who made a new life in America, but they somehow lost their peasant status when they came here. Perhaps there is an implication that “peasant” implies that a person is suffering under a socially oppressive system that does not exist (or that we believe does not exist) in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/22 "2015-10-19T20:09:30Z")
The Austrian analog is Burgerländer…people of the castle country. The Vienese tell Burgerländer jokes, which follow the outline of Polack jokes. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/23 "2015-10-19T20:13:56Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > The Austrian analog is Burgerländer…people of the castle country. The Vienese tell Burgerländer jokes, which follow the outline of Polack jokes. These jokes are sometimes called “\” jokes, with the placeholder implying that the jokes are really universal. This lets you define general or meta-ethnic jokes. “So an \ walks into a bar…” ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/24 "2015-10-19T21:48:10Z")
Well I used that, because the point of the joke is aways the \ being stupid in a really obvious way: One day the \ locked his keys in his pickup truck…took him three hours to get is family out. The next day he locked his keys in the house, but fortunately the basement window was open…but it still took him three hours to dig a hole for the ladder. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/25 "2015-10-19T22:30:11Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Yes, very true. Even in the US, the term “farmer” is neutral - it simply describes a person who owns and operates a farm, which is an honorable profession. Interestingly, the word “boor” originally mean farmer or peasant. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > The origin of the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies is never made clear. I always assumed the Clampetts were from Appalachian Tennessee but others insist they are from northern Arkansas or even southern Missouri. There is no real proof given. The program gives contradictory information. Granny says she’s from Limestone, Tennessee and the Smoky Mountains. The family say they come from the town of Bug Tussle. On the other hand, a proposed title for _Petticoat Junction_ about Jed’s cousin Pearl was _Ozark Widow._ (Per Wiki) ---
**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:** [October 19, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/26 "2015-10-19T23:06:16Z")
_And is hix a once-nonce rhyme?_ Yes. Interestingly, the term “hick” is from the name Richard (like Dick) and while we have the phrase “every Tom, Dick, and Harry” in the 16th century, the Brits had “Hicke, Hob and Hans” as generic people. So, “hick” is like “rube” in that it derives directly from a proper name. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/27 "2015-10-19T23:24:05Z")
Calling someone a ‘peasant’ in the UK is a mild insult - the sort of thing one might say to a friend who had been rather slow witted. As in many countries, city folk tend to regard country folk as stupid, and those from the country regard city people as flash and dishonest. I live in Worcestershire, a largely agricultural county and have been referred to as a ‘carrot cruncher’. More colourfully, visitors to Cornwall are derisively referred to as ‘grockles’ while calling someone a pleb (from plebeian) might be insulting or not, depending on their relative social status. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2015, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/28 "2015-10-20T10:32:49Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Calling someone a ‘peasant’ in the UK is a mild insult - the sort of thing one might say to a friend who had been rather slow witted. As in many countries, city folk tend to regard country folk as stupid, and those from the country regard city people as flash and dishonest. Interesting. Here “peasant” is a mock insult used as a way to indicate the speaker is a snob. Or that they are mocking snobbery. You know, like how “let them eat cake” is used. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/29 "2015-10-20T10:50:30Z")
It’s incredibly hilly in SE Wisconsin, but we never used “hillbilly.” “Redneck” was applied to macho cops and teachers, and only to farmers who were also hard-ass toward teenagers (it seems to have been a measure of ones character on how one reacted to dozens of teenagers sneaking a beer keg onto one’s back forty) . Farmers (and all of them were dairy farmers there) were called “ **shit-kickers**.” Among themselves, they had class distinctions: all the farm kids did chores before coming to school, but the lower-class ones didn’t change their clothes first, just their shoes; and smelled up the place with manure. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/30 "2015-10-20T14:29:40Z")
German language: The main german noun to denote hick is _Hinterwäldler_ - curiously enough it entered the German language in the 19th century as a calque of ‘backwoodsman’ in German articles and books about the United States. A term that’s only mildly deregatory (and often used self-depreciatingly) is _Landei_ (egg from the country). People from the country are _vom Lande_, implying a lack of sophistication. The term _Bauer_ is the usually neutral term for farmer (official term is _Landwirt_ nowadays), but the adjective _bäuerisch_ is derogatory in the sense of uncouth, unsophisticated. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/31 "2015-10-20T15:09:04Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > The term _Bauer_ is the usually neutral term for farmer (official term is _Landwirt_ nowadays), but the adjective _bäuerisch_ is derogatory in the sense of uncouth, unsophisticated. I believe _Bauer_ is related to “boor” in English, as well as Boer in Dutch/Afrikaans, the Boers being farmers. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/32 "2015-10-20T15:13:11Z")
> [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > _And is hix a once-nonce rhyme?_ > > Yes. > > Interestingly, the term “hick” is from the name Richard (like Dick) and while we have the phrase “every Tom, Dick, and Harry” in the 16th century, the Brits had “Hicke, Hob and Hans” as generic people. So, “hick” is like “rube” in that it derives directly from a proper name. Wait, you’be just just added another: A city boy as well as a country boy can be a rube, someone who if he isn’t actually a sucker or showing gullibility now, is certainly a mark. Which I believe is from “marked,” not from someone named “Mark.” But who was Reuben? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/33 "2015-10-20T15:25:05Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > … > > [Hix Nix Stix Pix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticks_nix_hick_pix) is a classic, of course. > > Which made me think about “from the sticks”–the (back) woods, I guess. And is hix a once-nonce rhyme… > > > [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > > > _And is hix a once-nonce rhyme?_ > > > > Yes. > > > > Interestingly, the term “hick” is from the name Richard (like Dick) and while **we** have the phrase “every Tom, Dick, and Harry” in the 16th century, the Brits had “Hicke, Hob and Hans” as generic people. So, “hick” is like “rube” in that it derives directly from a proper name. bold added. I’m confused. First, antecedents: who’s “we” if not Brits, who are being contrasted with the “Hicke, Hob, and Hans” users (who frankly sound like they would be German). Also, I think your “yes” to my question as I understood it should be a “no”–I wondered if “hicks” was a rhyme for “sticks,” as in the people from there. So if you would, revisit the Hicke Hob Hans thing. And on “hick” as a rhyme with “Dick” for a most certainly non-King-like association. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/34 "2015-10-20T15:30:01Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > But who was Reuben? “Reuben” was just a generic name for someone from the countryside, being a common name in rural areas. “Rubes” were just bumpkins. There is a legend that the carny’s [“Hey Rube!” call](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey,_Rube!) originated from one particular Reuben, but I don’t think that’s likely. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/35 "2015-10-20T15:58:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Interestingly, the word “boor” originally mean farmer or peasant… This is probably related to the German “Bauer” and Dutch “boer”. The Dutch word was applied to settlers in South Africa, so it could be an interesting parallel. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/36 "2015-10-20T16:29:09Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > This is probably related to the German “Bauer” and Dutch “boer”. The Dutch word was applied to settlers in South Africa, so it could be an interesting parallel. As I said in post #31😉 ---
**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:** [October 20, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/37 "2015-10-20T17:51:03Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I’m confused. First, antecedents: who’s “we” if not Brits, who are being contrasted with the “Hicke, Hob, and Hans” users (who frankly sound like they would be German). > > Also, I think your “yes” to my question as I understood it should be a “no”–I wondered if “hicks” was a rhyme for “sticks,” as in the people from there. > > So if you would, revisit the Hicke Hob Hans thing. And on “hick” as a rhyme with “Dick” for a most certainly non-King-like association. In the headline, “Hix Nix Stix Pix” the word “Hix” is a one off nonce for hicks. It means that hicks (hix) don’t like (nix) rual (stix) movies (pix). Country people don’t like movies about country subjects. I’m sorry, the “we” was Leftpondians. We have an expression here of “every Tom, Dick, and Harry” referring to generic people. In 16th century Britain, there was a similar idea but the names were Hicke, Hob and Hans. From the OED entry for hick: 1565 M. Harding in J. Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 529 Be it that Hicke, Hob, and Hans, of your Sects haue impudently accused him. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/38 "2015-10-21T05:42:14Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Did you post the examples in Spanish and I missed it? No, but they’re completely literal. The closest any of them come to “slang” you wouldn’t get from a brick by brick\* translation is the reference to _[caseríos](http://dle.rae.es/?w=caser%C3%ADo&o=h)_, which is a regionalism; a brick by brick translation would be more likely to come up with _[granja](http://dle.rae.es/?w=granja&o=h)_. _Pueblerino_ (ES). _De pueblo_ (ES). _De poble_ (CAT). _De caserío, casero_ (ES) (regional to the areas in and around where Basque is spoken; may be pronounced with sh to give it the accent of someone whose first language is Basque and their Spanish is wobbly). _Provinciano_ (ES). _Provincial_ (CAT). And yes, saying that someone is _de ciudad_ can very much be an insult as well. It refers to someone who gets tired after walking for a minute, who can’t find his arse in town without a subway map, and/or who defends his theory that any place below X million people is “the arse-end of nowhere” (where X million is the population of his native conurbation) by claiming that said conurbation has “so many theaters and museums” when he hasn’t set foor in one since he was a minor (school trips, you know). - Brick by brick, Spanish slang: a word for word translation in which the first option offered by the dictionary is chosen. For example, calling Private Ryan _el privado Ryan_ (ref. to privacy) instead of _el soldado Ryan_ (the actual equivalent grade). ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032/39 "2015-10-21T11:05:01Z")
Just an FYI, bit [I asked a similar question a number of years ago](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=202558). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillbillies-hicks-yaroms-israel-bumpkins-from-the-sticks-etymology-similarities-in-kind/735032.md?page=1)