What are the precise differences between rednecks, hicks, hillbillys, and backwoodsmen? This question entered the discussion at lunch yesterday and no one had a satisfactory answer. One person suggested that the definitions were set by geographic region.
Hicks live in Kentucky or West Virginia.
Rednecks live in the deep South.
Hillbillys live in the Arkansas region.
Backwoodsmen live in the West.
Unfortunately this doesn’t square very well with the way I’ve heard the terms used all my life. Would anybody care to clarify.
There have been some huge debates about this on this board before.
The boundaries are not nearly so neat as you list them. Here are some expanded boundaries even even these won’t be complete.
Hicks live in Kentucky or West Virginia. - Wrong. Hicks live in rural areas all over the U.S. There are plenty in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, the Midwest, and the South.
Rednecks live in the deep South. - Incomplete. There are plent of Rednecks in the Midwest as well as all of the South up to Virginia.
Hillbillys live in the Arkansas region. Incomplete - There are hillbillies in the Ozarks (Missouri too) but they are primarily centered in the Appalachians.
**Backwoodsmen live in the West **- Incomplete - Include Western Canada and Alaska as Well.
Okay, but those boundaries clearly overlap. Lets suppose that I’m driving through the hills of southwestern Virginia when I encouonter a property featuring a trailer with peeling aluminum siding, two rusty pickup trucks mounted on cinder blocks, an entire flock of pink flamingos, a huge confederate flag in the window and a really scrawny hound in a kennel.* How do I classify the inhabitant?
Don’t laugh. I’ve actually seen a place that combined all of these features.
Those are hicks with some small overlapping features with rednecks. Rednecks generally aren’t completly impoverished. As a matter of fact, there are plenty of wealthy and middle-class rednecks.
An important thing to remember is these classes aren’t 100% mutually exclusive. To assign a label, you have to go with the largest tendency.
Depends on how many washing machines are on the porch or in the yard. Given the description and location, that would be a hillbilly in my taxonomy. I grew up in Baltimore and now live in Appalachian southern Ohio, among hillbillies. The words you’ve asked about meant the following in urban Maryland:Hick - an unsophisticated person who lived outside of a big city, Redneck - southern non-city dweller, usually a farmer, Hillbilly - Appalachian hick, Backwoodsman - not often used, but would refer to a cabin-dwelling survivalist type.
Ok, I pride myself on being very literate in all the derogatory terms out there but I must admit that I don’t know what a “stump jumper” is. Is this some kind of group that I have missed.
As far as location goes, hicks, rednecks, and backwoodsman can be found damn near anywhere (obviously, backwoodsmen need woods, and hicks can’t be in a city, but rednecks can be, and are, everywhere. The the numbers are much less in a city.) But Hillbillies need to be in Appalachia.
Hicks, as said, just don’t care for city life. Backwoodsmen take this to the extreme and also shun certain aspects of technology and society. Rednecks like to drink Milwaukee’s Best or Miller High Life and can often be found congregating at NASCAR events, Toby Keith concerts, and flea markets. Hillbilles are like hicks, but in a specific locale and tend to have one relative fill multiple roles in the family, if you catch my drift. :eek:
Hillbillies are mountain folk, mostly Appalachian, but sometimes from the Ozarks.
Backwoodsmen live back in the woods. What’s more, they wouldn’t live anywhere else if they had the chance.
Hicks are country folk, not used to the big city.
Rednecks are also country folk, or at least people who started out as country folk. But rednecks have other defining characteristics – they work manual labor jobs, drink beer, drive trucks and have little use for people of different ethnic groups.
I am going to have to disagree that Rednecks need to live in the country. There are plenty of city rednecks too. Rednecks don’t believe in much education, work in a blue-collar industry (though they may own the business), listen to twangy country music and sometimes hard rock, love fast cars, hold bigotted views, act unsophisticated in formal settings, tend to get in trouble with the law, drink lots of beer fight alot, and love wildlife sports.
There are plenty of cities in the South that have large populations of people that meet the above criteria. I grew up near Shreveport, LA and there were certainly plenty there. King of the Hill takes place in a fictional city and his friends are Rednecks. Mike Judge says it is based on what he personally knows about Texas.
Hmmm…to my grandma, anyone who lived in “the hills” of Alabama was a hillbilly. My grandma was from Alabama, but lived in Mississippi between the time I was born and she died.
Given the description and location, that would be a hillbilly in my taxonomy. I grew up in Baltimore and now live in Appalachian southern Ohio, among hillbillies. The words you’ve asked about meant the following in urban Maryland:Hick - an unsophisticated person who lived outside of a big city, Redneck - southern non-city dweller, usually a farmer, Hillbilly - Appalachian hick, Backwoodsman - not often used, but would refer to a cabin-dwelling survivalist type.