Odd title, I know, but I didn’t want to offend anyone by using the “r-word.”
My office is in a city that has a very large population descended from West Virginians and eastern Kentuckians who migrated to the region during and after World War II to work in area factories.
I noticed that the women in the city who seem “Appalachian”, “hard” or “working-class of a rural Confederate cultural orientation” don’t laugh. Seriously. Instead, they make a hard cackling noise. Instead of “ha ha ha”, it’s “keh keh keh” or “hek hek hek”. My question: why?
Do they smoke a lot? Smoking can do a number on some women’s voice characteristics including laugh.
BTW-redneck isn’t all that offensive especially in the third person. There are plenty of people that self-identify as rednecks. Although it may look all bad from the outside, many of them don’t see it that way.
On the other hand, it might be offensive to refer to West Virginians as “Confederate”. Remember, that’s the state which formed because it didn’t want to be part of the Confederacy. And to equate “Appalacian” with “Confederate” is even worse, since a significant part of Appalacia is in Pennsylvania (and in fact, many Clevelanders of Appalacian descent are from PA).
Gee, when you said you wanted to avoid the ‘r’ word I thought you meant Republican.
(Heck, a “rural Confederate cultural orientation” seems to fit the Republican party quite well).
