# US Southerners/Kentuckians: What's a "holler?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569 "2018-06-22T13:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/1 "2018-06-22T13:46:56Z")
See query. I read today [cite gone] about big-shot actor who said that he (or somebody) was born “in a f\*\*\* holler in Kentucky” I presume he was claiming humble beginnings, and that the word means shack of some kind. Never heard of it; perhaps it’s in Faulkner and I don’t remember. Anyone (even Yankees) heard of it? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/2 "2018-06-22T13:48:39Z")
I think the word is “hollow”, as in Sleepy Hollow. The accent makes it sound like holler. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/3 "2018-06-22T13:49:53Z")
Alternative spelling for definition 2 of “[hollow](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hollow)”; a small valley. (no Faulkner, just too much John Ringo) ---
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/4 "2018-06-22T14:12:46Z")
Huh. I got it wrong then. So he is saying something particularly non-meaningful except for a geographical note not particularly specific (like “inner-city” as the euphemism goes today). I bet many a rich person was born in a valley. Unless Southerners consider “born in a valley” to mean something distinctly social. Maybe some people say like that “you know, ‘hill folk’ [and we all know who _they_ are.]” ---
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/5 "2018-06-22T14:14:35Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > … > > (no Faulkner, just too much John Ringo) 😕 Beatles reference? If so, don’t get it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/6 "2018-06-22T14:17:51Z")
Yep, “born in the valley” is like saying I was born in the backwoods. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/7 "2018-06-22T14:24:31Z")
Huh. Thanks. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/8 "2018-06-22T14:27:34Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > … > Unless Southerners consider “born in a valley” to mean something distinctly social. Maybe some people say like that “you know, ‘hill folk’ [and we all know who _they_ are.]” Just realized that everybody, courtesy of Hollywood sitcom, if nothing else, knows the word “hillbilly.” Although what a “billy” is, and if that is a pejorative and a giveaway to the meaning, I have no idea. If not, that means people born in the valleys _and_ in the hills are clod-hoppers, and people in Kansas and Nebraska are as a group more sophisticated. ETA: Just realized “clod-hoppers” can reasonably be applied to people who live on plains… Which suggests: Hill people–not sure if valley people implies “white trash” (which I believe is also Southern originally): where is “clod-hopper” originally from? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/9 "2018-06-22T14:28:59Z")
A “holler” is just a small valley, sure–but it’s specifically a small valley in a very rural area. You’d never call a small valley in a mountain city a “holler.” We drive past places labeled “hollow” or “holler” as we look for hiking trails. You don’t find many paved roads leading into hollers. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/10 "2018-06-22T14:30:48Z")
You’ve never watched _The Beverly Hillbillies_ at all, have you? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/11 "2018-06-22T14:31:57Z")
I can imaginatively speculate why the holler would have been more backwoods than most. First, it’s clearly not the town. Then, these types of little valleys are often more thickly wooded because they’re generally associated with a small watercourse, like a “crick”, so trees grow a lot better. Finally, a small holler (being a thickly wooded valley) probably has less farmland, so them’s livin’ in the holler aren’t the more prosperous and respected kind of farmers. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/12 "2018-06-22T14:34:15Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕 Beatles reference? If so, don’t get it. ☹ Different [Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=21039237). I found myself detectivin’ the meaning of “holler” as a geographical feature in the Southern US due to encountering it in one of his novels; IIRC, one where he lets rednecks play with antimatter. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/13 "2018-06-22T14:38:30Z")
Here’s a Steve Earl lyric to give you a sense of the word: "You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here He only came to town about twice a year He’d buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line Everybody knew that he made moonshine Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad He headed up the **holler** with everything he had Before my time but I’ve been told He never came back from Copperhead Road" ---
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/14 "2018-06-22T14:40:48Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Different [Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=21039237)… Linky boo-boo. Can you check and send it again? ---
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/15 "2018-06-22T14:42:36Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > You’ve never watched _The Beverly Hillbillies_ at all, have you? Most of them. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/16 "2018-06-22T14:43:26Z")
Loretta Lynn was born in Butcher Holler KY ---
**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:** [June 22, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/17 "2018-06-22T14:44:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > A “holler” is just a small valley, sure–but it’s specifically a small valley in a very rural area. You’d never call a small valley in a mountain city a “holler.”… That’s a point. Mountain cities, although I only have visited Aspen, aren’t “sleepy.” ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/18 "2018-06-22T14:48:01Z")
Small valley doesn’t do it justice though that’s what it is. It’s an indentation in a mountain side. They do come in different sizes. Some hollers are extremely steep and heavily wooded, others are less steep. Here’s a link of a larger holler [A Trip Up Wolf Pen Drive aka Wolf Pen Holler, Sissonville, West Virginia - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQGlNd2rqBc) Here’s a link of a smaller one that’s not too steep [https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/71999337.jpg](https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/71999337.jpg) I’m a West Virginian from the Alleghenies and when someone says they’re from the holler, I usually take it to mean that they are local. I don’t think there is a positive or negative connotation to it. Generally, people wouldn’t say ‘I’m from the Holler’ since we have about ten billion of them, they’d say “I’m from Smoky Holler” or “I live up Spook Holler” (And actually, we don’t use ‘holler’, our accent is more like ‘hall-uh’ The ‘holler’ pronounciation is more southern and less mountain. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/19 "2018-06-22T14:51:10Z")
I grew up in a holler, and my parents still live there. I don’t see the word as applying to any old valley; when I say “holler” I mean a small road cutting off of the main road, running between two ridges, usually with people living there. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569/20 "2018-06-22T14:55:18Z")
> [@senoy](#): > > Small valley doesn’t do it justice though that’s what it is. Exactly. You might think a small valley is big enough to hold a town or a hospital with a modern maternity ward. Nope. Think “tiny, extremely narrow valley with very steep sides.” I lived at the mouth of a hollow in West Virginia for a few years. The flat bottomland near the small stream was in the shape of a long narrow triangle. The mouth of the hollow near the road is only 250 feet wide, tapering to a point maybe a quarter or half mile back from the road. The two long sides of the triangle are bordered by steep ridges that rise abruptly to about 150 feet above the bottomland. It’s barely wide enough to hold a couple of houses and not nearly big enough to hold a hospital. A baby “born in a hollow” by implication was born at home. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-southerners-kentuckians-whats-a-holler/816569.md?page=2)