Great diary, rec'd. I thank you for your hard work. One beef, however, do you really need to use terms like "Hillary-billy" and "Ed-neck?" Derogatory terms stereotyping lower class white citizens is unnecessary and demeaning.
I grew up in one of those PA Hillerybilly counties.
Sorry, you may love the term, but plenty of Appalachians find it offensive. There is simply no reason to use such terms in this otherwise excellant diary.
Humorless and thin skinned. Utterly serious, pious, and self-righteous about everything.
And, by the way, we Pennsylvanians don't call ourselves Appalachians.
Whatever. I have to say that it's OK to use to a term that many people find insulting, or else I am "humorless." Do you think prejudice against people who live in the mountains is funny? Whether PA people use the term "Appalachains" or not, it is not a term of abuse, and is not resented by many as is the term "hillbillies."
We know we're crackers but we're not ashamed of that. And even those of us who moved away, attained a higher level of education, and live in more "sophisticated" areas, look back fondly to our roots. We don't look down on the people who live back home and we're not ashamed of where we came from. So, we are able to laugh at ourselves.
I not implying "Appalachian" is a derogatory term. I'm simply saying PA hill people don't call themselves that. That term is normally used for mountain areas of WV and further south.
Many people don't like the term "cracker" either. Why do you think that you get to decide what is or isn't a derogatory term? If I were an Irish-American, would that give me license to "approve" the term "Mick?" If I were Jewish, would give me license to "approve" the term "Yid?" The diarist simply has no reason to use terms that play off "hiilbilly" and "redneck." He could just as easily have used different, non-controversial terms. Your "responses" are simply not responsive to this simple point. Please explain to me why the use of such terms was necessaary, or let it go. But spare me any further spurious arguments that you get to decide what is or isn't a derogatory term.
I don't take offense to that term, either, and I've never met another "mick" who did.
Again, I've known met plenty who did. And your claim to the contrary cuts no ice. And, again, thanks for ducking the issue. Why couldn't the diarist have used other terms, that are not even arguably objectionable? What do these terms add to his otherwise great diary? Again, please answer this question and spare me anymore of your personal or anecdotal evidence. Let me put it even more bluntly: I don't give a crap what group terms you think are OK or not OK, even if you are a member of the groups in question. Explain to me why the use of such terms is necessary in this diary or STFU.
I'd rather read a diarist who makes me chuckle than a PC liberal who drones on sanctimoniously about offensiveness. He made me laugh whereas you just bore me - as your type usually does. Is that a good enough explanation?
I was thinking that Hillbillary was pretty funny too, but opted for Hillary-billy.
Melds the term of hillbilly with Hillary supporter. And, as one who hails from one of those PA mountain counties who is also a Hillary supporter, I gladly embrace the term!
No. As I said, I don't think it's funny. As for my "boring" you, I did not ask you to respond to my first post, or any of the subsequent ones. You have "droned" on and on with your totally unpersuasive personal and anecdotal arguments, and havenever addressed the real issue. It is obvious that you have noting persuasive to say, and have now resorted to insults.
That would be my guess.
Look, wise up before you get that old. I suspect from your highly indignant tone that you aren't that old and maybe you still can learn. Most people aren't looking for someone to lecture to them why they should feel like victims and be offended. Lighten up. You only hurt yourself and only weak people are going to feel impressed by your lectures.
Sounds like you're the one doing the lecturing.
These people are being crushed financially and feel Obama is quixotic and airy-fairy. They have more faith that Hillary can actually do something and do something fast that will help them.
It's wrong to keep reducing them to racist hicks. (And I don't think the use here is too extreme - I laughed at Hillary-Billys myself BUT I have seen more offensive terms used elsewhere) That, too, is a form of bigotry.
Voter registration in Centre County last stood at 44% GOP 38% DEM which the Centre Daily said evidenced a growing trend for Democrats. They printed that data about two weeks ago. (I read it sitting in Fetterolf's barbershop in State College) I deduced from that that most of the students at Penn State might well be registered to vote elsewhere.
Anyone know?
The lower Appalachians (Cambria County) advertises the place as the Laural Highlands if I remember correctly. Totally off topic I know.
But to the Author of this post, I think that you're spot on.
lower Cambria and Somerset counties
As an Appalachian born in Ohio myself I don't find it offensive. It's what we were calling ourselves long before it became an epithet.
Many Appalachains don't like it. Whether you like it or not is not the issue.
The thing about the word "hillbilly" is that we were calling ourselves by that name long before it became a pejorative. Should a group of people abandon the name they have for themselves when it becomes used as a pejorative? The word "Yankee" is used pejoratively in most of the world, but that's not how Americans in the Northeast use the word.
As a dedicated PC liberal, he cannot tolerate our sanguine attitudes about these little names.
According to Jeffrey Graf at Indiana University:
The best evidence, however, suggests that "Hoosier" was a term of contempt and opprobrium common in the upland South and used to denote a rustic, a bumpkin, a countryman, a roughneck, a hick or an awkward, uncouth or unskilled fellow. Although the word's derogatory meaning has faded, it can still be heard in its original sense, albeit less frequently than its cousins "Cracker" and "Redneck."
I think the original term had a wider use than just Indiana. There is an old Abolitionist song Lincoln and Liberty that goes like this:
Hurrah for the choice of the nation Our chieftain so brave and so true We'll go for the great reformation For Lincoln and liberty too. We'll go for the son of Kentucky Our hero of hoosierdom through For the people are everywhere calling For Lincoln and Liberty too.
We'll go for the son of Kentucky Our hero of hoosierdom through For the people are everywhere calling For Lincoln and Liberty too.
For my purposes, it's really just a mnemonic, as are the other terms.
Borderline cases don't invalidate my point. Many mountain people object to the term "hillbilly." Perhaps fewer Indianans object to "Hoosier." Again, how does this justify the diarists use of the former term? And what is gained by his use of this, as opposed to some clearly unobjectionable, term?
I went to U of Penn and always enjoyed the humor of Fighting Quakers myself. Hossiers ( having lived there ) and Buckeyes (brother in law) are pretty touchy when it comes to this cred.
