Ok, someone explain the difference between: redneck, hillbilly, white trash, country boy, and hick - thanks!?

Question

I've heard these terms used interchangeably but, what does it all really mean?

Answer 1

Hillbilly is a term for people who dwell in remote, rural, mountainous areas. In particular the term refers to residents of Appalachia and later the Ozarks in the United States. Usage of the term "Hillbilly" generally differs from other terms referring to rural people in the United States in that it can be used for mountain dwelling people anywhere but is generally not used to refer to rural people in non-mountainous areas. Further, terms like redneck and cracker, often connote rejection of, or resistance to assimilation into the dominant culture, while hillbillies theoretically are merely isolated from the dominant culture. Nevertheless, the term is sometimes considered derogatory depending on the manner in which it is used or the attitude of the target.


White trash is an American ethnic slur with a social class component. It is comparable to "honky" in that it is targeted toward white people, but also carries an allegation of low social status. To call someone "white trash" is to accuse that person of being bankrupt of cultural endowment. "White trash" is not a demographic group recognized by sociology, and the phrase is offensive. Attitudes toward the phrase have softened somewhat in recent years, to the degree that some people describe themselves as "white trash", and there is a genre of rock music known proudly as "white-trash rock", but the phrase is still never found in polite contexts. "White trash" often carries associations with poverty, but not always.

"White trash" are perceived as having crude manners, abnormally low moral standards, and lack of cultured behavior and/or education. This group is "America's poorest and most disparaged and despised category of whiteness" (Berger 2000, p. 284). By the Fussell categorization of social class, most of these people would rank in the low and middle "prole" class. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "white trash" first came into common use in the 1830s as a pejorative used by the slaves of upper-class Southerners, often plantation aristocrats, against poor whites, below even the status of yeomen, who worked in the fields; at the time, it was synonymous with the slurs "sand hiller" and "clay eater"; "white trash" were (hyperbolically) assumed to farm ineptly on poor land and therefore resort to eating clay in order to survive. The term involves both behavioral characteristics (such as mannerisms, lifestyle) and overt racial characteristics (whiteness). The term is widely used across the United States, not only in the South, Appalachia, and Midwest, but also in East and West Coast cities like New York and Los Angeles, as a shorthand to deride others. On the West Coast, however, the term is often used colloquially in its abbreviated form: PWT (Poor White Trash).

A related stereotype is that of the redneck, though they differ considerably. A rural middle-class person may proudly characterize himself as a redneck (for example, the comedian Jeff Foxworthy uses his "redneck" persona as part of his schtick), but could be genuinely offended if called "white trash." "Trash" is more pejorative, and geographically different. So-called "rednecks" tend to be exclusively rural, whereas "white trash" are just as likely to live in semideveloped or suburban areas.

country boy- a boy/man raised in the country.

Hick (also country hick or country bumpkin) is a derogatory term for a person from a rural area.

Popular etymology says the term derives from the nickname "Old Hickory" for Andrew Jackson, one of the first Presidents of the United States to come from rural hard-scrabble roots. This nickname suggested that Jackson was tough and enduring like an old Hickory tree. Jackson was particularly admired by the residents of remote and mountainous areas of the United States, people who would come to be known as "hicks." The Oxford English Dictionary says it was "by-form" of the personal name Richard (like Dick) and Hob (like Bob) for Robert.

"Hicks" have sometimes been seen, and often been portrayed in popular media, as easy marks for sophisticated urbanites. However, at times this can be turned to the advantage of an apparent hick who is more sophisticated than he appears, which is a frequent basis for a confidence game operation. Like the Hillbilly stereotype of the United States Hicks are considered to have low IQ. There is no conclusive scientific evidence for this.

Answer 2

Redneck White Trash

Answer 3

Wow! Toughy! Actually, some of them are rather the same. Such as hillbilly and redneck and country boy. I think...at least around here. (Maryland). But white trash is different. And hick is different too. White trash is usually in the category of one of the above, but is usually nasty, tattooed, bad reputation, comes from a bad home, bad morals, etc. The first three are just Southern and have a certain southern way about them. A hick is usually just someone who is a dirty southerner...I think.
If I'm wrong...fine, I'm just giving opinions, here people...I don't think these are real terms, anyhow.

Answer 4

Poor white people. Country boy is usually used for any man from the country. Rednecks are rural and somewhat poor. But hillbilly and hick are used the same way for the same white people and are literally supposed to mean from the hills,whites who don't have much interaction with urban society. White trash is used for poor, lazy whites at the bottom of the poll who aren't liked by anybody including other whites better off than them. They are also called "Trailer Trash" because that's where most of them usually live.

Answer 5

Redneck - someone who works outside alot and gotten sun tanned around the neck line.

Hillbilly - someone from the mountains. in paticular the Ozarks

White Trash - Someone who is Lazy, and doesn't want to work for a living

Country Boy - Someone who lives in the country

Hick - combination of two or more of the above (with the exception of white trash, anyone can be white trash, not just hicks)

Answer 6

Redneck-- someone who works outside all day so they have a sunburned neck. Thought to be a construction worker, farmer, or some other trade worker. Think of Jeff Foxworthy.

Hillbilly- someone from a really rural area who lives backwards. They think marrying their cousin is okay.

White Trash- someone who lives in a trailor or shack and have little to no class. They tend to collect welfare and swear horribly and just be someone who is thought to be someone who sits on their butt watching TV and drinking beer. Walmart is their favorite store.

Country Boy- someone from the country. Tend to have good old fashioned values and aren't very worldly about crime or city like. They have 0 street sense.

Hick- someone who lives with little social class and from a rural area. They know they are uncouth and could care less.

From most insulting to least: white trash, hillbilly, redneck, hick, country boy

Answer 7

Country Hick

Answer 8

Well I'm not even close to American, but I can try to explain them....

Redneck: A cowboy
Hillbilly: Someone with a southern accent, bad teeth, ugly...etc
White Trash: Kind of like trailer trash..slutty women
Country Boy: Same as Redneck
Hick: Same as hillbilly

Answer 9

1. Redneck usually implies a racist, but more precisely a southern racist.
2. Hillbilly is just anyone who lives in the hills. Kentucky or Tennessee seem to be implied, but really, anywhere. Remember the Beverly Hillbillies?
3. What Trash is a racist term; often used as if any white is automatically trash. Can also be used in a joking way, as it was when I was in the minority in the Opportunity Program when I went to college; the few whites in the program often referred to one another as "po' white trash" (usually pronounced "poe what traish").
4. Country boy, as the song by John Denver suggests, is just any man or boy who lives in the country. It has a minimum of attached assumptions.
5. Hick generally refers to a hillbilly, almost interchangeably, but adds the implication of being naive, uninformed, ignorant; especially ignorant of city folks' ways.

Answer 10

Redneck,countryboy: Someone whom enjoys hunting&fishing,riding 4wheelers, doesn't mind getting their tires muddy, or building a bonfire while drinking a few beers or cokes but can still get decked out for his lady when needed,and always a gentleman.
White trash:Usually 4 families living in one trailer, all on welfare(as a living), don't know which is cleaner, the kids or the dogs, yard full of vehicles but none work & there's not a full set of teeth if you put them all together.
Hillbilly:People who live in the hills or mountains and live off the land. Literally. They eat what they kill and live in what they built. Families all live close together. Next grove of family is probably 30 miles apart.
Terms cracker and honky are as bad as calling a black person a ****** or hispanic person a beaner.
I'm a country redneck lady and don't give a shot what anybody says about me. And to that, I bid you all a good day. 😊

Answer 11

red neck is middle class white Southerner hillbilly's live on the Appalachian trail, white trash is a poor white family from anywhere
hick and country boy r the same as a redneck