hillbillys?

Question

What are hillbillies in your opinion, are you proud to be a hillbilly?

Last time i asked a question about hillbillies, many people from the south of the USA got offended. I don't know why they got offended, as they just asumed I was talking about them. Well I don't even live in America! and there are hillbillies in the country I live. For all you hillbillies in the south of the USA, dont assume everything is about you!!!

Answer 1

Well, here in the U.S., hillbilly is usually used as a derogatory word, like redneck, or some others I could name, but society still deems it okay to use. It usually means someone is uneducated and lacks social skills. But many here in the south have used this to attract tourists, turning the unsavory term into monetary income. Those of us who had ancestors who grew up in the mountainous areas in the south are proud of our people and what they had to do to survive, scraping a living out of the mountains.

Answer 2

OH well hillbillies is just a term for southern folk. Not meaning that they are allll stupid. I live in MS and I dont think i am a hillbilly. We all know how to write and do math.. LOL Way back when hillbilly was use to describe how the hill billy lived. THey had chickens .. raised cows and slopped the hogs. Plowed the fields had a garden to feed their own. So if this makes them a hillbilly then I guess i am one too. They saw after their own. Making sure there was food on the table. Saw that they had a roof over their head, shoes and clothing for their bodies and prayed to God at night that they would wake up for a new day. I am not offended but i just thought you should see my side of the hillbilly name.Southern people arent all hillbillies. We do go to school and have phd's from college. THat is just a misunderstood term one that i wish was eradicated. I would love to all of us be called just human beings.

Answer 3

Hillbillies are akin to the mountain folk. They live in the (Ozark) hills and typically have a less than contemporary lifestyle although they do adopt technology, it as at such a pace that it seems outdated, or rustic. They are likely to be self-sustainable and as such often seem to run contrary to "civilized laws". Or rather, reject the materialistic and quite frankly, silly way "citizens" live their lives. Contrary to popular belief, not all hillbillies will object to the term. It is more a cultural label to identify certain groups of people that are heavily embedded in their own tradition (i.e. community dwelling that is isolated from the norms of today's "city-life" and etiquette). the hillbilly family is close and each member is likely to be an active unit that is able to aid or assist in running the family in an efficient manner. Often, they live up to the idea of a "nuclear" family. Common activities such as music help bind the family and other closer communities together.

Answer 4

If they live in the south of the USA, they are not a hillbilly. We live in the north....in the mountains....at-least most are north. I would never get offended, I'm proud to live in West Virginia..Almost heaven!

Answer 5

Hillbilly is a term referring to 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. While terms like redneck and cracker often connote rejection of, or resistance to, assimilation into the dominant culture, theoretically hillbillies are merely isolated from the dominant culture. Nevertheless, the term is sometimes considered derogatory depending on the context in which it is used or the attitude of the target.

Answer 6

Calling someone a hillbilly where I live can be construed as an insult--it usually means someone uneducated, low-income, etc. Most of the time, even people who consider themselves hillbillies (cowboy types, mostly--big trucks, big hats, tight jeans) only use the word as a kind of joke.

Answer 7

calling someone a hillbilly is akin to calling them the 'n' word or any other racial or ethnic slur...its demeaning and very insulting not only to those in the south but around the world. maybe thats why the ppl from the south got offended as it is a offensive reference and the connotation is all country or rural ppl are like the typical stereotype of a hillbilly...not a very nice image.

Answer 8

THe Clampetts were Hillbillies

Answer 9

You don't have to be in the south to be a hillbilly, there are several right in Washington DC.

Answer 10

People get upset because that is a derrogatory term. To me a hillbilly has screwed up priorities. For example, they will live in a shack, but drive a new Escalade or Corvette. Or they will say they don't have money to pay their bills, but they will go buy cigarettes and beer. Usually, hillbillies have hygiene problems.