Hick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the derogatory term. For the theologian, see John Hick.
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, the term, "hick chic", somtimes being applied. 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.
A famous usage of the term comes from the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy which features the Variety headline "STIX NIX HIX PIX", which was a story about how movies portraying rural-dwellers as hicks were, unsurprisingly, unpopular in such areas ("the sticks"). Stereotypes of hicks in the popular mind are often derived from such motion pictures as The Egg and I, featuring the first screen appearance of the hick characters Ma and Pa Kettle. The Beverly Hillbillies were television hicks, although many feel that they, particularly Granny, often in the final analysis got the better of their nemesis, Mrs. Drysdale, and were more mentally stable than the repressed and effete Miss Jane Hathaway, banker Drysdale's secretary.
Some people complain that "hicks" continue as almost the only group that can be ridiculed and stereotyped with impunity. "Hick" is a less frequently used as a term for any American of European descent by other racial groups.
Former NBA player Larry Bird often describes himself, with pride, as "A hick from French Lick"; which, of course, is a reference to the fact that he is an unpretentious, humble man from the small town of French Lick, Indiana.
The part of the nurse in the 2005 concert production of South Pacific is modified for Reba McEntire so she is a "hick" from Little Rock, Arkansas. "A hick is one who lives in a stick".
The name of the villain in the film Cars is Chick Hicks, a trash-talking southern boy.
Presently, there is a rural festival called the Hick Fair held at 4-H Camp Kidd near Parsons, WV. The annual fair has been held for more that two decades and features an extensive horse show, games, craft show, and the best corndogs in West Virginia.
