KY Hillbillies vs Appalachian Folks

[Margonme]

The good folks of Kentucky's eastern mountains are NOT Hillbillies. They are Appalachian people whose ethnic origins go back to mostly Scottish, Irish, Welsh, etc. They are coal miners. Unique folks. Go to Knott, Floyd, Perry, Breathitt, Leslie counties if you want to meet Appalachians.

I am a bonifided hillbilly. Raised in the steep farming counties of Kentucky. My mother goes back to the Boone family that came across the Cumberland Gap. Ethnically, they tend to have more English and eastern European roots. For example, mom was a Mitchell, an old English and Scottish name. These folks are heavy drinkers, hard workers, proud, etc. Honesty is a virtue that they hold to even when a lie would be the wisest course of action. I remember mom told us "one thing a person never has to do is lie". I got into a lot of trouble growing up because I told the truth when I should have told a "white" lie. It would have made my life soooo much easier.

There is nothing worse than a hillbilly who loses his way. They stop drinking and start using drugs. They stop working and go on welfare. They become lazy. They start lying. They start stealing. Too many good hillbillies have lost their way. When I was a kid, everyone was a good hillbilly. Now there are too many white trailer trash hillbillies.

 

[Anonymous]

well im from as far east as you can go and i have been away for a while but from what my family down there says yes a lot have lost there way and all hope .an theres a lot truth about us easterners pike co. myself could be on look out in 15 min drive you could see all three states KY ,V, AND WV come together you could even see into tenn.i still miss the life there but they say it has changed .that makes me sad .

 

[Margonme]

well im from as far east as you can go and i have been away for a while but from what my family down there says yes a lot have lost there way and all hope .an theres a lot truth about us easterners pike co. myself could be on look out in 15 min drive you could see all three states KY ,V, AND WV come together you could even see into tenn.i still miss the life there but they say it has changed .that makes me sad .

I should have added Pike County. Yes, it is very sad. I am not uncompassionate. There are few good jobs. How can someone make it on a $12 per hour wage? This problem has been coming for 40 years. No wonder people here give up!

 

[Craig Miller]

They pay 12 up ther? Better not tell the folks here or yall be covered up with alabama hillbillies wanting jobs. They only pay 9-10 in the plant jobs here.

 

[Margonme]

They pay 12 up ther? Better not tell the folks here or yall be covered up with alabama hillbillies wanting jobs. They only pay 9-10 in the plant jobs here.

:lol:

 

[herofan]

There is nothing worse than a hillbilly who loses his way. They stop drinking and start using drugs. They stop working and go on welfare. They become lazy. They start lying. They start stealing. Too many good hillbillies have lost their way. When I was a kid, everyone was a good hillbilly. Now there are too many white trailer trash hillbillies.

And those white trailer trash hillbillies can give the good hillbillies a bad name.

I'm not sure if I'll get this to come out the way I intend, but I live in KY, and I've thought about how in my grandparent's day and even my young parent's day, nobody had a lot of money rolling in. Nobody had anything fancy; nobody spent half their time polishing his vehicle or manicuring his lawn; everybody was a little rusty because nobody took a bath every day, at least not in the cleansing manner that we take one in today; however, those were the good people, the normal people.

Somewhere along the way, some of them lost their way, as you mentioned. These days, if a person isn't too fancy, most assume they are of the trailer trash variety.

 

[Margonme]

There is nothing worse than a hillbilly who loses his way. They stop drinking and start using drugs. They stop working and go on welfare. They become lazy. They start lying. They start stealing. Too many good hillbillies have lost their way. When I was a kid, everyone was a good hillbilly. Now there are too many white trailer trash hillbillies.

And those white trailer trash hillbillies can give the good hillbillies a bad name.

I'm not sure if I'll get this to come out the way I intend, but I live in KY, and I've thought about how in my grandparent's day and even my young parent's day, nobody had a lot of money rolling in. Nobody had anything fancy; nobody spent half their time polishing his vehicle or manicuring his lawn; everybody was a little rusty because nobody took a bath every day, at least not in the cleansing manner that we take one in today; however, those were the good people, the normal people.

Somewhere along the way, some of them lost their way, as you mentioned. These days, if a person isn't too fancy, most assume they are of the trailer trash variety.

You got it JUST RIGHT!

 

[True Grit Farms]

All I know is I'm deplorable.

 

[Margonme]

All I know is I'm deplorable.

I don't understand your point. I grasp the meaning of the words but I am not grasping what message you intend it to convey.

You may be stating that in humor. If not, it is self-degrading. If someone else degrades you, it is easily ignored in most cases, but to demean yourself is not constructive! Maybe bball will explain that.

 

[john250]

:frowns: My grandfather drove a team and a wagon across the Ohio River in 1918.

 

[True Grit Farms]

All I know is I'm deplorable.

I don't understand your point. I grasp the meaning of the words but I am not grasping what message you intend it to convey.

You may be stating that in humor. If not, it is self-degrading. If someone else degrades you, it is easily ignored in most cases, but to demean yourself is not constructive! Maybe bball will explain that.

Hillary defined deplorable and I fit her description perfectly. So I'm proud to be a deplorable myself.

 

[Margonme]

All I know is I'm deplorable.

I don't understand your point. I grasp the meaning of the words but I am not grasping what message you intend it to convey.

You may be stating that in humor. If not, it is self-degrading. If someone else degrades you, it is easily ignored in most cases, but to demean yourself is not constructive! Maybe bball will explain that.

Hillary defined deplorable and I fit her description perfectly. So I'm proud to be a deplorable myself.

Oh! That is sarcasm directed at Hillary. Glad it is not the voice of despair.

 

[Margonme]

:frowns: My grandfather drove a team and a wagon across the Ohio River in 1918.

So did mine. Grandfather on my paternal side. Lived on the Kentucky side in Campbell County. Hauled produce across the river to sell in Cincinnati. Or maybe that is a story told about all our grandfathers in Kentucky. We should ask Bigfoot if his grandfather crossed the Ohio River with a team and wagon. :cowboy:

Before the locks and dams on the Ohio. Dad said the river got very low during droughts. Claims he stood with one foot on each side of the river during the 1930s drought.

 

[Margonme]

My pappy was right. Never checked it before but I guess the Museum of the Ohio River displays pictures of the Ohio during the 1930s drought:

The period April 1930 to March 1931 is the driest on record in Ohio although longer periods of low precipitation
have occurred from 1893-1896, 1952-1955, and 1963-1965.

 

[Jogeephus]

My pappy was right. Never checked it before but I guess the Museum of the Ohio River displays pictures of the Ohio during the 1930s drought:

The period April 1930 to March 1931 is the driest on record in Ohio although longer periods of low precipitation
have occurred from 1893-1896, 1952-1955, and 1963-1965.

Interesting to note all these droughts occurred before 1975 when the gov't required everyone to put catalytic converters on their cars. ;-)

 

[HDRider]

All I know is I'm deplorable.

Me too and proud of it...

 

[1982vett]

My pappy was right. Never checked it before but I guess the Museum of the Ohio River displays pictures of the Ohio during the 1930s drought:

The period April 1930 to March 1931 is the driest on record in Ohio although longer periods of low precipitation
have occurred from 1893-1896, 1952-1955, and 1963-1965.

Interesting to note all these droughts occurred before 1975 when the gov't required everyone to put catalytic converters on their cars. ;-)

In 1893-1896 it was all the horses and mules....the others was leaded gas........ ;-) :lol2:

 

[john250]

There you go with your climate change scepticism, Catalytic converters were an important source of income for inner city folk,

 

[Margonme]

My pappy was right. Never checked it before but I guess the Museum of the Ohio River displays pictures of the Ohio during the 1930s drought:

The period April 1930 to March 1931 is the driest on record in Ohio although longer periods of low precipitation
have occurred from 1893-1896, 1952-1955, and 1963-1965.

Interesting to note all these droughts occurred before 1975 when the gov't required everyone to put catalytic converters on their cars. ;-)

I got you. Associating short term fluctuations in weather and climate with human activities is speculation, one way or the other. To distinguish between natural effects and man caused effects is impossible. It would take thousands of years of climatological data to determine whether the observeable changes are natural or man induced. None of us will live that long.

 

[Ouachita]

I'm an Arkie hillbilly. I'm the first generation of my family to have indoor plumbing and electricity at birth. But my grandparents lived and died without it. Y2K and our year 2000 ice storm didn't affect them at all. Most folks were without electricity for 2-3 weeks including myself. My grandparents didn't know the difference. I bought a generator but my grandparents just kept carrying water from the spring