Yokel

Yokel is one of several derogatory terms referring to the stereotype of unsophisticated country people. The term is of uncertain etymology and is only attributed from the early 19th century.[1][2]

"Country bumpkin" redirects here. For the song by country music singer Cal Smith, see Country Bumpkin.
A painting of three peasants by David Teniers the Younger

Yokels are depicted as straightforward, simple, naïve, and easily deceived, failing to see through false pretenses. They are also depicted as talking about bucolic topics like cows, sheep, goats, wheat, alfalfa, fields, crops, and tractors to the exclusion of all else. Broadly, they are portrayed as unaware of or uninterested in the world outside their own surroundings.

In the UK, yokels are traditionally depicted as wearing the old West Country/farmhand's dress of straw hat and white smock, chewing or sucking a piece of straw and carrying a pitchfork or rake, listening to "Scrumpy and Western" music. Yokels are portrayed as living in rural areas of Britain such as the West Country, East Anglia, the Yorkshire Dales and Wales. They speak with country dialects from various parts of Britain.[3]

In the United States, the term is used to describe someone living in rural areas.

Synonyms for yokel include bubba, country bumpkin, hayseed, chawbacon, rube, redneck, hillbilly and hick.

Famous fictional examples

Similar terms

Teuchter

In Scotland, those from the Highlands and Islands, Moray, Aberdeenshire, and other rural areas are often referred to by urban or lowland Scots as teuchters.

People from the rural south of Scotland are sometimes known as "Doonhamers" ("Doon hame" meaning "down home").

Culchie

In Ireland, this term is generally used by urban dwellers as a slur for rural dwellers. In Dublin and Belfast, it's often used for people from outside said cities, even people from other large urban areas. Synonyms for culchie include country bumpkin, bogger, muck-savage and redneck.

Hick

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term is a "by-form" of the personal name Richard (like Dick) and Hob (like Bob) for Robert. Although the English word "hick" is of recent vintage, distinctions between urban and rural dwellers are ancient.

According to a popular etymology, hick 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."

Another explanation of the term hick describes a time when hickory nut flour was used and sold. Tough times, such as the depression, led to the use of hickory nuts as an alternative to traditional grains. People who harvested, processed, or sold hickory products, such as hickory flour, were referred to as "hicks". The term was generalized over time to include people who lived in rural areas and were not considered as sophisticated as their urban counterparts.

Though not a term explicitly denoting lower class, some argue that the term degrades impoverished rural people and that "hicks" continue as one of the few groups that can be ridiculed and stereotyped with impunity. In "The Redneck Manifesto," Jim Goad argues that this stereotype has largely served to blind the general population to the economic exploitation of rural areas, specifically in Appalachia, the South, and parts of the Midwest.

Bogan

In Australia and New Zealand, the term "bogan" is used to refer to someone who is considered unrefined or unsophisticated.

See also

References
  1. "Yokel « The Word Detective".
  2. "Online Etymology Dictionary".
  3. "New Page 1". 1 May 2005. Archived from the original on 1 May 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Further reading
  • Goad, Jim. (1997). The Redneck Manifesto: How Hillbillies, Hicks, and White Trash Became America's Scapegoats. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83864-8
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