'Mountain boomer' = Hill Jack ?

[parker]

Hill Jack    Where I grew up in IN Lafayette area a Hill Jack is is a person
who came up from KY usually for a better job.  I haven't read all the back log
posts on this so I don't know if this has come up already .

Jane Parker

Gregory {Greg} Downing wrote:

> I came across this same sense yesterday when looking quickly for "mountain
> boomer." "Boomer" in the sense attested below means a temporary worker who
> seeks employment in a place when there is a "boom," i.e., an economic
> expansion, and then moves on when the boom ends. "Boom" in the sense of
> "economic expansion" grows out of "boom" in the sense of a loud, echoing,
> "expanding" noise. So "boomer" in the sense attested below is etymologically
> related to the "boomer" in "mountain boomer," but the semantic relationship
> of the two senses is not close. Given our struggles with the actual meaning
> of the "boom" in "mountain boomer," your informant's construction of an
> "origin" for "boomer = temp employee" is interesting.
>
> BTW, doesn't the word "humorously" in one of the existing OED2 cites for
> "mountain boomer" suggest that the word for the squirrel was the original,
> serious use, and application of "mounain boomer" to hill dwellers was a
> derived sense, a cute assimilation of putatively uncouth uplanders to
> loud-mouth squirrels?
>
> At 08:52 PM 4/26/2001 -0700, you wrote:
> >This from one of my colleagues, who is a native of northern Alabama:
> >
> >
> >---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 15:51:04 -0700
> >From: Robert Houston <houston at u.arizona.edu>
> >To: Rudolph C Troike <rtroike at U.Arizona.EDU>
> >Subject: Re: 'Mountain boomer' = hillbilly
> >
> >Dear Rudy,
> >
> >         I haven't heard of a "mountain boomer."  We just called mountain
> >folk hillbillies or ridge runners.  But there was a term used in Western
> >hard-rock mining circles (e.g. Bisbee, eta al) for men who were basically
> >tramp miners, going from mine to mine and working just long enough to get a
> >stake to move on.  They were called "ten-day boomers," since 10 days was
> >about as long as they'd ever stick around.  Whether that's by analogy to
> >"mountain boomers" or visa versa I don't know, but I've always guessed that
> >it had something to do with the metaphoric "big noise" they made when they
> >blew into town.  But as I think about it, I wonder if it "boomer" might
> >have derived from one of the many languages tramps and tramp miners, often
> >immigrants, spoke.  Cf. "bindlestiff," for a hobo, with reference to the
> >"bindle" (Scandinavian?) or bundle that he carried at the end of a stick
> >over his shoulder.
> >
> >Best,
> >Bob
> >
> >Robert Houston
> >Dept. of English/Creative Writing Program
> >The University of Arizona
> >Tucson, Az 85721
> >520-621-1836
> >
> >At 02:10 AM 4/26/01 -0700, you wrote:
> >
> >>Bob,
> >>         Ever hear of this?
> >>
> >>         Rudy
> >>
> >>------------------------------
> >>
> >>Date:    Wed, 25 Apr 2001 15:05:45 -0400
> >>From:    Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> >>Subject: "mountain boomer"
> >>
> >>The term "mountain boomer" has a few senses referring to various types
> >>of animals (the red squirrel, the mountain beaver, and the collared
> >>lizard), and a sense referring to people, = 'hillbilly'. This sense
> >>only slightly postdatess the 'red squirrel' sense.
> >>
> >>Does anyone have an idea about the derivation of the 'hillbilly'
> >>sense? The quots in DARE (from Kephart, and a LAGS informant) link it
> >>to the 'squirrel' sense, but since these quots are so much later than
> >>either word arose, it could just be a later association with the
> >>common squirrel word; I don't know if we can actually assume that the
> >>'hillbilly' sense is a transferred application of the term for a
> >>squirrel. And what about the _boomer_--DARE suggests (s.v. "boomer,"
> >>which used alone postdates "mountain boomer" by 20 years) that it's
> >>from standard _boom_ 'to make a hollow sound', but surely the
> >>squirrel, or the beaver or the lizard, doesn't make such a sound.
> >>
> >>Thanks.
> >>
> >>Jesse Sheidlower
> >>OED
> >>
> >>------------------------------
> >
> Greg Downing, at greg.downing at nyu.edu or gd2 at nyu.edu