'Mountain boomer' = Hill Jack ?

[Beverly Flanigan]

Hilljack is also used in southern Ohio for anyone of "hillbilly" or country
origin--not necessarily from Kentucky or the mountains or anywhere else in
particular.  High schoolers use it derogatorily; I've never heard older
people use it.

At 12:33 PM 4/27/01 -0400, you wrote:
>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


_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm