Nate Breier
ERH-303WX-01
Prompt 5
Word Count: 359

The language we use to communicate about things is oft quite important, as it conveys ides or impressions about whatever it is we are talking about. It frequently becomes difficult to analyze what is being conveyed, as even words that are synonyms provide subtle differences in how they present what they are conveying.
Specific to Appalachia, the terms ‘hillbilly’ and ‘redneck’ are reasonable examples of two words can provide different impressions, although they are considered synonyms according to a quick Google search. The first term, ‘hillbilly’, is defined more specifically as someone being from the backwoods of the Appalachian mountains, while the second is more broadly defined as a lower class individual from a rural area seen as classless or uncouth (a word that is not seen nearly as much as it should be).
While the two terms are nearly similar, the second one, by virtue of its more detailed definition (from a Google search), may perhaps be assumed to be more frequently used, thusly requiring a more detailed definition. This is likely due to the fact that there exists a group of people who self-identify as such. Their reasons for doing so may be to fight back against the originally negative stereotype assigned to the word by expressing pride in being rural and lower class. This is not unlike how a certain Foxtrot Company began calling themselves F-Troop after having received this nickname back a decade or two back in the history of the Virginia Military Institute.
On the other hand, or perhaps on the other side of the mouth, hillbilly does not provide as many results – 19.3 million results versus 58.8 million for redneck – nor does it have as specific a definition. This may indicate that it is not as frequently used, either in the way that it was originally used for or as a reclaimed word like ‘redneck’. Of interest, it also seems to be used for a certain type of music, which may be why it has not found as flexible a usage as has redneck – it is already being used for more than one idea, so it cannot be used for something else.