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Let Me Hear Ya Holler, Now!
May. 20th, 2005 10:45 amOkay, while I am thrilled that as part of their series of articles on class in America, The New York Times is focusing on a Pikeville, Kentucky attorney (very interesting story) I am also just... I am taken aback by the fact that the missed a very important point.
There is a miss-spelling in the freaking title of the article. They then continue to misspell the word "hollow."
Up From the Holler: Living in Two Worlds, at Home in Neither
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/19/national/class/DELLA-FINAL.html?incamp=article_popular
(registration required, but worth it).
See - she is from a hollow. She grew up in the hollow. If you live near Eastern Kentucky this is a geographical word you will use several times a day. And you will pronounce it "holler." The attorney says "I grew up in a holler, I surely did," and this is how NYTs reports it but that is only phoenetically what she said. She actually said "I grew up in a hollow, I surely did," and I can read that and I know *exactly* how she said it and what inflections she used and the fact that when she says "did" the central vowel sounds both hard and soft.
This is just a pet peeve of mine. No one, no educated person, in Appalachia (btw? Pronounced App-uh-LACH-uh - no long "a"s despite what your teachers told you. People living in a region get to determine how it is pronounced, donthcha know?) would ever write "holler" for "hollow" although they would never pronounce "hollow" as anything other than "holler" - and it feels very patronizing or sloppy for The New York Times (and man I wish I could curse) to not make the same effort. Later on in the article it says "On a rare visit recently to the hollows where she used to live, she was moved to tears when a neighbor came out, hugged her and told her how he used to pray and worry for her and how happy he was that she had done so well." So, yeah - Tamar Lewin knows it isn't spelled "holler" and this just bugs me crazily.
Cause, see - I read this paper every single day and I also live in a state where poverty is still a huge issue, where not everyone has running water and having an education is not so much a right as just luck. But I am educated and I work very hard and I pay attention so it feels like just another slight - just another attempt at *removal* at "lookit the ignorant hicks" and I guess the fact that this bothers me so much in an article all about Class is ironic. I have a chip on my shoulder about this, I know, but gah - there is a class barrier in this country where if you identify as blue collar or a fan of X or X then you are automatically labelled redneck trash and are therefore not worthy of respect.
And I could blame Jeff Foxworthy for this, and I would if it was actually his fault, but no. He just built a career on manipulating the ideal which marginalizes a lot of people. Yeah, I know that the Nascar Dads were the big sought after vote in the last election, but that does not mean that these people are not on the outs when it comes to economic status, education and healthcare. They are just susceptible to voting against their best interests because the people in power understand that they know, these ignorant hicks know, when they are being mocked to their faces. I don't know that this is a lesson my party has yet to learn.
Because this, this spelling issue is just a small, tiny thing. A thing that - if Lewin had written "I grew up in a hollow, I surely did," and then went on to make a point that she pronounced it "holler" - I'd be happy with the attempt at accuracy and sharing a bit of our common language with people who might not be exposed to it.
The article itself is actually really nice and has some good stuff about Berea in it, so that always makes me happy. I'm just peeved a teeny bitty bit. I'll get over it.
There is a miss-spelling in the freaking title of the article. They then continue to misspell the word "hollow."
Up From the Holler: Living in Two Worlds, at Home in Neither
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/19/national/class/DELLA-FINAL.html?incamp=article_popular
(registration required, but worth it).
See - she is from a hollow. She grew up in the hollow. If you live near Eastern Kentucky this is a geographical word you will use several times a day. And you will pronounce it "holler." The attorney says "I grew up in a holler, I surely did," and this is how NYTs reports it but that is only phoenetically what she said. She actually said "I grew up in a hollow, I surely did," and I can read that and I know *exactly* how she said it and what inflections she used and the fact that when she says "did" the central vowel sounds both hard and soft.
This is just a pet peeve of mine. No one, no educated person, in Appalachia (btw? Pronounced App-uh-LACH-uh - no long "a"s despite what your teachers told you. People living in a region get to determine how it is pronounced, donthcha know?) would ever write "holler" for "hollow" although they would never pronounce "hollow" as anything other than "holler" - and it feels very patronizing or sloppy for The New York Times (and man I wish I could curse) to not make the same effort. Later on in the article it says "On a rare visit recently to the hollows where she used to live, she was moved to tears when a neighbor came out, hugged her and told her how he used to pray and worry for her and how happy he was that she had done so well." So, yeah - Tamar Lewin knows it isn't spelled "holler" and this just bugs me crazily.
Cause, see - I read this paper every single day and I also live in a state where poverty is still a huge issue, where not everyone has running water and having an education is not so much a right as just luck. But I am educated and I work very hard and I pay attention so it feels like just another slight - just another attempt at *removal* at "lookit the ignorant hicks" and I guess the fact that this bothers me so much in an article all about Class is ironic. I have a chip on my shoulder about this, I know, but gah - there is a class barrier in this country where if you identify as blue collar or a fan of X or X then you are automatically labelled redneck trash and are therefore not worthy of respect.
And I could blame Jeff Foxworthy for this, and I would if it was actually his fault, but no. He just built a career on manipulating the ideal which marginalizes a lot of people. Yeah, I know that the Nascar Dads were the big sought after vote in the last election, but that does not mean that these people are not on the outs when it comes to economic status, education and healthcare. They are just susceptible to voting against their best interests because the people in power understand that they know, these ignorant hicks know, when they are being mocked to their faces. I don't know that this is a lesson my party has yet to learn.
Because this, this spelling issue is just a small, tiny thing. A thing that - if Lewin had written "I grew up in a hollow, I surely did," and then went on to make a point that she pronounced it "holler" - I'd be happy with the attempt at accuracy and sharing a bit of our common language with people who might not be exposed to it.
The article itself is actually really nice and has some good stuff about Berea in it, so that always makes me happy. I'm just peeved a teeny bitty bit. I'll get over it.
