settle this debate for me, please: the word "hick"

MamaFantastic

my husband and i were talking during lunch and we disagreed on something: is the word "hick" offensive??

RocksInTheWater

I voted insensitive as it is never used to paint someone in a positive light.  I think it is used as a name to give someone you think of as beneath you.  But I don't think it reaches the offensive category like a racial slur.  Growing up in a small town in the Midwest, hick was and still is used a lot.

Bluebird2318

Voted insensitive as well. I do find it terribly rude for the same reason that Lori mentioned, but I do think there are certain words that are worse. 

edoliesmom

I'm from a small town in Texas, and to me it's more or less interchangeable with the word "redneck," though redneck seems to be more common than hick. I think it can be used as an insult, but people generally choose something more offensive if they're going to insult someone.

AcaAwkward

Kinda depends on how it's used for me. I find it way less offensive if it's used like "Hicksville" -- to refer to somewhere out in the country. If it is used to refer to a person, I put it in the same category as "white trash" or "ghetto"...pejorative, but not the same thing as a racial slur.

mandiroo

Ehh, I'm from Oklahoma. Grew up with hicks and could care less if someone called me one. In fact, I might be proud to be a hick. It's such a common word where I'm from I don't see it as an insult, but rather, a badge of honor. ;o) Just don't go callin' me a hillbilly!

strawberrytree

To me, it's one of those words where it is fine to call yourself a hick, and fine to call others from the same place as you, but if someone from the city uses it- oh hell no. I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere and we would laugh and call ourselves hicks, but if you're not one yourself, you don't go around using the word. 

Sarahjess06

Small town here too. I don't find it all the offensive. I suppose it could be, but there are far worse things that could be said.

My home town high school was talking of changing our mascot at one point. We all joked we woul be the "honkies" haha that and we have called each other "hickerbillies" not a big deal to me.

MommyByDesign

I think it depends on the context. If it's used jokingly, and the person it's directed at would find it humorous, then it's all good.

I live in the Poconos. Hick, cutter man, hillbilly, trailer trash and backwoods gets thrown around quite a bit. Around here, half the population easily fills those categories. Lol The one thing folks DO take offense to around here though is transplants. If you say you moved from NJ or NY to here, you're automatically labeled a transplant by locals and frowned upon. After 10 yrs here, I like to think of myself as a local, but alas - I was informed that I still qualify as a transplant. Lol

rainy369

Depends on the context. And the audience.

hordol

KendraColeslaw said:

I think it's usually used to degrade a class of people and that's technically offensive. However, a lot of "country people" take massive pride in being hicks/rednecks and the word is used in country music quite often. Sometimes when you call someone a hick to their face, they'll respond "and proud of it!" My old BFF from elem-high school is a hick (I'm from farming lands of WI) and I am truthfully annoyed and appalled by it, so I do think it errs on the side of offensive. On the flip side, I'm offended in the way she calls everyone from an urban area "city slickers" so, yes, offensive.

I also grew up in rural Wisconsin and people definitely do wear the label "hick" with pride. I personally don't find it offensive--yes, some people often use it as an insult and in a way to show people are beneath them, but "hick" and "white trash" (which I do find offensive) don't mean the same thing to me and many other people in rural areas, so I think it really depends on your perspective.

Sisimama10

I wouldn't call someone that to their face in polite conversation, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it to describe people abstractly. My mom even uses the term and I've never thought it was offensive. For example, "those duck dynasty guys are a bunch of hicks!"- wouldn't cause me to bat an eyelash.

sloger

i'm from a small town in Kansas and calling someone a hick is like calling them "bro" or "friend" so to me it's not offensive

spano41

Not offensive to me, just a word that describes a stereotye. To me it us the same as saying hipster, nerd, or jock. They can be used in an offensive way depending on who says it and how they say it, but the words aren't inherently mean.

Edit:auto correct

melissashogan

I feel like this is a word that can be used about someone if they use it about themselves and if its not in a mean way for example my friends can call me a hick because I grew up in a small town and we joke but if someone said there goes Melissa shes a dumb hick I would be offended

Rachel71189

We say redneck and it's not offensive but pretty much means the same thing (Maryland)

J&NL

It doesn't bother me. When I think of hick i think of backwoods/ redneck kind of people but I don't consider it a derogatory word or anything.

Charitysarah

I grew up mostly in 'hick towns' and people don't care. Honestly, someone who isn't from a small town making any remarks about certain small town type people (hick, hillbillies, redneck etc) will probably be taken offensively. I think life is more about context than actual words. Save for racial slurs. That stuff should really be avoided out of respect for history and suffering and whatnot.

Serenla

strawberrytree said:

To me, it's one of those words where it is fine to call yourself a hick, and fine to call others from the same place as you, but if someone from the city uses it- oh hell no. I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere and we would laugh and call ourselves hicks, but if you're not one yourself, you don't go around using the word. 

What about people who lived in a small town and then moved to the city? Are they allowed to use it? lol.

Edit autocorrect. 

fiendelle

spano41 said:

Not offensive to me, just a word that describes a stereotye. To me it us the same as saying hipster, nerd, or jock. They can be used in an offensive way depending on who says it and how they say it, but the words aren't inherently mean. Edit:auto correct

This exactly.  We live in the bush and I feel we are not hick enough.  Being a full-on hick is my dream.  We always say 'city-it' to joke with my sis who lives right downtown and lives that lifestyle...just a stereotype- nothing personal, not rude or meant to be derogatory.  If someone called me a hick and it was meant to insult me, i'd just laugh.  I love my life, I set it up this way, and am secure in it.

myschlove

i agree with PP who said it all depends on how its used. 

BiggerinRealLife

@MamaFantastic You didn't say which side you were on!

MamaFantastic

i voted for the "it's not really offensive to me" category.

the question came up because i was telling him about a friend of ours whose sister recently had a successful VBAC at Ina May Gaskin's "The Farm" in the middle of Tennessee.  I was trying to describe where it was, since I had been told it was in a more remote part of Tennessee, and at some point I said something to the effect of "it's in the hick part of the state".  he was very taken aback that i would just toss that word out in casual conversation, and we started talking about our differences in opinion about the politeness of the word.  

i told him i'd come ask the experts