Whats a Holler (Hollow)?

[Anna dobie]

Holler got its name from an area secluded in a valley. It was named that way because people knew that one you entered you could holler 'call' out for some one and be heard by the occupants because of the physical makeup of the land. Thus it was named holler.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by tpk-nyc

A related term is "creek," which is common in central Appalachia. There are lots of tiny hamlets called "Something Creek" (often pronounced "crick") in West Virginia. A "Creeker" is a derogatory term for someone who lives "up the holler" on a creek.

Land values in the hollows were lower because they're prone to flooding and, in the past, waterborne diseases. The rich lived on the hills and the poor on the creeks. In Charleston, WV, they still do. The rich live in South Hills and the poor live in places like Davis Creek.

The Dutch word for creek is "kil." Any geographical name in New York ending in "kill" (like Peekskill, even the Catskills) is named after a creek. However, the landscape in the Hudson Valley is much more gently sloping so you don't get the extremes of "cricks and hollers" that you do in West Virginia.

Is that where the pejorative term, "Cracker" came from? Sounds like it.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Anna dobie

Holler got its name from an area secluded in a valley. It was named that way because people knew that one you entered you could holler 'call' out for some one and be heard by the occupants because of the physical makeup of the land. Thus it was named holler.

I always heard it the other way around, and that the practice of neighbors calling out to each other across the hollow (or 'holler') was what gave way to the slang verb, 'to holler'.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

I always heard it the other way around, and that the practice of neighbors calling out to each other across the hollow (or 'holler') was what gave way to the slang verb, 'to holler'.

This makes a lot more sense, considering that it was settlers from England who named places this or that "hollow". The name came first.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Is that where the pejorative term, "Cracker" came from? Sounds like it.

No, it isn't. That term is derived from the early settlers of Georgia and Florida and their practice of using whips to drive their livestock. 'Cracker' specifically refers to sound of the whip 'cracking'.

[SunGrins]

An Ozark Holler or hollow is less than a valley and more than a ravine and typically wooded. There might be s stream or a spring. Some are broad enough in places or at the mouth for a cabin or small farm if there is sufficient topsoil. My wife’s ancestors had a small farm at Grassy Hollow near the Current River. They are erosional features and the Ozarks have a gazillion of them.

[CookieSkoon]

We tend to refer to narrow valleys as hollows in the north, holler becomes more common as you go south.

That's all they denote. Narrow valleys, typically ones a person can yell across.

Oniontown and Allentown are famous examples of Appalachian NY in a stereotypical sense taken to its logical extreme, though many areas similar to that exist here (Texas hollow, the Connecticut hills, Buffalo hill, the Canisteo valley, Sugar Hill, etc.). It's not all NYC and Van-snoots, yanno. :P

[CookieSkoon]

Originally Posted by tpk-nyc

A related term is "creek," which is common in central Appalachia. There are lots of tiny hamlets called "Something Creek" (often pronounced "crick") in West Virginia. A "Creeker" is a derogatory term for someone who lives "up the holler" on a creek.

Crick is also a common pronunciation here in upstate NY, at least in and adjacent to the southern tier. Long ago my family lived near Dryden along the creek. Mom used to tell us to go play by the "crick" and get the hell out of her kitchen. haha

[LINative]

Originally Posted by CookieSkoon

We tend to refer to narrow valleys as hollows in the north, holler becomes more common as you go south.

That's all they denote. Narrow valleys, typically ones a person can yell across.

Oniontown and Allentown are famous examples of Appalachian NY in a stereotypical sense taken to its logical extreme, though many areas similar to that exist here (Texas hollow, the Connecticut hills, Buffalo hill, the Canisteo valley, Sugar Hill, etc.). It's not all NYC and Van-snoots, yanno. :P

Probably the most famous hollow in New York is Sleepy Hollow.

HOLLOW - The word Hollow is an older English term for a small valley. Long Island was settled by the English in the 1600s and so we have quite a number of hollows, mostly in Suffolk County (as you go west it was more Dutch influence and less English).

Here on Long Island there is a Broad Hollow (which actually is pretty wide), Baiting Hollow and Sweet Hollow. There is also a Brush Hollow Road, a Dark Hollow Road, a Bread and Cheese Hollow Road ( ), Sandy Hollow Road, Gnarled Hollow Road, and probably a dozen more.

HOLE - Old English. If a hollow has water in it, it might be called a hole. For instance there is a Scuttle Hole Road and a Two Holes of Water Road out near Easthampton.

HOLLER - seems to be an Appalachian or mountain country way of saying Hollow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley#Hollows

[SunGrins]

"Holler" in this sense has nothing to do with yelling -- simply a derivation of "hollow". More often than not there's no one to holler too.