Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Hoopie" is a derogatory term for people from the northern panhandle of West Virginia. The term is in common use in the Upper Ohio River Valley--northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania.
This bit of regional slang came into use in the area in and around East Liverpool, Ohio. In the 19th-century, East Liverpool was the site of a substantial amount of pottery manufacture. In the days before cardboard boxes and Bubble Wrap, pottery was packed in wooden barrels, with bundles of straw used as cushioning to reduce the chance of breakage during shipment.
These barrels were built at local pottery cooper shops. The coopers used split saplings to serve as the hoops holding the barrel staves in place. They did this by winding the sapling around the barrel and then weaving together the ends, or using a small nail to hold the ends together. Iron hoops were expensive and therefore not widely used.
People living in the back hills near East Liverpool would come to town carrying bundles of the split saplings, which they would sell to the cooper shops. They would then use the cash to buy things they could not make at home, such as salt and gunpowder.
Because the sellers were often poor, ragged and illiterate hill folk, the townspeople looked down on them and derogatorily referred to them as "hoopies" because they brought the hoops into town. The term became entrenched in the area and remains in use to this day, along with its corollaries, "hillbilly" and "hilljack."
Here's what the always reliable Urban Dictionary says. It picks up on what you said Snorpus about it being a more derogatory term than Hillbilly.
Per Urban Dictionary:
1. Anywhere in the Pennsylvania-West Virginia-Ohio tri-state region. Usually associated with trailer parks, dirty hair, and heavy metal band tee-shirts. See trucks and dirtbikes and hoopie mall.
"If you drive down to Brady's Run in the spring, past the trialer park, you'll pass all them hoopies out with their 70's era cars on blocks and their Natty Ice."
2. An insult (worse than hillbilly) given to residents of West Virginia. According to history, the city of East Liverpool OH, across the river from WV, was an important maker of pottery. West Virginia residents looking for work in the area were only skilled enough to bang together the metal strips that would make the hoops needed for barrel construction.
"We're playing the Mountaineers in basketball? They're a bunch of stupid hoopies."
3. a. someone who is very greasy.
b. someone who wears mini shorts and a loose shirt, or has a muffin top going on.
c. someone who is trailer trash, shops at the good will, etc.
"In Alliance, OH if you go to the Carnation Festival, you will see lots of hoopies wearing flannels, cut offs, greasy ass hair, not shaved face, and some might even have about 8 teeth or less."
Per e-WV Encycolpedia.
‘‘Hoopie’’ is a derogatory but usually good natured name given to rural West Virginians (and sometimes Ohioans) who came north to work in the potteries of Chester and Newell, West Virginia, or East Liverpool, Ohio. The term is derived from the belief that many of these migrants or their ancestors had found employment making hoops in the cooper shops that supplied the potteries with barrels for packing chinaware. Today, it may refer to anyone from West Virginia and is used in a similar manner to ‘‘hillbilly’’ or ‘‘redneck.’’ As with those names, hoopie is now sometimes appropriated by members of the target group, who refer to themselves as hoopies.
‘‘Hoopie’’ may also mean an area of West Virginia. For example, northern West Virginians may speak of going to ‘‘Hoopie,’’ anywhere south of the Northern Panhandle, to visit relatives. The word ‘‘hoopie’’ seems to be largely limited to the upper Ohio Valley and the surrounding region. Jokes abound, including the often-told one that contends that many Hoopies got off the boat in Newell because they thought the H.L.C. on the stacks of Homer Laughlin China Company stood for ‘‘Hoopies’ Last Chance.’’
I also came across a Pitt group/blog called Pitt Blather, they really used Hoopies, Hillbillies and Hilljacks to the extreme, of course I understand since they were our big rival at one time.
Of course I always say embrace it, it is a part of our culture and heritage. We're all Hoopies at heart.
Closer to Columbus, "We Be's, Hedges, and Hoopies" is an unkind description of darker skinned Section 8 housing residents who play basketball in the street, blocking traffic.
When in was in Martins Ferry last year, I heard my friends use that term to describe an unintelligent, trashy person with no job, abusive, on drugs and lazy. He said it did come from making hoops for barrels but has hanged meanings as many words do. I found the word funny and it is true that is is used in the Ohio valley. I want to see if I can get that word started here in Southern California.
Anyway, I am counting the days to be back in Martins Ferry this summer. My boyfriend was from there and the small town friendliness and green beauty captivated me.
When in was in Martins Ferry last year, I heard my friends use that term to describe an unintelligent, trashy person with no job, abusive, on drugs and lazy. He said it did come from making hoops for barrels but has hanged meanings as many words do. I found the word funny and it is true that is is used in the Ohio valley. I want to see if I can get that word started here in Southern California.
Anyway, I am counting the days to be back in Martins Ferry this summer. My boyfriend was from there and the small town friendliness and green beauty captivated me.
While you're there slip across the river and visit Oglebay if you really want to be captivated with beautiful greeness.
When in was in Martins Ferry last year, I heard my friends use that term to describe an unintelligent, trashy person with no job, abusive, on drugs and lazy. He said it did come from making hoops for barrels but has hanged meanings as many words do. I found the word funny and it is true that is is used in the Ohio valley. I want to see if I can get that word started here in Southern California.
Anyway, I am counting the days to be back in Martins Ferry this summer. My boyfriend was from there and the small town friendliness and green beauty captivated me.
I've started using Hoopies a lot more myself, but people look at me like WTH are you talking about!
I've started using Hoopies a lot more myself, but people look at me like WTH are you talking about!
Are you in MF? My friend who works at Primo's Pizza said it and I laughed so hard. I love the different dialects and terms from different places. Like and totally are so played out, good old LA. Counting the days thst I will be there again, hopefully 6 weeks from now.
Are you in MF? My friend who works at Primo's Pizza said it and I laughed so hard. I love the different dialects and terms from different places. Like and totally are so played out, good old LA. Counting the days thst I will be there again, hopefully 6 weeks from now.
No I'm down south in McDowell County/Welch,WV at the other end of the State. People here haven't heard of Hoopies, so now I'm spreading the word,lol! I myself love listening to dialects and learning of nuances of different areas of WV, Appalachia, and all the US. Hopefully this time will fly by and you'll be back in MF in no time.
No I'm down south in McDowell County/Welch,WV at the other end of the State. People here haven't heard of Hoopies, so now I'm spreading the word,lol! I myself love listening to dialects and learning of nuances of different areas of WV, Appalachia, and all the US. Hopefully this time will fly by and you'll be back in MF in no time.
Thank you so very much. West Virginia is such beautiful country and the people made me feel welcome. We spent the day in Wheeling and what a nice town. It irks me when people say rude things about West Virginia and the Appalachian area and they have never been blessed to see it. It's stunning. The only thing I can say is that it is the most interestingly-shaped state of the union Enjoy living there, smelling the crisp air, the genuine people and the soft, green hills. I have jagged, brown mountains formed by millions of years of the San Andreas Fault grinding and quaking. Our air matches the brown hills and the traffic is hell. If I could find a job, I would be there yesterday. Have a great night.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
Wheeling Unveils New Promotional Videos
