-Tucky (2023)
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The linguistic phenomenon of neutral terms eventually taking on negative connotations sparked a lively debate, with commenters pointing out that words like "retard" and "moron" were once neutral or medical terms. As hyperhello astutely observed, no matter how many new neutral terms are invented, they inevitably become pejorative over time. The discussion took an interesting turn when thaumasiotes countered that expressing negative things isn't the issue, but rather convincing people that those things are positive. Meanwhile, a tangential conversation about the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area revealed that the cultural and geographical boundaries between the two cities are blurry, with some commenters citing natural barriers like Village Creek as a dividing line.
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As a verb:
As a noun: ~ Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition (CD-ROM v. 4.0 © Oxford University Press 2009)I don't know whether the noun retard developed within medicine from the medical use. But this much is clear:
1. The word retarded (not retard) was employed in an effort to be technical and sensitive in referring to people with mental deficiencies;
2. The same word, retarded, entered general use in reference to people with (more broadly-construed) mental deficiencies;
3. The noun retard derived straightforwardly from retarded in the sense "person who is retarded". This might have happened before step 2 and then entered general use in parallel with retarded, or it might have happened after step 2. Doesn't really matter.
But Dallas, as people in my circles talk about Dallas is everything from Denton / Lewisville maybe even Little Elm / Prosper / Celina to Waxahachie. Dallas Fort Worth is not a twin city at all in my opinion.
I would love to hear your opinion.
But there was a definite cut-off past which it wasn't "Dallas" to us, anymore. Anything west of Arlington was definitely Fort Worth.
But I wonder if people from Fort Worth considered Arlington to be part of their city, and anything east of Grand Prairie was their cut-off line.
Village Creek is the cultural divide betweenvthe cities on both sides.
Council Bluffs is a vastly less financially successful city than Omaha with far more visible opioid problems.
That is to say, as a local, I don’t know if I would associate the term as much with demeaning “hillbillies or hicks” but more for the socioeconomic and drug disparities between the two cities.
I don’t know if the drug disparity is so large between them, but it certainly feels more visible in Council Bluffs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Union_Terminal
I was lucky enough to be the only person who showed up for my tour slot, so the guide and I had a lot of time to talk about the art deco, the history, etc.
It's worth checking out, but I found downtown Cinci weird. It was completely lifeless at night. Haven't been in 15 years or so, so it's entirely possible that's changed now. Other than that, it's a neat area. Make sure to checkout Jungle Jim's, it's a unique enough store worth a visit.
I have only ever heard it used to mean the rural areas between the two cities, in keeping with the saying "Pittsburgh on one side, Philly on the other, and Kentucky in between", which has of course confused people not familiar with the stereotypes or geography.
The other famous use of Pennsyltucky is the character in Orange is the New Black, which I've always taken to mean "she acts like she's from Pennsyltucky".
I guess we need to wait for the term to be used enough to get into a dictionary to get it well defined
Trust me, it's older than the TV show.
(1) Omaha and Council Bluffs are not twin cities. The former doesn't think about the latter, and the latter sees the former as workplace, shopping mall and zoo.
(2) The residents of Omaha didn't coin the term 'Counciltucky.' That privilege belongs to the residents of Council Bluffs themselves.
Reference: a former resident of Council Bluffs who is a current resident of Omaha.
The size of the area has nothing to do with how demeaning the term is. The term is centered on calling the region, to oversimplify, an underdeveloped poor rural backwater.
Just because Pennsylvania has a larger chunk of land that some would describe that way than Council Bluffs does doesn't inherently change that both terms are demeaning.
I haven't been to Council Bluffs, but I have spent time in parts of Pennsylvania outside the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and State College metros, and while I'm not going to proclaim wisdom without having lived there I certainly saw where the term and stereotype came from.
I think one difference is that rural PA and Kentucky have a lot of positive similarities, both being in greater Appalachia. Not as clearly so with CB.
(My only source for this was someone who had learned of the existence of river cane in their Kentucky backyard, and was doing an enthusiastic deep research dive into it. It may or may not be true, but it's at least an interesting possibility!)
Never heard of Minne-tucky before, but yeah, outstate or rural Minnesota would be that.
(It started as a “tri cities” so the bump to five isn’t the first it’s seen)
Bonus points: an OK native pizza style if you like tavern-ish pizza varieties.
Related to TFA, a “judgmental map” of Omaha and Council Bluffs:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/0a/db/ea/0adbea3bcdffbcb4ccfe6ec10...
Warning that these are usually offensive, or at least have the potential to offend (but often super helpful when visiting a new city…)
Council Bluffs just gets a blanket “meth and casinos” label.