Hawbucks

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Unsophisticated country folk who are often mocked for their rustic manners and simple ways
2. Rural people regarded as awkward, naive and lacking urban polish, often used as a mildly insulting label
3. Plain-spoken farm dwellers portrayed as clumsy and unworldly, a derisive term for backwoods folk

Etymology: "Hawbucks" is the plural of "hawbuck", a term for a country bumpkin or unsophisticated rustic. The most likely source of the first half is "haw", meaning a hedgerow or the berry that grows on it, with "buck", a slang word for a fellow, added to it. On that reading the noun means something like "a fellow from the hedges", a label that places rural people in the landscape around their fields. The exact formation is uncertain. Some writers have linked the first element to "hob", a familiar form of the name Robert, which was once a common name for a country lad, but the hedgerow explanation fits the word's sense more closely. The plural form simply follows the usual pattern for a count noun, so the plural is used when referring to several such people.

Synonyms: yokel, bumpkin, hick