1. Your Great-Granddad and Great Uncles weren't bankers.
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/7/22/9/enhanced-buzz-orig-18925-1374500279-18.jpg?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto)
"Hillbilly" is of course in today's world, a pejorative word.
But, most of us hillbillies wear the label with pride, a big pride flatlanders can't understand.
Though I've been in New York City for 20+ years, and actually grew up in Southern New Jersey, I am still a hillbilly, because I came from hillbillies. And, I will always be a hillbilly, dagnabbit.
Now, let's take a country road to West Virgina.
2. You learned how to fire a minimum of four guns by the age of 12: BB, .22, 12-gauge, and an assortment of pistols.
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/8/2/19/enhanced-buzz-orig-14489-1375487492-9.jpg?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto)
Dad (foreground), trying to look like Clyde, but he's more of a Cletus.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/7/28/21/enhanced-buzz-13297-1375061080-8.jpg)
3. Guns are simply a part of life. Hunting (along with fishing) are two of your main sources for dinner. And not merely because of money, though that's a big reason. It's how you live.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/7/31/9/enhanced-buzz-orig-30701-1375277528-15.jpg)
4. You've eaten deer? Of course. Bear? Check. And, yes, squirrel (below). It's a bit gamey.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr01/2013/7/28/22/enhanced-buzz-orig-27953-1375064913-13.jpg)
5. You've not eaten skunk, but you know folk who have.
View this video on YouTube
6. There is only one kind of tea.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr01/2013/8/1/8/enhanced-buzz-orig-32245-1375359838-10.jpg)
7. You've had moonshine, the real stuff, and, yes, it's better'n sunshine.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr02/2013/7/31/11/enhanced-buzz-orig-12858-1375283196-10.jpg)
8. You've shit in multiple outhouses (minimum: 2).
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/7/28/21/enhanced-buzz-orig-1709-1375062010-11.jpg)
One time, as a kid, I was staring at one of these while taking a shit in my grandparent's outhouse. Her hourglass glows in the dark, by the way.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/7/28/21/enhanced-buzz-orig-28225-1375062900-8.jpg)
An outhouse is never "out of order"
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr02/2013/7/28/21/enhanced-buzz-orig-1632-1375062139-28.jpg)
9. You grew up in a log cabin (a real one) in a "holler."
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/7/31/9/enhanced-buzz-orig-28084-1375278392-26.jpg)
10. "Holler" is how you say "hollow," which is a small valley, which is everywhere in Appalachia.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/7/31/8/enhanced-buzz-orig-30620-1375274799-19.jpg)
11. During the day, you hunted for crawdads (good fishing bait) in — not streams, not "creeks," but "cricks."
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/7/31/7/enhanced-buzz-orig-30620-1375271535-10.jpg)
12. While hunting for crawdads, you've had one of these slither between your legs. Water Moccasins move unbelievably fast.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/7/31/8/enhanced-buzz-28017-1375273329-18.jpg)
13. Summer nights, you hunted for nightcrawlers (bait) amongst fireflies.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/7/31/8/enhanced-buzz-orig-28026-1375272981-10.jpg)
14. Your Grandfather was a coal miner, as were/are many of your relatives. Your Grandfather and maybe a few other relatives died of black lung disease.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/7/31/8/enhanced-buzz-30658-1375275106-13.jpg)
15. You bathed like this (our tin bathub was much smaller) with well water heated on the biggest cast iron stove ever made. You took turns. Everybody used the same water.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/7/31/8/enhanced-buzz-orig-30688-1375273795-16.jpg)
16. You have this many cousins (this is your extended family at the beach).
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/7/31/8/enhanced-buzz-orig-27989-1375274183-17.jpg)
17. But you've never had sex with any of them.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/7/31/8/enhanced-buzz-orig-30688-1375274375-25.jpg)
18. And even though you've been here for 20+ years, you are never ever comfortable in New York City.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr01/2013/7/28/22/enhanced-buzz-orig-29301-1375065967-10.jpg)
19. Because this...
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/7/31/10/enhanced-buzz-orig-20213-1375279680-8.jpg)
20. ...and this, are always in your mind.
![](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/7/31/10/enhanced-buzz-orig-27997-1375279767-23.jpg)
21. Finally, this will always make a grown Hillbilly man cry.
View this video on YouTube
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