Do any of you guys remember "Hollerin" to communicate in rural areas?

[Will Carry]

     Whe I was young back in the 60s my great uncle Jack would take me quail hunting in rural Alabamer.  We would walk the fields and pastures with his dogs all day. When we would come up to a farmers house, or saw someone across a field, Uncle Jack would give out a holler. The other person would holler back. Sometimes they would have a hollering conversation. It seemed that everyone had a particular way a hollering so everyone would know who it was. I remember a holler of a man that I never saw, but over a period of years would here him running his dogs across the bottom land next to my uncle's farm. Same holler, every year.

    They have a Spivey's Corner Hollerin Contest every year in Sampson County NC to remember this old tradition. I had forgotten about Uncle Jack's hollerin until I saw this contest on the local news. I was just wondering if anyone else remembers this hollering tradition being practiced.

 

Here is a video of the hollerin contest in Spivey's Corner. Now I know why so many Tar Heels migrated to Tennessee.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=podVxyUypqo

Edited September 15, 2013 by Will Carry

[Tncobra]

I do remember it, but now only my wife uses it.

[monkeylizard]

No, but I saw a neat report on CBS Sunday morning about a year ago where the old timers on some island off the European coast whistle. It's a real craggy island with deep ravines so it takes too long to walk around the ridges to talk so they whistle. They've developed a whole language made of complex whistles that carry really well through the ridges and wind. Like your experience, each person has a unique sound and they can tell one another apart from their sound. It's a dying art there too.

[UncleJak]

I've hollered once or twice. .

sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[bersaguy]

I watch history channel and Mountain Men on TV a lot and on one of them I think it was in Yukon Men they all would yodel to communicate and I thought that was really cool to listen to and watch.......... :up: :up:

[gregintenn]

     Whe I was young back in the 60s my great uncle Jack would take me quail hunting in rural Alabamer.  We would walk the fields and pastures with his dogs all day. When we would come up to a farmers house, or saw someone across a field, Uncle Jack would give out a holler. The other person would holler back. Sometimes they would have a hollering conversation. It seemed that everyone had a particular way a hollering so everyone would know who it was. I remember a holler of a man that I never saw, but over a period of years would here him running his dogs across the bottom land next to my uncle's farm. Same holler, every year.

    They have a Spivey's Corner Hollerin Contest every year in Sampson County NC to remember this old tradition. I had forgotten about Uncle Jack's hollerin until I saw this contest on the local news. I was just wondering if anyone else remembers this hollering tradition being practiced.

My in-laws are fluent in hollerin.

[Guest TankerHC]

My in-laws are fluent in hollerin.

 

My ex wife was a German Holler(er), she then learned how to Holler in English, she is now a bilingual holler(er) and may have even been hollerin in several other languages in the past. 

 

In all seriousness, my grandparents in Ga and all those old folks back when I lived there used to do it. Never even thought about it as a tradition, but I guess the OP is right, its all but become a thing of the past, so its tradition now. In fact it had never even occured to me until the OP posted it, that they were always yelling to each other. 

 

 

Now that I think about it, wouldnt Minnie Pearl be an example of that tradition? She was always calling "Heeennnriiiii!", in a specific tone. Saw an interview (Non comedic) with her once where she said her husbands name was Henry (This was a long time ago) and he was a WWII Veteran. And I swear I can remember her saying something about that part of her act coming from the way people used to yell for each other. 

 

May be wrong, I havent seen Minnie Pearl on TV since I used to watch Hee Haw with my grandfather. 

Edited September 15, 2013 by TankerHC

[Spots]

Remeber it? Heck my family still does it alot. My sisters live within hollerin distance of my parents and the blacksmith shop is the same.

Tapatalk ate my spelling.

[vontar]

I have to us that form of communication with my wife when she is in the next room due to her having ear buds in.

[rugerla1]

I met this girl in Panama City who was fluent in it! :rock:

[Guest ThePunisher]

I guess that's how those rural valleys and small moutainous areas in the south got its name b/c they hollered to their neighbors and they could hear from the echos. I remember my telling me as a kid how she was raised up on a farm in a holler. Edited September 15, 2013 by ThePunisher

[Dustbuster]

complete strangers communicate like that on fri and sat night on broadway in Nashville.especially after midnight. ( vontar excluded) ;)

but now we know turtlemans ID call