Here’s part of an email Bill Kesler recently sent me.
“I grew up in northeast Georgia, at the very end of the Appalachian range and am pretty sure that I could pass most of your vocabulary tests. I am 78 and my Granddaddy lived with us until I was 15. He was born in Toccoa, Georgia in and only left once in his life, for a few days in Florida. His vocabulary was rich with mountain words and phrases, some of which I haven’t heard since he died. One example is shitepoke, which was his word for a blue heron. I finally discovered that “Jumps like a Jo-Ree”referenced how the Rufous-sided Tohee hops on the ground when it’s hunting bugs. Still, there is one word he used that remains a mystery to me and I’m hoping you may have heard it sometime. I don’t know how to spell it, but it was pronounced “who raw.” I get the feeling it refers to some sort of messy bird because of the way he used it “Your hair looks like a hooraw’s nest.” If you can tell me what a hooraw is, I would be very grateful, as this is the last one of his terms I can recall.”
I checked the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English and found this entry.
hurrah’s nest noun
A Variant form hoorah’s nest. (see 1956 in B).
B A place or thing in complete disorder or confusion.
1940 Haun Hawk’s Done 74 [She] said the house always looked like a perfect hurrah’s nest—pet goats and everything. 1956 McAtee Some Dial NC 23 hoo-rah’s nest = an untidy conglomeration.
The quote from Hawk’s Done reminds me of the time The Deer Hunter and a friend broke down between here and Murphy.
The break down happened back before everyone had a cell phone. Once they realized they’d needed somebody to come pull the truck home they went to the nearest house to ask if they could use the telephone.
The Deer Hunter said he’d never forget there was a giant rooster sitting directly on top of the tv in the living room and dozens of chickens and cats roaming freely through the house and in and out of the open doors. I’d say that house was a hurrah’s nest for sure!
The word conglomeration in the entry caught my eye, or I should say my ears. Pap used it to describe a big mess.
If you are familiar with the phrase hoorah’s nest please leave a comment and share what you know with Bill.
Last night’s video: Winter Garden Tour Before Bad Weather Arrives.
Tipper
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My mother, rest her soul, used to tell me, “Go clean that room. Looks like a Hoorahs nest!”
Tipper, your guest post today made me smile. Well I remember my mother using the phrase, “hoo-rah’s nest” in reference to a messy place or person. She would also say it/they “looked like the Wreck of Hesperus.”
Thanks!
I thought a shitepoke was something similar to a blevit bag. Like 10 pounds of shite in a 5 pound poke.
Never have heard “Hoorah” to describe my house, but can I say my house is in half a “hoorah” to me. LOL! Seems I can never get as much done since my daughter’s massive stroke. By time we tend her needs it’s time to cook, do laundry and the little jobs that goes along with chores, I am totally wore out. Those deep doing jobs start stacking up. Lord a mercy. I’m a real hoorah mess. LOL!
I have not heard that term before, but I did get tickled at Matt’s description of the house. They stopped by.
Never heard “who-raws nest”. I have heard hoorahing used as in “ah, he was just hoorahing you” (giving one a hard time, etc.). I’ve got a friend in Knoxville that knows a lot of Appalachian speak and occasionally will use a word I am not familiar with (i.e. “all gaumed up” is the way it sounds but close to “gummed up” which I have heard and is used to describe something that is messed up, stopped up, clogged, etc.).
On the other hand, “conglomeration” was/is a regularly used word and is used similarly as you described, a jumbled up mess or recipe, etc.
We have experienced a lot of rain here in NW Alabama in the past 24 hrs. and we are forecast to get more in the coming days. Stay dry and God Bless.
Jeffery
I always love your posts each day. This one is fun and interesting. I have never heard of a hurrah’s nest, so I can’t help any, but love reading all about it.
I’m not familiar with this phrase but I have been in a couple of houses and like Pap, the word conglomeration was used to describe it, a big mess and that was putting it nicely.
Randy, I do believe it was Yancy Tucker you are talking about.
I do remember the word ‘shitepoke’ being used for what most call a heron or blue heron. Never heard of ‘hoorah’ but sounds applicable to anything in a real mess! I have heard a similar about the hair though but it was ‘your hair looks like a bird nested in it.’ Praying for those under very inclement weather again.
I’ve always had trouble hearing thing people say or missing parts. I have hearing aids now , but my wife says I still either don’t hear her or don’t want to hear her one. Many people write that they grew up in various locations. My wife seems to think I haven’t grown up at all – just out.
I’ve lived in NC, TN, GA, KY, AZ, and UT. I’ve also visited Canada and Mexico numerous times as well as more than 30 other states. I have heard different words used for things and animals all over the country. In Spanish class I learned that ‘Prenda la luz’ meant turn on the light. In AZ I heard “Abran la luz’ for the same. I guess every locality has their own language which is understandable since our ancestors came from so many different places.
That photo reminds me of a deserted farm house I was exploring on a hunting trip. It was littered with bottles, papers, and discarded articles of clothing and bedding. As I surveyed the scene, something began hissing and moving in a darkened bedroom behind me. Then a mama turkey buzzard whizzed by me, heading for daylight. IWhen I checked the room, I found two newly hatched baby buzzards over in the far corner. The place was both a hurrah’s nest–a new term to me– and a buzzard’s nest. The Florida version of shitepoke is spelled sheitpoke, which is applied to several smaller herons. The great blue heron is called a poor joe in some places here.
My Dad used it with a different meaning I think. When I would start out with a friend on Saturday evening he would ask, “Who you two going to hooraw tonight?” or Some times when I came home he would comment to Mom, “Well he’s back from hoorawing agin.” I don’t know about the spelling but that’s how it sounded when he pronounced it. I took it to mean we had been out bothering someone in some way.
I’ve not ever that phrase before but I certainly delight in knowing it now!!! Thank you for sharing – made my day.
Never heard hooraw before but I like it.
I found this on the internet at Medium.com under “Zippy Facts.” I hope I’m not violating any copyright laws by reposting here!
Zippy Facts
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Aug 3, 2023
The expression “a hurrah’s nest” means: a disorderly, untidy mess; a place of wild confusion.
This “nest” has been variously attributed to a hurrah, a hurra, and a hoorah, but, I regret to say, no naturalist or folklorist has ever yet attempted to describe the imaginary creature responsible for the untidiness.
My one-time associates, compilers of The Standard Dictionary of Folklore (1949–50), ignore it.
In fact, because it first appeared in Samuel Longfellow’s biography of his brother, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in 1829, and next in Twenty Years Before the Mast (1840), by Richard Henry Dana, who was a student at Harvard under H. W. Longfellow, it may well be that the “hurra’s nest,” as the biographer wrote it, was a family term that entered unconsciously into the ordinary conversation of members of the Longfellow family and was picked up by others who heard them use it.
Our language does sometimes grow in that manner.
Until today, I’d never heard the term hoorah’s nest, but I’ve seen quite a few through the years. Now I know what to call them.
Never heard “hoorah’s nest” but I have heard “You’re trying to hooraw me.” meaning to entice into an action or belief as a joke. I will say your picture is a very good illustration of a hoorah’s nest. I’ll know one now if I see one. Interesting about the “shitepoke”. In Kentucky it is the kingfisher bird that is called that. We did not see herons but ever once in a great while. Anyway love that fun with words!
I know hooraw as being more like a big ruckus. Like a party that’s gotten out of hand. I still hear it occasionally and even use it myself. Mostly it is spoken with big preceding it. “a big hooraw”
As far as the nest part, that’s new to me.
I have heard the word growing up, but can’t remember its connection. I don’t think it referenced a bird. We had a neighbor that let his chickens run through their house. Like to have drove moma nuts. Even with 10 of us, she kept a clean house. lol
On a little different note, when I was a little boy my grandma had a similar saying. I would get tickled over something and couldn’t stop laughing. She would say “You’ve swallowed a Tee-hee’s nest!”
Maybe it was mountain slang for a stork. I asked Google what bird has the messiest nests and it said the stork has the messiest nest. It showed a picture of one and it’s a REAL mess! I asked where storks were in North America and it came back with the Georgia and Carolina areas. Just a guess. Have a great day!
The character from the Walton’s was Yancy Tucker. I loved that character! I loved the colorful phrase hoorah’s nest from above too. You can just picture it in your mind. Thanks for starting my day with a smile! ☮️
Another name for a green heron (shitepoke) was a pond scoggin.
Interesting! Not a word I have ever heard here in the hills of Arkansas. Thanks for sharing!❤️
I’ve never heard that phrase but thank you for researching it for Bill Kesler. I wish our words/phrases were colorful like days gone by. It’s so fun to learn about these things & thanks for digging back & “educating” us about them. Prayers for Granny & all your family.
Growing up in Montgomery AL I heard the expression “going to the hoorah patch”. It meant being in trouble, possibly getting a spanking.
I heard hoo raws nest growing up in Knoxville Tn. as a child born in 1941 I hard a lot of strange words , phrases. Anyone ever heard of hair that looked like “Stump full of grand daddys”.I guess that refers to long legged spiders.
I had never heard that phrase until Tipper read it on Monday’s live Celebrating Appalachia video. It gives me the “all-overs” as my Mamaw used to say because I really don’t like Granddaddy Longlegs. I’m not scared of them, just get the heebie jeebies, especially imagining a stump full.
My dad used that expression a lot.
good morning friends, God bless you very much, God bless Bill and his story, I can’t help with the words, it has warmed up to 44°, but it’s still raining, and I understand in the next day or two it will be down in 20s, God help, God bless you friends in Jesus name
I remember my Daddy would call a bird we would often see standing in the shallow water of a local farm pond a shitepoke. Remember the man on the Walton’s TV show that had his chickens, dogs and such living in his house. I can’t remember his name.
Yancy Tucker was the character from The Waltons. And he was a character wasn’t he. lol
I think the man’s name was Yancy.
I do believe his name was Yancy.