what does it mean

[JO~*]

I have heard that expression lots of times, mostly on television and in movies set I think in the south.

Being born and raised in California I have never heard anyone say they live in the hollow except on TV.

It sounds like it may be a clearing in the woods maybe in a valley?

 

[Farmhand]

You might ask Marty, but what I understand, in some of the Southern states with all the hills and valleys that's how they used to communicate. Sound travels.

 

[runamuk]

Well I am from the west coast but to me a hollow is a clearing in a wooded area that is usually near the bottom of hills

...we lived in the sticks...our neighbors had a lovely hollow in the back of their property

 

[Marty]

First off, on my mountain, it's a "holler" It's different kinds of areas depending on your location.

I live about 8 miles from one of our many hollers.

The holler is way off the main road.

It's very narrow and dips and swerves and goes down down down deep, very steep inside the mountain here and then all of a sudden it goes straight up, like one of the highest points on the mountaintop. It's very woodsy. Forest. And then there are shacks of all sorts down there where people live. No electricty or anything like that. The idea is that people could "holler" from one area to another and their voice will carry very far. Seems to work.

On any given day, I can hear echoes of all kinds of people singing, yodeling, banjo picking and the latest is some guy that whistles for hours on end.

Our holler is kinda scarry.

If someone is hiding from the law, they'll go to the holler and won't ever be found. A very safe haven for criminals.

Don't really need to be going down there lessen I want some kinda trouble.

There's lot of stills, cabins, marajuana growing like crazy, and you can just imagine anything goes on down there.

If you go there and your vehicle is not recognized, you will be shot at.

And hit too.

Last time I went there, I drove through with Julie, forum member R3 minis just to freak her out.

She did.

I'm glad everyone knows my truck.

 

[backwoodsnanny]

You could PM Dimimore as she lives in a hollow and in the North East it is more of a valley than where Marty lives. Its also in the country but not scary as Marty's holler. Our terrain is not as mountainous as Martys more rolling hills so our hollow is nothing more than the crevice between two hills. Hope that helped.

 

[BigDogs & LittleHorses]

On any given day, I can hear echoes of all kinds of people singing, yodeling, banjo picking and the latest is some guy that whistles for hours on end.
Our holler is kinda scarry.

If someone is hiding from the law, they'll go to the holler and won't ever be found. A very safe haven for criminals.

Don't really need to be going down there lessen I want some kinda trouble.

There's lot of stills, cabins, marajuana growing like crazy, and you can just imagine anything goes on down there.

528245[/snapback]

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Sounds like the woods behind Susanne's place

Daryl

 

[Neil]

I have heard that expression lots of times, mostly on television and in movies set I think in the south.Being born and raised in California I have never heard anyone say they live in the hollow except on TV.

It sounds like it may be a clearing in the woods maybe in a valley?

528157[/snapback]

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hollow

Dictionary

hol·low (hŏl'ō)

adj., -er, -est.

Having a cavity, gap, or space within: a hollow wall.

Deeply indented or concave; sunken: “His bearded face already has a set, hollow look†(Conor Cruise O'Brien).

Without substance or character: a hollow person. See synonyms at vain.

Devoid of truth or validity; specious: “Theirs is at best a hollow form of flattery†(Annalyn Swan).

Having a reverberating, sepulchral sound: hollow footsteps.

n.

A cavity, gap, or space: a hollow behind a wall.

An indented or concave surface or area.

A void; an emptiness: a hollow in one's life.

A small valley between mountains.

I think the last meaning as a noun applies.

I have not been to Dimimore's hollow but I can picture what it looks like since I was born near there. The places I lived in were in valleys. I guess that comes with living in big cities like Elmira and Corning, NY.

 

[RENMACMINIS]

I live in a "hollow". we are down in a valley, it is a dirt/gravel road. We all have electricity and cable tv and telephone and we even have city water!! In WV a hollow is any one of the millions of the dirt/gravel roads around. b/c most of them are in between 2 hills (as we call them, other people call them mountains) We are out in the country and it is a "family type hollow" as my parents, 2 uncles and my grandparents all live here. When i was little and my grandma wanted me and we were outside she would ring a cowbell or "holler" for us to come up and visit her. Now my kids in the summer time when they see my parents come home they yell at her to see if they can come down and visit..lol. I like my Hollow. And yes we have some fruitcakes that live on it and we do have some drug growing going on and the police will not do anything about. we even had some cockfighting going on now for that we got 13 cars of cops.. but we cant get a single cop out for drugs

.

 

[Leeana]

My dad grew up in Kentucky. He lived in Abbot Creek ..a small part of Butcher Holler (where loreta lyn grew up). Its very pretty. I dont know the 'definition' of a holler. But its just usually someplace down south (no, you wont find a holler in Cali ..sorry lol). Its usually out in the middle of no where in a mountail and consists of a dirt road, old houses, no wal-mart or big stores and you have to drive about 2hrs to reach civilization or an interstate.

Thats just where dad grew up though ...lol

Pretty place though, i sort of like it.

Leeana

 

[MInx]

MArty I LOVE your description, accurate and colorful as always. Once flying a Cessna 182 (4 aboard) we made an emergency landing (fog) at "Rays" pig farm in Falmouth< ky. No one home but an "ultralight runway barely long enough.

We walked though what I would call the "holler" to town, houses on stilts, hound dogs chained to the porch, not one friendly face, huge gullys on either side with creeks at the bottom and boulders. 7 miles of this.

Us two girls took a Greyhound out to Cynthiana and the guys took their life in their hands and managed to dump fuel and fly it out to a paved runway in Cynthiana where we joined back up for the remainder of our flight to Florida. Hollers are scary to walk alone as strangers!

Maxine

 

[JO~*]

Marty's holler/hollow sounds a lot like my whole town that I live in

There is a saying up here that there is no law north of the Klamath.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

20 yrs ago we purchased 76 acres of lovely untouched land at $350/acre. A few years later we were ready to break ground to begin the building of our cabin. The builder and Bob asked me where I wanted my house. In the second field was a nice knob but it didn't feel right. So off we went the 3 of us walking all 76 acres in a big circle to find the spot. As we crested the hill across the stream I saw a nice dip. we walked to it and I stopped. It felt so sheltered and secure and warm and I said, "this is the spot". They tried to talk me out of it, being down could be hard in winter, (it is) access for others would be difficult (it is, I'm happy to say) but I prevailed and the LONG epic to build the home I finally live in began. It ended this late fall finally.

SO....a hollow is a gentle dip in the land surrounding. You would walk UP the drive or up the fields and in the back it's up into the woods. The hollow to me feels like the cup of God's hand. Warm, magical and mine. Feel free to visit, I love to share my magical hollow.

Here are few pics to show you. happy holiday!

First you have to travel down the loong driveway

This is in my hollow

In the summer it looks like this

This is what I see when I look out front

And finally, this is our SandyS holding Missy baby when she visited last summer and what any of you can enjoy should you visit

AND THAT IS A HOLLOW!

 

[ChrystalPaths]

DARN IT HERE IT IS IN SUMMER

 

[Marty]

I'll take you some pictures of the holler if I'm so inclined to get in trouble on Christmas Eve.

I can promise you that it will not be anywhere delightful to look at like Debi's Hollow. OH yea, and someone's got minis down there too.

This will definately knock your socks off.

 

[Cathy_H]

I was born & raised in a hollow in Eastern Kentucky. Moved from there to another hollow & last one lived in was called Cow Pen Hollow................... The roads to get you back into these hollows were narrow & usually only wide enough for one vehicle ( if you had a vechicle - we never did )..... All the locals knew where the widest places were in the roads so if you met a vehicle, whoever was closest to the widest area had to back up... The longer the hollow the more narrow & rougher the road got...................... These were mountain areas so the roads were built at the bottom of the mountain near the creeks.. I graduated from High School in 69 & vowed never to live in Kentucky again. The last time I went back there were houses or mobile homes perched onto the sides of the mountains in these hollows every where you looked. People would dig into the mountain just enough to accomodate their home................................................. In my preteen years where we lived the houses were spread out so far that if we yelled our closest neighbor could not hear us. The hollow's were our play grounds & source of entertainment as kids. We would walk back as far as the dirt road went then would continue on up the mountain. Have climbed lots of mountains, perched in more trees & ventured into more caves just because..... Along the way we would scout out grape vines hanging from a tree & swing away. It's a wonder we 12 kids made it out of there alive as these usually swung out over sharp drop offs....... In our earlier school years there was no school bus service off the main roads. We usually had a 30 - 40 minute walk just to catch the bus, rain, snow or shine... Geez seems I got off topic here.

 

[JO~*]

Dimimore-- Your hollow is beautiful!!!! I would love to live in a hollow if they all looked like that!!

Now I am waiting to see a picture of Marty’s Holler. I'm thinking something from the old Hee Haw show crossed with Dukes of Hazzard and a touch of the movie Deliverance

????

 

[user 488]

Definitions right from Websters..........

hollow...a depressed or low part of a surface; especially : a small valley or basin

holler...chiefly dialect (slang) variant of HOLLOW

When people say holler, that is just Southern "slang" for hollow. It is no different than:

You all.........y'all

Fixing.......fixin'

Pretty......purdy

Basically southern slang is thought by many to be an uneducated form of speech. People that don't know how to spell will often mispronounce certain words.