Xtucky

[prokopowicz]

I grew up in Highland Park in the 60's and moved to Grosse Pointe later, and then to Ann Arbor. That's where I first heard about the locale of tucky - Ypsitucky. Later a friend told me she moved from Highland Park to Taylortucky. Just today I read a thread that mentions Watertucky.

Was Ypsitucky the first? Or is it Hazeltucky? Does anyone know when this terminology started?

[lilpup]

I suspect Hazeltucky was first. I've heard two stories, though it could be a combination of both - first, that the area was where those coming from Appalachia and other backwoods settled during the 1920s boom years and 1930s Depression years, second that the nickname was a reflection of the living conditions of the area [[swampy land, slow to get indoor plumbing, early shack housing). It's definitely an old nickname and I suspect it sprang primarily from the migration. Such migration clusters are very common throughout history - large chunks of communities relocating en masse over a short time span.

While growing up I never heard the "-tucky" descriptor applied to other places, including Ypsilanti which is a much older and well-established city but received a large migration wave during the war years.

[ct4438]

I'm sure it would be difficult to accurately answer this question. I would've guessed that Taylor-tucky was first for similar reasons that lilpup gave you. Much of my father's older relatives came from Appalachia to the Detroit area in the 1920s and 1930s to work in the automotive and manufacturing industries and many of them settled around Taylor and downriver communities like Flat Rock and Rockwood. In fact, I have a great-aunt that's still living and while she was born in Michigan and never lived anywhere else she speaks with a western Kentucky accent that she grew up hearing.

[kathy2trips]

Oh, yeah, Hazeltucky! Though my own Appalacian relatives lived in Dearborn, there was a substantial contingency in Hazel Park. I worked at an oil company in Houston with a woman from Hazel Park who called it that. She had a dream to raise horses and ended up buying some property towards that end. Hope her dream came true.

[rjk]

Wow, I haven't heard the tucky endings in a long time.

Growing up in the 70's I heard Hazeltucky so much you almost got to the point where you thought that was the actual city name. If someone said Hazel Park you wouldn't know what they were talking about.

[kathy2trips]

.... In fact, I have a great-aunt that's still living and while she was born in Michigan and never lived anywhere else she speaks with a western Kentucky accent that she grew up hearing.

Imagine visiting my West Virginia relatives in Dearborn and listening them speak in Italian with an Appalachian accent. I remember my Nonna saying on the way back to the east side, once, "Che diavolo, [["what the hell?) I can't understand Serafina half the time." I was having trouble, too. I though it was me. LOL

[RaumVogel]

Taylor in the 60's and 70's EVERYONE had relatives from "down there". Everyone called it "TaylorTucky". I was treated as "weird" because all of my relatives were Michigan natives. [[French on Dads side and German from Canada on my Moms side.)

[grumpyoldlady]

Well all my Kentucky born family that came north to work in the auto plants settled on the east side of Detroit....so is Detroit "Detroitucky"? They lived around the Jefferson/Alter area until the 40's when they moved to Longview and Annsbury, and then to Wayburn.

[Hermod]

Well all my Kentucky born family that came north to work in the auto plants settled on the east side of Detroit....so is Detroit "Detroitucky"? They lived around the Jefferson/Alter area until the 40's when they moved to Longview and Annsbury, and then to Wayburn.

Well, there was a gas station on the east side [[don't remember exactly where) that was the weekly home to an ancient bus [[retired Greyhound) that would sputter into life every Friday night and head out to Paducah. It would return late on Sunday night. I guess some guy made a living helping the transplants to weekend with their "homeys".

The bus had a nickname, but i can't recall it now.

[Don K]

One of the first things I learned about when I moved to the area in '78 was the various tuckys. But yeah, I haven't heard that usage in a while.

[wolverine]

I used to hear people refer to Ypsilanti Ypsitucky all the time. Though it's a nationwide phenomena, so it's difficult to say who started it.

[izzyindetroit]

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/...ic_festiv.html

The name was changed before the event happened and I think Dotzauer was eventually canned.

[jiminnm]

Well, there was a gas station on the east side [[don't remember exactly where) that was the weekly home to an ancient bus [[retired Greyhound) that would sputter into life every Friday night and head out to Paducah. It would return late on Sunday night. I guess some guy made a living helping the transplants to weekend with their "homeys".

The bus had a nickname, but i can't recall it now.

Hermod, that was the Brooks Bus Line. I think they had two stations in Detroit, one on Harper near Van Dyke and the other on the west side. The bus ran to Paducah, Mayfield and elsewhere in mid and western Kentucky, and maybe into Tennessee. They had more than one bus and ran more often.

A lot of folks from western Kentucky migrated to Detroit in the 30s and 40s, including my mother and other relatives. I rode that bus a few times and we sent many gifts south on that bus. I also recall reading an interview with Lily Tomlin in which she recalled riding the Brooks Bus to/from a relative's farm in Kentucky.

[jackie5275]

I've heard people refer to Walled Lake as Waltucky. I've never heard of the Ypsi or Hazel Park tuckies though.

[jackie5275]

Just today I read a thread that mentions Watertucky.

Does this refer to Waterford?

[terryh]

Back in the late nineties I rented a room from an ol Tennesee lady that didnt allow any smokin, drinkin or women[[ In Madison Heights)...she used to say "I aint runnin no whorehouse" in a southern drawl..always talked about going to revahvals...lots of ol 'hillbillies' used to frequent the Telway burger joint at 11 and John R....one good ol boy at the counter in Telway showed me a picture of a moonshine still...

[mikefmich]

Hermod & Jiminnm.........tell me more about this Paducah/Mayfield/Jackson Purchase busline.

Hermod you were stating the bus would take off on Fridays and return on Sunday evenings.......which era are you talking about? To make that run prior to the interstates & BG Parkway in that space of time would be nearly impossible.

Made that run in the summers starting in 1955 from the eastside to Mayfield...and other points in the JP area. It was a bear of a drive, pre interstates.

[claireianthelibrarian]

I hadn't heard the -tucky suffix before moving here, but it's charming.

A lot of places seem to have something like this, the stereotyped backwoods foil to that place's self-labeled civilized nature.

Texas has their Okies and their Oklahoma jokes. What does a tornado have in common with an Oklahoma housewife? They both get that trailer house in the end!

In St. Louis, if you want to indicate that somebody is that special breed of white trash, you call them a hoosier. It has been coopted a bit by hipsters and reclaimed here and there, but generally that word can really sting in the right context.

I tried to avoid saying hoosier for years, feeling that it was a little too classist for my taste. However, after I lived next to a household of people who did cockfighting [[so awesome, roosters crowing before 4:30am), whose one dog killed the other dog and bit my then-boyfriend's mom, who had a relative named Hooch who they constantly swore at and once hog-tied in the back of their pick-up truck, and so on.... I just felt like hoosier was a handy abbreviation to explain these charmers who were a part of my daily life. Hoooo-wee.

[jiminnm]

Hermod & Jiminnm.........tell me more about this Paducah/Mayfield/Jackson Purchase busline.

Hermod you were stating the bus would take off on Fridays and return on Sunday evenings.......which era are you talking about? To make that run prior to the interstates & BG Parkway in that space of time would be nearly impossible.

Made that run in the summers starting in 1955 from the eastside to Mayfield...and other points in the JP area. It was a bear of a drive, pre interstates.

Can't tell you much about the bus line, as I was a little young at the time. Mostly, I remember dropping off and picking up boxes and relatives from the Harper station. As I remember, the bus may have made a stop in Michigan some where outside of Detroit and didn't stop again until southern Illinois.

My mother moved to Detroit from Mayfield, although most of the family was [[and still is) in the Fulton area. I couldn't count the number of weekend trips we made from Detroit to Fulton when i was growing up - yes, in the pre-interstate days when four lane highways weren't real common. We'd hit the road Friday afternoon as soon as my dad was home from work [[or me from school) and drive through. That usually got us in at 7-8 Saturday morning [[14-15 hours if I remember correctly, longer if the weather didn't cooperate or an accident had the two lane bollixed up). We'd hit the road back before noon Sunday and get home in time to catch a few hours of sleep before Monday a.m. I think my dad knew every highway thru Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky [[and occasionally Illinois), and how to avoid all the bigger cities in between [[Toledo, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Evansville etc.).

When I-75 opened, that cut the trip down to 11-12 hours, and the Purchase Parkway shaved an hour or so off of that [[the last exit at the time was a mile or two from my aunt's house). I made that drive, in the modern era, in about 9 1/2 hours.

[old guy]

I find this thread very interesting. Never heard the tucky thing before.

[56packman]

I have heard these for years, about 30 or so. I would suspect that Ypsi and Hazeltucky came before Taylor, based on the vintage of the housing stock and commercial buildings. Don't forget Wall-tucky, although that area came up in the world as the former summer shacks that were converted into year-round housing [[concurrent with Ford opening the Wixom plant) were torn down and the line-to-line bigfoots were built there. there's still enough 'Tucky there to warrant the name. 'Tucky is a way of being, not limited to geography. You can hit the power ball lotto and still like having a Camero up on blocks on the lawn.

[Gannon]

Geez, growing older in Dearborn [[the start of downriver) I'd only heard of Taylortucky.

I always thought it was merely description of the penchant for parking upon one's own lawn and putting the old sofa on the front porch. Sometimes the old fridge, too.


Curious history here...

[rencense]

As I understand my history from Ypsi the tucky name became common around WWII. At that time an enormous amount of people from the Appalachians etc came to the ypsi area to work at the willow run bomber plant. The population increase was so large and fast that it was a challenge to even find housing for everyone. A lot of the old mansions were split up into small apartments and some temporary housing was constructed. I heard that the willow run plant pumped out a B24 bomber every 20 minutes or so. Thus was born the "arsenal of democracy"

I remember a year or two ago the Ypsitucky name became very controversial. The city was going to put on a bluegrass music festival to be called the ypsitucky jamboree. Evidently a lot of people thought it was an offensive term. I can't remember what ended up happening but it was either cancelled altogether or at least renamed.

[Downrivergal]

I have heard of all the 'tuckies, especially Taylortucky because of where I grew up. My friends used to make fun of my hair, telling me I belonged in there becasue I held on to the feathered look a bit too long

[DetroitDad]

My Mom always used "Taylortucky" growing up, as did many of my friends parents.