Yokel

Yokel is one of several derogatory terms referring to the stereotype of unsophisticated country people. The term is of uncertain etymology and is only attested from the early 19th century on.^[1][2]

Yokels are depicted as straightforward, simple, naïve, and easily deceived, failing to see through false pretenses. They are also depicted as talking about bucolic topics like cows, sheep, goats, wheat, alfalfa, fields, crops, and tractors to the exclusion of all else. Broadly, they are portrayed as unaware of or uninterested in the world outside their own surroundings.

In the UK, yokels are traditionally depicted as wearing the old West Country/farmhand's dress of straw hat and white smock, chewing or sucking a piece of straw and carrying a pitchfork or rake, listening to "Scrumpy and Western" music. Yokels are portrayed as living in rural areas of Britain such as the West Country, East Anglia, the Yorkshire Dales and Wales. They speak with country dialects from various parts of Britain.^[3]

In the United States, the term is used to describe someone living in rural areas.

Synonyms for yokel include bubba, country bumpkin, hayseed, chawbacon, rube, redneck, hillbilly and hick.