User:Shemanese/"Out Wayne", West Virginial

“Out Wayne” is a nationally and internationally recognized colloquialism referring generally to the incorporated portions of Wayne County, WV. In the sense of the term as a geographical descriptor it is important to note that this generalized reference includes areas known locally to be “Way Out Wayne” and “Out Back Wayne” inclusively. The exact geographic location of “Out Wayne” or “Oh Dubya” as it is also termed has arisen over a period dating to the 1960’s and is used with a level of inprecision even by locals. Certainly the incorporated cities and towns including Ceredo, Kenova, Westmoreland, Huntington, Wayne, Fort Gay and Prichard are not included in the community recognized as "Out Wayne". Beyond these, there remains some dispute. A map can offer a reasonable representation of “Out Wayne” though it may not be completely inclusive. Often related to a state of mind, being in a location “Out Wayne” is not as important as the sense of residents that they are from “Out Wayne” and it is not uncommon that a resident or émigré will consider themselves from “Out Wayne” while not actually being able to point to origins depicted on a map. For example, a young woman living in Huntington, WV (within driving distance of “Out Wayne”) who was raised along Buffalo Creek Road, an unincorporated section of northern Wayne County, would definitely be considered from “Out Wayne” and would be expected to refer to her origins as from “Out Wayne”. Contrastingly, an expatriate in similar circumstances who is from the town of Wayne, WV, would not be considered from “Out Wayne” but from “Wayne”. Certain areas of Wayne proper are considered to be “Out Back Wayne”, while not meeting the generally recognized definition of “Out Wayne”. The term “Out Wayne” did not begin as the term of endearment and pride that it represents today. In fact, in its original connotation many locals preferred not to be considered from or to be living “Out Wayne”; an important contrast to today. Being a region remotely under the rule of law throughout much of its history, Wayne County has until fairly recently been somewhat of a wild country along the western edge of Virginia and later West Virginia. Residents of incorporated and relatively settled portions of the County originally coined the term “Out Wayne” to distinguish themselves from what was considered a less refined resident of the county. Unincorporated portions of Wayne County remain to this day as remote and inaccessible as the farthest reaches of the American west. Abandoned coal mining regions of southern Wayne County can seem quite impenetrable and foreign to outsiders. The character of Wayne County has allowed it to serve as the butt of the perverbial “hillbilly” joke even in the heart of Appalachian West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. It is this condition of being set apart that has welded the unincorporated communities of Wayne County with a common identity that serves as a source of pride in the contemporary setting. Shemanese (talk) 01:36, 7 October 2009 (UTC)