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General Ohio University Discussion/Alumni Events Topic
Topic: Carriage Hill Apartments
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rpbobcat
2/27/2017 9:07 AM
I saw there was a fire at the Carriage Hill Apartments.

I know its a private development,but does anyone know if the tenants are primarily students ?
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bornacatfan
2/27/2017 11:14 AM
I asked the same question and got the answer..."no it's a bunch of Rutters"....I take it that is part of the local colloquialisms to describe someone? I'm not even sure I heard or spelled it correctly.
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OhioCatFan
2/27/2017 11:29 AM
It used to be back in the late 1960s when it opened primarily married students. I have no idea who lives there now, but I think there are still a significant number of students, as they advertise a lot for student tenants. Perhaps the particular unit that burned down did not have student renters. [Use of the term "Rutters" is rather repugnant; I've known some very nice people who were in that family; including two in my graduating class from Athens High.]
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bornacatfan
2/27/2017 11:36 AM
OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more
[Use of the term "Rutters" is rather repugnant; I've known some very nice people who were in that family; including two in my graduating class from Athens High.]

So it is a local term? ANd seemingly familiar? No wonder I could not figure it out.I initially thought it had something to do with the Deer population in SEO or something along that line or behaviour. A family name as opposed to a group or a nationality? Interesting. Learn something every day. I have overheard something similar in New Castle IN ...as in "are you a good Neal or a bad Neal?"
Last Edited: 2/27/2017 11:38:35 AM by bornacatfan
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OhioCatFan
2/27/2017 11:48 AM
bornacatfan wrote:expand_more
[Use of the term "Rutters" is rather repugnant; I've known some very nice people who were in that family; including two in my graduating class from Athens High.]

So it is a local term? ANd seemingly familiar? No wonder I could not figure it out.I initially thought it had something to do with the Deer population in SEO or something along that line or behaviour. A family name as opposed to a group or a nationality? Interesting. Learn something every day. I have overheard something similar in New Castle IN ...as in "are you a good Neal or a bad Neal?"
Yes, it's a family name. I'm not sure exactly how or when it started being used as a synonym for "uneducated, redneck hillbilly." I first ran into its use in that manner a few years ago. Since then I have heard it used a number of times, and I think it's in very bad taste to use a family name in that way. In fact, I don't really like to use the term "redneck" either. And, hillbilly to me is actually a positive term, as half of my lineage is SEO hillbilly.
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rpbobcat
2/27/2017 12:53 PM
OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more
[Use of the term "Rutters" is rather repugnant; I've known some very nice people who were in that family; including two in my graduating class from Athens High.]

So it is a local term? ANd seemingly familiar? No wonder I could not figure it out.I initially thought it had something to do with the Deer population in SEO or something along that line or behaviour. A family name as opposed to a group or a nationality? Interesting. Learn something every day. I have overheard something similar in New Castle IN ...as in "are you a good Neal or a bad Neal?"
Yes, it's a family name. I'm not sure exactly how or when it started being used as a synonym for "uneducated, redneck hillbilly." I first ran into its use in that manner a few years ago. Since then I have heard it used a number of times, and I think it's in very bad taste to use a family name in that way. In fact, I don't really like to use the term "redneck" either. And, hillbilly to me is actually a positive term, as half of my lineage is SEO hillbilly.

On a tangent.

When I was at O.U. they used to describe people from Parma as having:

Red necks,white socks and Blue Ribbon beer.

Never knew if people from Parma took that as a put down or not.
Last Edited: 2/27/2017 12:54:21 PM by rpbobcat
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Alan Swank
2/27/2017 4:57 PM
It's the equivalent of a racist term in Athens County and one of the many issues at the core of the discussion to realign the elementary schools in town. Interesting enough, the high school football stadium is named after R. Basil Rutter, a distinguished individual from years gone by.

As for Carriage Hill, 2 or 3 of the families who lived in that building have children at East Elementary where my granddaughters go so the complex houses a wide variety of folks. Thank goodness the fire was during the day rather than in the middle of the night.
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cbus cat fan
2/27/2017 5:18 PM
Alan, you probably have better insight into this than most, but when I was and undergrad in the 80s and even as a grad student in the 90s, some children of OU professors would use that term. However, if someone used a questionable term to describe another nationality they would be furious. I do hope that has changed.

I suppose it has something to do with the mindset that some folks who can literally see across the border into West Virginia making crude jokes about West Virginia, and not at all realizing that some folks might think it was rather hypocritical. I suppose it is a cultural thing, in many parts of the world people make fun of other cultures and have no problem being open about it. I saw this first hand a few years ago while on a vacation in Mexico.

As for the fire, it sounds like it could have been a lot worse. I lived in Carriage Hill in my younger days and enjoyed it. Yet it looks rather humble now compared to the new places that surround it. I remember thinking when they were building the Athens Station Project, if anyone could afford such luxury. Looks rather modest compared to other places today. I am starting to sound a little old right now!
Last Edited: 2/27/2017 5:19:36 PM by cbus cat fan
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Alan Swank
2/27/2017 8:50 PM
cbus cat fan wrote:expand_more
Alan, you probably have better insight into this than most, but when I was and undergrad in the 80s and even as a grad student in the 90s, some children of OU professors would use that term. However, if someone used a questionable term to describe another nationality they would be furious. I do hope that has changed.
It's more related to what elementary school a kid attends than if their parent in a university professor. In fact in some of the steering committee public forums, many of the university folks had no idea what the term was much less meant. Those in town, East, West and Morrison would have been more likely to use it concerning kids in the old Chauncey attendance area and to a certain extent the old The Plains attendance area. The first time I heard one of my kids use that word was the last time even though they were just repeating what another classmate had said. It's as evil a term as the "n" word.

On a positive note, we played golf at OU in shorts on Friday afternoon.
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MedinaCat
2/27/2017 8:51 PM
I had never heard the term and was surprised to find it defined multiple times in the Urban Dictionary.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rutter
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OhioCatFan
2/27/2017 11:20 PM
MedinaCat wrote:expand_more
I had never heard the term and was surprised to find it defined multiple times in the Urban Dictionary.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rutter

Just read through these, Medina, and this one really stuck in my craw:

"rutter a southeastern Ohio term meant to insult someone. Originated in Glouster, Ohio near Athens in the 60's and became a phrase to describe someone or someplace as unkempt, poor, or smelly. This term is used by ignorant people with low IQs to make themselves feel superior. Fact: the football field at Athens High School carries the name 'Basil R. Rutter Stadium' because my husband's rich Uncle Basil donated a large sum of money years ago to rebuild it. This did not discourage the insensitive remarks."

Basil's son was in my high school graduating class. How would you like your last name to be used in this fashion? It is very disgusting to say the least.
Last Edited: 2/27/2017 11:23:54 PM by OhioCatFan
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Jeff Johnson
2/28/2017 9:00 AM
OhioCatFan wrote:expand_more
I had never heard the term and was surprised to find it defined multiple times in the Urban Dictionary.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rutter

Just read through these, Medina, and this one really stuck in my craw:

"rutter a southeastern Ohio term meant to insult someone. Originated in Glouster, Ohio near Athens in the 60's and became a phrase to describe someone or someplace as unkempt, poor, or smelly. This term is used by ignorant people with low IQs to make themselves feel superior. Fact: the football field at Athens High School carries the name 'Basil R. Rutter Stadium' because my husband's rich Uncle Basil donated a large sum of money years ago to rebuild it. This did not discourage the insensitive remarks."

Basil's son was in my high school graduating class. How would you like your last name to be used in this fashion? It is very disgusting to say the least.
The pejorative term "rutter" originated long before the 1960's, somewhere in the region of Trimble or Dover township, as I remember hearing it as a young child. The term originally referred to a family who lived in the area and had a reputation for living in unclean quarters and dressing in a slovenly manner. I went to school with several Rutter children and a Rutter family lived across he street from us in Jacksonville. They were all nice people and didn't deserve the pejorative.

The Rutter family were among the earliest residents of Athens County.

I heard the term used once in a bar in Fairborn, Ohio (near Dayton), but never found out who the girl was that used it or where she was from in SE Ohio.
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DelBobcat
2/28/2017 9:12 AM
The part of Southern Ohio where I grew up (Adams County) has a similar phenomenon. There was a family, whose real last name I won't say but let's call them the Smiths, that had their last name used as a pejorative. As a kid I used the term freely, and remember thinking that it was a shame that the Smiths had a last name that was also a word meaning "stupid, dumb hick." One day my mom heard me call someone a Smith and she quickly reprimanded me.

Just goes to show how these prejudices can get passed down through the generations and children can be conditioned to be cruel by the adults around them pretty easily. Lots of children aren't lucky enough to have the parents I had.
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Ohio69
2/28/2017 2:27 PM
I learned the rutter term in the early 1990s from a roomate who grew up in Nelsonville.

I rarely hear it used anymore.

It seems to me society in general puts up with all sorts of derogatory terms for caucasians. Redneck. Hillbilly. Dirty Hippie. Cracker. Etc.

Lets be careful now that this doesn't turn into an ugly string of posts.... Or "The Man" may lock it....

(See what I did there....)

If you can donate to those impacted by the Carriage Hill fire, please do so. It is a mix of locals and some students.
Last Edited: 2/28/2017 2:27:48 PM by Ohio69
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