One of the most famous
headlines ever to appear in Variety,
the show business newspaper, was STICKS NIX HICK PIX. While the meaning may be
obvious to some, to others it is unintelligible slang (which George M. Cohan
felt needed an explanation in Yankee
Doodle Dandy.) The gist of the story that follows the headline is that
audience surveys indicate that movies about rural life are not popular with
rural audiences.
Where do the words sticks, nix, hick, and pix originate?
Sticks
is a term for a rural location that dates to 1905 and derives from the term
“living in the sticks,” meaning “living among the trees.”
Nix,
meaning “refuse, reject, or forbid,” stems from the German word nichts, meaning “nothing.” It was first noted in English in 1789.
A hick is a rural person, usually with the connotation of social
awkwardness. Its origin, in the 14th
century, was Hikke, a popular pet
name for Richard, a name that was
associated with hackney drivers.
Its use as an adjective, as in hick
town, dates only to 1914.
Pix, of
course, is a variant of pics, a
shortened form of pictures, which
refers in this case to “motion pictures.”
The word pic has been in use
since at least 1884, and as a reference to movies, since 1936. Today it has
been largely replaced by flicks or flix, a term used for movies since 1926,
derived from flicker, from the uneven
projection quality of early films.
The Bard of Buffalo
Bayou has always been sympathetic to the producers of those hick pix, since he
feels their pain. Not only hicks, but also city slickers, and everyone in
between, have nixed the Bard’s work. Here’s why:
When
I read Variety,
Though filled with great anxiety
About
the notoriety
Provoked
by impropriety,
Irreverent impiety,
And
rampant insobriety
Among
show-biz society,
I
never reach satiety!
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