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When my parents moved to Maryland, from Tennessee, some of the people in my Jr. High School would call me "Hillbilly" as an insult.
It really freaked them out, when I would just smile and go about my own business!
Then, one guy (that had really tried to get under my skin) asked me, "Why don't you get angry when we call you Hillbilly?"
"I'm proud of where I came from. I consider it a compliment, not an insult. Aren't you proud of where you came from?"
He and I became the best of friends, especially when he found out that where I came from was a better area than where he came from!
And yes. . . . I am a Hillbilly, and I'm still proud of it. (Oh, and a Redneck, too, for that matter!)