Appalachia
pronunciation
How to pronounce Appalachia in British English:
UK [ˌæpəˈleitʃjə]
How to pronounce Appalachia in American English:
US [ˌæpəˈletʃiə, -tʃə, -ˈlætʃiə, -ˈlætʃə]
-
- Noun:
- an impoverished coal mining area in the Appalachian Mountains (from Pennsylvania to North Carolina)
Word Origin
- Appalachia
- "cultural and geographical region of inland Eastern U.S.," 1880s, from the Appalachian Mountains, which are its core. Earlier Appalachia was proposed as a better name for "United States of America" by Washington Irving in 1839 (though he preferred Alleghenia) and this may have been the coinage of the word. It is a thousand pities that the puny witticisms of a few professional objectors should have the power to prevent, even for a year, the adoption of a name for our country. At present we have, clearly, none. There should be no hesitation about "Appalachia." In the first place, it is distinctive. "America" is not, and can never be made so. We may legislate as much as we please, and assume for our country whatever name we think right â but to use it will be no name, to any purpose for which a name is needed, unless we can take it away from the regions which employ it at present. South America is "America," and will insist upon remaining so. [Edgar Allan Poe, 1846]
Example
- 1. The people who live in the hills and hollows of central appalachia face high rates of diabetes , heart disease , cancer and respiratory illness .
- 2. The counties where life expectancy has fallen are nearly all in the south or appalachia , where huge deep-fried portions are the norm and waistlines are among america 's widest .
- 3. Such stories are echoed across the country in appalachia , where mountaintop-removal mining exposes coal seams by blasting away summits-and dumping tons of rock and soil into the narrow valleys below .
- 4. America has pumped federal dollars into deprived regions such as appalachia .
- 5. The rippling trance of an old-time banjo groove , and doc 's soulful voice layered on top , the sound of merging immigrant cultures of old ireland and africa in appalachia -- it was all so beautiful .