rube

Etymology

Generic use of the name Rube.

noun

  1. (US, Canada, informal) A person of rural heritage; a yokel.
    "Same time," said Babbitt, "no sense excusing these rube burgs too easy. Fellow's own fault if he doesn't show the initiative to up and beat it to the city, like we done--did. […]" 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter //dummy.host/index.php?title=s%3Aen%3ABabbitt%2FChapter_8 8, in Babbitt
    You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. 1991, Ted Tally, The Silence of the Lambs (motion picture), spoken by Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins)
  2. (derogatory) An uninformed, unsophisticated, or unintelligent person.

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