"Wabbish country"?

[asterroc]

I've been reading the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card, and he keeps referring to a region of the US as "Wabbish country". Any clue where he means? I mean, New England's a real place in our reality, and it's not too hard to figure out where he means by "Appalacia", but "Wabbish"? I'm guessing the upper-Midwest, but if anyone knows better, let me know.

Comments

[marquiswildbill.livejournal.com]

If the author or the character speaking are from California (especially SoCal) they are referring to an area with a high hispanic population. Wab is a derogatory term for a hispanic, especially an illegal Mexican immigrant. Otherwise this is a new part of American speech to me, or maybe it's slowly spreading.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Well, the series takes place in early 1800's, would the term Wab have been in use then? If so, it might be referring to Texas-ish area, but I don't think it'd be referring to as far as the West Coast.

Card did spend part of his childhood in California.

[marquiswildbill.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure of it's history, but I think it's a modern slur. When I first asked what it meant I was told "walked across border" which implies its a more recent term. Racial slurs (and offensive slang in general) seem to turn over pretty quickly in their common usage. It's also a CA term in origin (I've mostly heard it used by OC residents), and illegal immigration on a massive scale is a more recent phenomena (after they ran out of Okies)
Does the author give any hints like geographic features or anything?
My knowledge of America in the early 19th century is somewhat spotty because Napoleonic Europe is more interesting in my book.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

He mentions the "Hio River" (which made me think Ohio, but other things point towards Ohio being part of or near to the region of "Appalachie"), and there's also the "Hatrack River" (which I believe is made up). The "Missipi River" is described as being a long ways away, but Philadelphia isn't impossibly far. Taking a look at a map now, the Ohio River does run into the Mississippi River, so it could be that "Wabbish" is KY, TN, OH, IL that sort of area and west-ish, and "Appalachie" is between Wabbish and the coast (which is referred to as the "Crown Colonies").

The alternate history of the series is an interesting one. For example, George Washington at first fought the war of independence on the side of the Brits, then was convinced (I think by Ben Franklin, I've lost track a bit) to turn sides. So Washington released all his soldiers from their oaths so they could go over to the Americans, but Washington voluntarily submitted himself to the gallows as a traitor. Nearly everyone in America has little bits of magic such as hexes, and many people have more talent in what's known as a "knack." But only some have large amounts of talent and are called Makers, like Ben Franklin and the main character of the series, Alvin, who's supposed to be modeled after Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism, and Card's a Mormon).

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

Possibly this? http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS291&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=wabash&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Hm, that *is* consistent with my hypothesis above, that it's the upper midwest, west of the Appalachians.

*hunts a bit on Wikipedia*

Ah-hah! You're right! Wabash city/county are named after the Wabash river, which is fed by rivers and streams throughout Indiana. The name for that river comes from the Miami Indian name for it, which tribe Card refers to. And moreover one of the feeder rivers, the Tippecanoe in northern Indiana, is the site of a key battle in one of the books.

Thanks for the sleuthing!

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

No problem. I didn't know much about the Wabash Valley, but it seemed like a reasonable guess, given your mention of "Appalachie".

Of course, the Tippecanoe River was the site of a key battle in real history, too. General William Henry Harrison won such glory there that he translated the battle's legacy into his abbreviated Presidency- his ticket was gleefully referred to as "Tippecanoe, and Tyler Too".

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

My goodness, the things I didn't know... I wonder, if I weren't reading this as an audiobook, I might've had the spelling of some of these names and places and made the connections and Google searches sooner.

In Card's version of America, Tenskwatawa was a pacifist recommending Indian withdrawal of all Indians to the western banks of the Missippi, ceding the eastern part of America to the Whites. Tippecanoe was a massacre by whites of the Indians, at the urging of provincial mayor Harrison. The massacre only ended when the whites finally realized that the Indians were putting up no resistance. Tenskwatawa cursed all the whites at the battle to have blood drip from their hands unless they told everyone new they met the story, and "White Murderer Harrison" therefore was forced to retreat into hermitage.

The subsequent battle of Detroit (part of the 1812 War) was won by the Americans only when the French general Napoleon was imprisoned as a traitor to France and sent back to the motherland in chains, leaving only inept officers in his place. It's a very amusing place, Card's alternate history, and I'm intrigued that it's revealing more about true history to me. :)

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

If you liked this, you might enjoy Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. They're a set of novels set in early 19th Century alt-Europe, where the presence of dragons alters the shape of the Napoleonic Wars. Sort of Horatio Hornblower meets Pern.

[soapfaerie.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest Wabash, because i remember singing the song "Wabash Cannonball" as a kid.. :)