Jean Vollard
Jean Vollard (plural: Jeans Vollard) is a historic slang term still in use for people who inhabit the rural mountainous areas of Yonderre, more specifically the Vollardic mountains, although it can also be extended to those of the Gebirre mountains, sometimes but not always as "Jean Gebirre". The usage of the term Jean Vollard as a descriptor has mixed connontations depending on context and receives mixed perceptions; it may be used in in-groups as a point of pride, while others consider its usage derogatory, especially when used as an insult.
The term Jean Vollard is known in print as old as the seventeenth century. An 1888 dictionary definition defines the term thusly: "a Jean Vollard is a free and untrammeled citizen of Vollardie, who lives in the mountains, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks liquor when he can get his hands on it and is quicker to action than to thought".[1]
While not otherwise particularly distinct from other rural Yonderian localities, the rural and at times hostile nature of the far reaches of the Vollardic mountains meant the cultural distance of Bergendii and Gothic Vollards was diminished through numerous displays of altruism going as far back as the Conquest of Joanusterra. Combined with the fiscal poverty of the area and its inhabitants, the people of the Vollardic mountains developed a sense of oneness long before the Late Enlightenment notion of a common Yonderian people, including developing a unique pidgin-like trade language combining elements of the Burgoignesc and Gothic languages.
With the end of the Yonderian Golden Age and subsequent Great Depression of the early twentieth century, many inhabitants of the vulnerable rural Vollardie migrated to other places in Yonderre in search of work. This spread with it a popular understanding of the Jeans Vollard and informed the public perception of the group. In popular culture, the stereotypical Jeans Vollard are perceived as slow, quick to violence and inbred in their isolation. This is in no small part thanks to sensationalist newspaper articles in the late nineteenth century and the subsequent portrayals of Jeans Vollard in early Yonderian Cinema. Many attempts have been made by self-proclaimed Jeans Vollard to "reclaim" the term; positive self-identification with the term generally includes identification with a set of "Jean Vollard values" including love and respect for nature, strong work ethic, generosity toward neighbors and those in need, family ties, self-reliance, resiliency and a simple lifestyle.
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Notes
- ↑ Dictionmaire de Bois, de Bois Publishers, Donnebourg, 1888.