Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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NORTH CAROLINA — I cannot even count the number of times in my life I have been told I am too loud.
Apparently, my voice kind of just carries, especially when I am really excited, angry or passionate about something. What usually happens is I'm having a pretty normal conversation, and then the person I'm talking to informs me that I'm basically yelling and every single person around me is now listening to whatever I am saying.
Look, it's a problem. It's been a problem my whole life, but I've at least gotten way better at recognizing it. And it's something I'm working on. But I think now I've found a use for this quality.
Hollerin'.
In this video from Great Big Story, we get an introduction to some of the country's champions of hollerin', which is a real thing with contests, specific guidelines and some science behind it.
There are several different types of hollerin', as you'll learn when you watch the video, but the practice originated during those good ol' ancient days before cellphones when people had to get messages across large distances like fields and forests.
Yesterday's Have You Seen This?
Have You Seen This? Woman’s reaction to snake on windshield is the best
If I ever have a snake crawl onto my windshield while I'm driving to work, I hope my reaction is half as great as this woman's was.Though we have cellphones now, people still come together in Spivey's Corner, North Carolina, (the "Hollerin' Capital") to celebrate this now somewhat obscure form of communication.
"Hollerin' is an important piece of culture in this region," Tony Peacock, a six-time national champion of hollerin', says in the video. "It helps us remember our past."
I feel vindicated. I knew there was a reason for my loud voice.
While I definitely think it'd be fun to practice hollerin', and learn some of the techniques these champions use to project their voices so far, I'm also glad modern technology has helped us communicate a little better. Enjoy the video, and then pass it along to whatever very loud person you have in your life, and tell them to start channeling all that noise into something useful: hollerin'.
