sandlapper

Meaning

Noun

• A native of South Carolina.

Origin

• Upon visiting Columbia/Lancaster, SC, in 1791, George Washington is said to have called the people living on the sands near the river shores sandlappers.
• An alternative etymology is that the word was used before and during the American Revolution by the British and the residents of the Carolina coast to refer to residents of the river-bottoms and more generally of the back country and piedmont areas of South Carolina. The word originally had a pejorative connotation, not unlike hillbilly.