What do you call a person who is regionally biased and has an unreasonable hatred/dislike for people from other regions of the country/world? Something like a racist, but the point of discrimination here is the geographical region and not race.
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7Regionally biased? You mean like someone answering here, who says that English as used in the US is incorrect when it differs from English as used in the UK?– GEdgarCommented Feb 4, 2012 at 17:41
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I guess so. That does seem pretty unreasonable.– bcosynotCommented Feb 5, 2012 at 19:20
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14 Answers
The word chauvinist used to mean exactly this. My impression is that this meaning is still valid, but it is possible that for younger people, this meaning has now been preempted by male chauvinism.
answered Feb 4, 2012 at 13:04
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+1 I think both chauvinist and xenophobe are good answers, with chauvinism including a strong pride in one's country (easily extendible to region), where as xenophobia emphasizes more of a hatred for outsiders. Commented Feb 4, 2012 at 16:46
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11I looked chauvinism up after reading this answer and (of course) you are absolutely right. You are also right about male chauvism and, in fact, that is the only context in which I have heard the word used. So, firstly, thank you for enlightening me as to the broader meaning of the word and, secondly, I want to support what you said about its use among younger people - it is very much so the case.– RachelCommented Feb 4, 2012 at 16:54
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2Always thought chauvinist implied male chauvinism. Thanks for enlightening.– bcosynotCommented Feb 5, 2012 at 19:21
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9I seem to be one of the "younger people." Indeed, I would say that using "chauvinism" in Peter's sense is likely to be misunderstood by a modern audience, whatever a dictionary might say. Commented Feb 6, 2012 at 4:22
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2By current usage I have to say this is a bad suggestion. I've never heard it used outside of a gender context. Commented Mar 11, 2015 at 10:01
--3. very limited or narrow in scope or outlook; provincial: parochial views; a parochial mentality.
In its strict definition in the religious sense, it is neutral; however, in an extended meaning, it has negative connotations and is often used to mean exactly as 'regional bias'.
World English Dictionary defines parochial primarily as narrow in outlook or scope; provincial (see further down on the same page as above).
[Edit] Some citations:
... $2.6 billion saved by cutting numerous accounts that have in the past been slush funds for lawmakers back-home parochial projects. (AP, federal spending bill)
... domestic interest groups ... oppose policy innovations that would hurt their parochial interests. [Thomas J. Christensen in Foreign Affairs]
... by deepening their connections with the world, or whether they might instead become more parochial, more inward-looking, ... (Bill Emmott in Newsweek, Japan's catastrophe)
The award represented a high point of cosmopolitanism at a predictably parochial event: ... (AO Scott in NYT, Cinema Purgatorio)
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4I believe that the root word for parochial comes from the same latin root word as parish (parocchia in Italian, for example) and means something like 'of the parish.' However, the Italian word meaning 'parochialism' is campanilismo (irrational attachment to one's campanile, or bell tower). Commented Feb 7, 2012 at 9:22
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Yes. From the reference I cited, "of or pertaining to a parish or parishes." However, the word may not be in extensive use today in that sense.– KrisCommented Feb 7, 2012 at 9:28
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1Just an additional example which I thought might be useful, this is from the Lonely Planet Perth and Western Australia guidebook, p25. "..isolation has moulded West Australians into a hard, self-sufficient and innovative people, staunchly independent and parochial to the point that the notion of seceding from the rest of Australia occasionally surfaces." (yes, we are that mad at times..) Commented Apr 28, 2012 at 10:30
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If you go by the technical original meaning of the word, this should apply. If you go by its actual common use, it does not (except in certian circumstances).– T.E.D.Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 14:22
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@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells It is in many ways surprising, and perhaps regrettable, that no English equivalent has evolved from campanile.– WS2Commented Mar 25, 2016 at 8:11
I would think "xenophobic" would be a good word for this — someone who hates or fears "outsiders." Xenophobia is usually used to describe people who dislike foreigners, but I think it can apply regionally as well.
The closest term I know is chauvinist.
It could be 'Jingoist' which actually refers to someone who believes that their own country is always best. Country could be a region perhaps?
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I'm of two minds about this one. The original term was describing an attitude in the British Empire (so not even limited to a single country, much less a single region). However, it is mushy enough to perhaps apply.– T.E.D.Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 14:21
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I think jingoism may work for the OP. Definition at dictionary.reference.com/browse/jingoism is "bellicose chauvinism." A jingoist has an "unreasonable dislike for people from other regions of the world," e.g., American dislike of the Middle East. Mushy, yes, but Chauvin was a Frenchman (very proud of his country) and would consider it a stretch to speak of "male chauvinists."– rajah9Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 14:34
I think parochial fits the bill.
Provincial is too mild, it lacks the castigation called for in the definition submitted by vr3690.
On the other hand, xenophobic appears somewhat harsh, given its association with racial attitudes.
Chauvinist could fit the bill. However, the term lacks the strong regional connotations required by vr3690's definition.
Insular could work. But I think the connotation of complacency dominates here. One is more a victim of one's own ignorance rather than a champion of one's own superiority.
That's why I'll go with parochial. Although the term has religious origins, in modern usage it has become sufficiently secularized to meet the implied definition of small-minded, local patriotism, not open to ideas beyond its limited horizons.
A bigot. The predominant usage in modern English refers to persons hostile to those of differing sex, race, ethnicity, religious belief or spirituality, nationality, language, sexual orientation, and age; and to those from a different region
Another answerer already suggested this, but didn't provide any support for the answer, so I will "re-propose" regionalist.
Related definitions mainly focus on the form of the word expressing the ideology/outlook itself–regionalism:
affection, often excessive, [for] one's own region and [for] everything related to it (wiktionary)
loyalty to the interests of a particular region (thefreedictionary)
A regionalist, then, would be someone with such an ideology/outlook.
Uses of the terms regionalism/regionalist tend to have a political bent, indicating an individual or group's "aim at increasing the political power and influence available to all or some residents of a region." Take, for example, its use here:
...a comparative analysis of the interaction between regional elites and national government in the antebellum American South and in the nineteenth-century Italian Mezzogiorno must pay particular attention to the specific case studies of South Carolina and Sicily, and specifically to the extreme regionalist ideologies that characterized the political demands of the South Carolinian and Sicilian elites and which eventually led to the comparable historical phenomena of secession and separatism.
Source: Agrarian Elites: American Slaveholders and Southern Italian Landowners, 1815-1861 by Enrico Dal Lago
However, regionalism isn't restricted purely to politics. It also takes the form of attempts at geographical/social/cultural/linguistic divisiveness as well:
Regionalists actively work for the spread and use of local dialects to the extent that Spanish is now taught as a second language in schools within the Spanish Catalunia. They fine shopkeepers who do not label their products in Catalan and/or physicians who do not write in Catalan. In France, the past is being revisited by activists, in the name of culture… with some ludicrous results.
These individuals and groups want to revert to Catalan, Basque or local dialect only, relegating French or Castilian to being second languages or erasing them altogether. ... To make it simple, if you do not speak Catalan, you do not “belong” to the territory in spite of your belongings or activity in the region.
Source: "Regionalism" by Vanessa Biard-Schaeffer
Taking regionalism to its extreme, regionalists could go from simple favoring of their own region, its people, its interests, and its properties, to dismissal/rejection of "people from other regions of the country/world," to outright hostility toward or even hatred of them.
To further emphasize the dislike/hatred aspect, you could say "hostile regionalist" or "extreme regionalist."
A Regionalist! As he is biased about a region.
How about a "TOPOCHAUVINIST",as meaning a regional elitist,or someone regionally biased?
Nativist perhaps?
Nativism is the political position of demanding a favored status for certain established inhabitants of a nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants
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1Welcome to EL&U! Can you edit to supply a citation? That would complete your answer and avoid the need for filler words.– MetaEdCommented Feb 4, 2012 at 16:40
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5A comment like "Gotta fit 30 chars here" is worth a downvote, for the simple reason that you could instead provide a dictionary link or definition. Edit your answer, fix it up! Commented Feb 4, 2012 at 17:14
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Cleaned this answer up a bit, including adding text explaining the meaning (from the provided link). Hopefully now any downvotes you receive will at least be on the merits and not on the presentation. :-)– T.E.D.Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 14:19
Bigoted works for this, meaning an intense disdain or hatred of those not of one's region, creed, race, or other affiliation. It's a bit more intense than 'xenophobic' which refers to a distrust or fear of foreign people in general.
How about a "regional chauvinist pig" or, better, a "small-town chauvinist"? Could either of these options belong here?
