Heard in West Virginia’s ‘Hollers’

Thank you for Charles Hillinger’s “West Virginia’s ‘Hollers’ ” (Feb. 10). Being a misplaced West Virginian, I thoroughly enjoyed the article.

I wanted to let you know about a place I grew up near in West Virginia. The place is called Rippentuck, and is now, I believe, unpopulated. As the story goes the place got its name from two sisters who used to live in Rippentuck. One sister was said to be portly while the other was said to be skinny. Being like most folks in that country they couldn’t afford many new clothes, so they shared dresses. When the skinny sister wore a dress she had to “tuck” and stitch the dress. When the portly sister wanted to wear it she had to rip the stitches out. When people would see them they would say, “Here comes the Rip and Tuck sisters.”

Thank you again for the article.

JEFF KOERBER

Lafayette, La.