Rednecks?
 

Is that word offensive? Or has it been embraced by some White people? And what exactly is a Redneck?

I suppose it would be offensive to some -- although the terms is used by white people with some regularity. I'm not offended, and there are a few of them in my family tree.

I suspect the definition is fairly broad, and also depends on the context in which the word is used. I wouldn't try to define it very closely.

A redneck just sort of is.

The term "redneck" comes from farmers working out in fields who would get sunburned on the backs of their necks. It's come to be synonymous with "bumpkin" or "rube."

I don't know if people find it offensive, but I do think it's a derogatory term. I wouldn't want to be thought of as a redneck.

There are folks down here who revel in the fact that they are rednecks.

I was wondering because this woman just won an award for her song about being a redneck woman. Thought it was interesting.

I guess it's sort of like Jeff Foxworthy's "you know you're a redneck if..." schtick. They're taking the term and owning it.

There there's always the old song:

Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer.

With a nod to comedian Jeff Goldsworthy, You Might be a Redneck if...

You think Sherlock Holmes is a
housing project down in Biloxi.

You think a stock tip is
advice on worming' your hogs.

You've been married three times
and still have the same in-laws.

You think TACO BELL is
the Mexican Phone Company

Your state's got a new law that says when a couple
get divorced, they are still legally brother and sister.

Your house still has the
"WIDE LOAD"
sign on the back.

You think Genitalia is an Italian airline.

Your sister is the third generation
of women in your family to conceive
a baby as a result of an alien abduction

If you can burp
and say your name at the same time,
you're shur'nuff a redneck.

You think Possum is
"The Other White Meat"

You hooked up with your present girlfriend
as a result of a message on the wall of
the mens' room at the Flying J Truck Stop.

The centerpiece on your dining room table
is an original signed work
by a famous taxidermist.

You think a quarter horse is
a ride out in front of the Wal-Mart.

Your huntin dawg had a litter of puppies in the living room and nobody noticed.

You think the last words to
The Star Spangled Banner are
"Gentlemen, start your engines."

Your father executes the "pull my finger"
trick during Christmas dinner.

You believe dual air bags refer
to your wife and mother-in-law.

Your grandfather died and left everything to his widow.
But she can't touch it until she's fourteen.

The people on Jerry Springer's show
remind you of your neighbors


You know yer a redneck when you take a load to the dump and bring back more than you took

Your family tree has no forks.

You have refused to watch the Academy Awards since "Smokey and the Bandit" was snubbed for best picture.

The third grade teacher says little Bubba
could be a mathematical genius
because he's got thirteen fingers.

Fifth grade was the best six years of your life.

Your house doesn't have curtains,
but your truck does.

You have flowers planted in a
bathroom fixture in your front yard.

You think the Mountain Men in Deliverance
were just "misunderstood".

You've been on TV more than 5 times
describing the sound of a tornado.

The FBI surrounded your trailer park
twice so far this year.

You stare at an orange juice container
because it says, "CONCENTRATE".

Anyone in your family died right
after saying, "Hey, y'all watch this!".
____________________

More than you wanted to know, right Epitome? :)

Redneck Woman is by Gretchen Wilson- it's funny.

Depends on who and where you ask.
I am in KY and we have our share of rednecks, but even here people dispute who is and "ain't" a redneck...

My dated a redneck- and he was proud of it- as was his entire fraternity. They dipped tobacco, had rebel flags everywhere, whooped and hollared, knew how to handle cows, horses, pigs and chickens, fried EVERYTHING, wore cutoff tee shirts (they cut the sleeves out of EVERY shirt) with overalls and work boots. They could wire up a car, change the entire exhaust and work hard just for "the sound of it!". They were gentleman to women but talked about "boobies" and were the funniest guys. They drank Pabb's blue ribbon, used "yonder" as a regular word and would pick up road kill and leave it in their rival fraternity's front yard for fun. Unfortunately quite a few were racist, but then they had a member that was african american and he was a self proclaimed redneck, too,...

As for others- I know people here that think a redneck is someone living in a trailer park, eating pork rinds and talking about Jerry Springer "God Love em",

It all depends my dear...

Also being in KY I too see my fair share of rednecks and I don't think its a good thing by any means. Yes, the song is funny, but I use the term redneck to describe many people, but mostly including ignorant, uneducated people who wear clothes that aren't appropriate to see daylight.

some find it offensive because some people use it to mean like white trash. most of the time, they're just saying you're a little bit country. :)

Not me, when I say redneck I definitely mean white trash. Its common among those that I know that redneck=white trash.

I thought that their necks were red under their necks, not on their backs. :confused:


That Wilson chick's songs, well the tunes are catchy. :o Should I be embarrassed? "Hell Yeah"...lmao! NO pun intended!

:p

She didn't say that they were red on their backs she said the back of their neck.

She said the back of their necks. I meant the front of their necks. I thought that the term came from the front of their necks not the back of their neck.

No. Its the back of their neck.

ohhhhhhhhhhhh. So all these years... m'kay. thanks. :D

There are:
rednecks
white trash
hillbillies
country folk

I live in rural southeastern Ohio, it's filled with this assortment. However, there are differences between them all! When I have more time I'll elaborate!

I don't think its offensive. Its actually quite funny.

See I find the term 'white trash' interesting because I've never heard of any other group of people referred to as 'trash'. And I think any group of people can be called 'country folk'.

Personally, as a white, rural southerner who grew up on a farm, I don't consider myself a redneck. But at my high school there was definately a clique of kids who considered themselves redneck and proud. They wore overalls, Wranglers, flannel shirts, etc., every day. During Spirit Week for homecoming at my high school we even had a "Farmer Day" and about 25% of the school would drive to school in tractors. Personally, I find redneck a tad offensive, but it's certainly much better than "white trash" or some other alternative. Besides, a lot of people are self-proclaimed rednecks. I think the issue comes in when you have families that consider themselves more as gentleman farmers that get called rednecks. I know that my grandfather would have been mortified to have been called a redneck, but I think that particular sting of class consciousness has really been dulled for me and my parents, yet we'd never really identify ourselves as "rednecks". But most of the kids I knew from really successful farming families wouldn't have called themselves "rednecks".

Does this make a bit of sense?

I grew up with a bunch of rednecks who proudly called themselves rednecks. They all worke their cowboy boots and hats everywhere, even prom. They all got huge trucks to haul their tractors around and went to school to major in agriculture. They seemed proud whenever anyone called them rednecks.

KillarnyRose, did you mean Jeff Foxworthy?

I am literally a redneck this week since I forgot to put sun block on parts of my back and the back of my neck. OUCH!

Seriously though, I think that rednecks are country folks and proud of it. I wanted to know the differences between rednecks and hillbillies. I think that there might be some overlap. There are quite a few rednecks and/or hillbillies in the more rural parts of New York State. I looked up the terms in www.dictionary.com.

red·neck
n. Offensive Slang
Used as a disparaging term for a member of the white rural laboring class, especially in the southern United States.

A white person regarded as having a provincial, conservative, often bigoted attitude.

n : a poor white person in the southern United States [syn: cracker]


hill·bil·ly
n. Informal pl. hill·bil·lies
A person from the backwoods or a remote mountain area.

[hill + Billy a nickname for William.]

n : a disparaging term for an unsophisticated person [syn: bushwhacker]

Rednecks can live anywhere in the rural south. Hillbillies live only in the mountains of Appalachia.

"Hillbilly" tends to be associated with a lot more naivete than "redneck", because it's presumed that hillbillies live in remote areas. And I'd say that hillbilly is a lot more offensive than redneck.

You'll note that redneck, according to Peaches-n-Cream's definition, is associated with a working-class farm laborer, most definately NOT a yeoman or someone who owns their own farm. This is why my family never considered ourselves rednecks. In today's world, many former tenant farmers or farm laborers now own their own farms and have reclaimed "redneck" as a term of pride, much like many other formerly derogatory terms. Of course, these same farm workers now often discriminate against Latino farm laborers. :rolleyes:

I could really write an essay on all this stuff.

Isn't that a little elitist? Some folks can't help the culture they were born into.

Take my late mother for instance. She made it as far as 4th grade before having to help take care of her younger siblings when her second parent died. In some ways that made her ignorant -- but she was far from dumb. When you were born in "rural" Ohio into a family of eleven in a house with no electricity or indoor plumbing and when your father was a moonshiner (literally), sometimes you just don't get the advantages that others do. Sometimes you don't even know what you're missing.

You certainly can't afford to dress well. Lots of hand-me-downs and home made clothes.

She had some prejudices and she would proudly call herself a "hillbilly," -- I don't know if she would even have heard the term "redneck," but a lot of people might have figured her for one.

All of that aside, she managed to make a reasonable living for herself and led a pretty happy life. She was bright enough to run her own business for a while and then become a department head in a discount store. And she was insistant that I get "at least two years" of college.

My point is that, like people of other backgrounds, stereotypes aren't helpful.

She was a loving, caring woman. Hillbilly/Redneck or not, she was quite a person and I miss her a lot.

Then, there's my late father-in-law who ran the family farm nearly all of his life. He could look like the biggest "hick" in the world out in the field. But he had a degree in Agriculture from Ohio State and sat on local and regional school boards. His father, who attended Cornell, was on the Ohio State School Board. My mother-in-law, a farm wife, had a college degree (as did both of my in-laws' mothers and one grandmother). They made most of their own clothes -- hardly fashionable.

Mother-in-law was even an ADPi at Wittenberg University. I suspect her "sisters" gave her some problems because she didn't dress like them and have their financial backing. She didn't talk about the experience for years, and told Mrs. DeltAlum that if she ever pledged, she would never see another penny from them.

Stereotypes can hurt.

Of course not, if you notice my definition of redneck certainly didn't include the culture they were born into.

Another point you've misunderstood. I mean clothes like a 500 lb. woman wearing spandex shorts and a tank top that only covers her boobs. I mean a man who wears short (daisy dukes-type short) shorts & nothing else. You know, redneck/white trash clothes. I didn't mention anything about people who can't afford to dress well-if I did that would include me!

However, people born into that culture might not even understand the differences.

Ohhhh... Be careful with that assertion... Obviously that does not mean it is okay for someone to call someone else a redneck, just because they might toss it around with their cohorts.

I know what you are saying though...

I'm trying to control myself here. Let me just say that "white trash" is NEVER, NEVER an appropriate term to use about anyone. It's really, really offensive. No one likes being called that. Besides, white trash is different from redneck anyway.

On the clothes tip: what you're describing is not how "rednecks" dress. Rednecks wear wranglers, overalls, flannel shirts, and caps. You're describing how the people you'd call "white trash" dress. And, let me just say, from growing up with and knowing many such people, the reason they dress that way is A) because they haven't been taught the same standards of dress as you and B) because oftentimes they can't afford new clothes if styles change or if they outgrow old clothes.

Mm-kay? You're about to offend me here.

Would you all consider Michael aka Cowboy from Big Brother a redneck? :confused:

Except I don't consider redneck/white trash to be a culture. Its a way of living, but certainly NOT something you are born into.

I previously stated that redneck=white trash around here. And what I'm describing (clothes, people, etc.) is simply what I see & how I interpret it. If you find that offensive you should really really really calm down and evaluate how easily offended you are. I'm entitled to my opinion as are you.

Well, then you stated wrong. They don't mean the same thing whatsoever, in any context I've ever heard....???

I'm going to let this go, but please don't come into a rural community and start calling people white trash. If you do, you're going to find out real quick that "white trash" is indeed patently offensive to many, many people.

Every community is different and I wouldn't assume anyone in your community is the same as those in my community. You are ASSuming that I don't know that white trash is offensive. Of course its offensive-and its not like I run around just calling people white trash. There is a lot that runs through a person's mind that isn't appropriate to say out loud to someone else. I am allowed to share my opinion although I would never walk up to a person & call them white trash (unless I was looking to get beat down by that person or their redneck family.)

And by the way-I didn't state wrong. I definitely said what I meant to say. Its called an OPINION:

o·pin·ion
n.
A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof: “The world is not run by thought, nor by imagination, but by opinion” (Elizabeth Drew).
A judgment based on special knowledge and given by an expert: a medical opinion.
A judgment or estimation of the merit of a person or thing: has a low opinion of braggarts.
The prevailing view: public opinion.
Law. A formal statement by a court or other adjudicative body of the legal reasons and principles for the conclusions of the court.

Go to the KY state fair- you can see everything from rednecks to yuppies and sluts.

Just a question for you, breathesgelatin,
have you ever looked at someone and thought slut? because of the way she dressed?

Just a thought.

To me white trash is more of a i am wearing a curly mullet, drinking beer, without a job, living off welfare, with short jean short with a hole in the crotch and a muscle shirt with "I am with stupid" on it and blue blockers or something.

That, to me, looks like white trash.

Think of Kim Basinger in 8 Mile-
it isn't because they were born there, they CHOOSE it.

Honestly? no.

I think my major issue is that people coming from the outside are often say things like "Oh, XYZ *chose* to be that way" when, if they took the time to get to know XYZ, they'd realize she grew up in a home where violence was a constant, and that she was sexually abused as a child. That she was tracked into remedial classes and given the worst teachers starting in the 4th or 5th grade. Things like that. I'm just really critical of people who come into rural communities and judge without really getting to know supposed "white trash" people. I know these people. I grew up with them. They're my friends. I've been grouped with them before.

I'm not big on passing judgement, if you couldn't tell. I'm not saying that some of the people you call "white trash" aren't lazy, immoral, or purposefully ignorant. But the great majority of them aren't.

I dated a self-proclaimed redneck once. He wasn't white trash, his family owned a big huge farm with lots of crops and animals and stuff like that. He was proud of being a farm boy. That's one situation that I would say that he for sure wasn't white trash. He did wear a cowboy hat and boots and wrangler jeans and loved John Deere green, but he was just proud of his tractor and his farm. Hell his farm equipment alone cost more than my house.

I know white trash- trust me I know rural too- Cynthiana, KY population- like 1500 or something and Burkesville, KY population around 600- two places I have spent a LOT of time.
I know a millionaire in Cynthiana- you'd never know it because he wears overalls and doesn't talk proper- he never went to college but has vast amounts of land.

As for the example you gave of the woman in that particular situation-
no matter where you come from and what your background is- you CHOSE to be ignorant, stupidity is different. Some people are just not intelligent, but ignorance is not something anyone chooses, and I have yet to meet any woman that doesn;t know going in public with, oh, I don't know, a sports bra a flabby stomach with stretch marks showing and short short, tight rolled shorts, doesn't present her in ANY nice light.
AND THAT is a CHOICE.
What you wear reflects who you are and you don't have to have money to wear anything nice, you can get a tee shirt at the goodwill for $.25 and that doesn't show.

Being rural doesn't make you redneck and being rural doesn't make you white trash, those are CHOICES. Like being GOTH...

I think most people we would call rednecks embrace the term. I do take offense to some ignorant people who think that everyone from the South is a redneck. Being a redneck is more than just being "country"... I would identify myself as being country, but I would not consider myself a redneck.