What is a Redneck?

[southpaw]

I was born and raised in a small Alabama town (Piedmont, home of Rick Bragg). I have tried hard to avoid being a typical Piedmont redneck since the age of 13 or 14... so much so that I have, for most of my life, been quick to lable people as such because they exhibit certain traits that I have come to associate with redneck-ism.

My extreme anti-redneck fixation has recently caused me some trouble with a person I care a lot about. She certainly and undeniably exhibits several of the traits (likes NASCAR, country music, rebel flags...) but, in the big picture sense, she doesn't come off as a redneck. She even claims to be a Democrat who prefers not to discuss politics.

So what is the definition of a redneck?

Thoughts? Ideas?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Usually they listen to Country "Music" and vote Republican!

[Bridget Burke]

6. Quite a few Democrats aren't fans of Kenny G

Or John Tesh, or whoever you prefer to country "music".

Rednecks are working class Southerners. The specific term might come from the Presbyterian (Scots Irish / Ulster Protestant) background of many of them. Check this link if you really care:

www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/rednecks/rednecks.html

One grandmother was Scots Irish from the midwest. The rest of my ancestry is your basic bog trotter of more recent derivation.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

22. I don't consider HARD WORKING, WORKING CLASS PEOPLE to...

be "rednecks"!

:eyes:

[Mrs. Venation]

15. Okay, Dammit

I happen to love country music. I also happen to love Bach, Gershwin, Fleetwood Mac and Spyra Gyra, to name a few.

Why is there so much disrespect for those of us who enjoy this musical tradition? I don't like all the songs, or all the artists, but I love country music in general, and I'm damned tired of people thinking it's something only ignorant assholes listen to.

There. I said it, and I'm glad I did!

[yellowcanine]

2. Here are some Redneck Medical Terms

Redneck Medical Sayings
From: "Sheila Sullivan"

Artery.........................The study of paintings
Benign.......................What you be after you be eight
Bacteria.....................Back door to cafeteria
Barium.......................What doctors do when patients die
Cesarean Section....A neighborhood in Rome
Catscan.....................Searching for Kitty
Cauterize..................Made eye contact with her
Colic...........................A sheep dog
Coma.........................A punctuation mark
D&C...........................Where Washington is
Dilate.........................To live long
Enema.......................Not a friend
Fester.........................Quicker than someone else
Fibula.........................A small lie
G.I.Series..................World Series of military baseball
Hangnail...................What you hang your coat on
Impotent....................Distinguished, well known
Labor Pain...............Getting hurt at work
Medical Staff............A Doctor's cane
Morbid.......................A higher offer than I bid
Nitrates.....................Cheaper than day rates
Node.........................I knew it
Outpatient.................A person who has fainted
Pap Smear...............A fatherhood test
Pelvis........................Second cousin to Elvis
Post Operative.........A letter carrier
Recovery Room.......Place to do upholstery
Rectum......................Darn near killed him
Secretion...................Hiding something
Seizure......................Roman emperor
Tablet.........................A small table
Terminal Illness.......Getting sick at the airport
Tumor........................More than one
Urine..........................Opposite of you're out
Varicose....................Near by

[southpaw]

3. LOL

[Wapsie B]

43. There's a Jeff Foxworthy joke

in there somewhere.

[GOPisEvil]

4. Close-minded and resistant to change.

[southpaw]

7. This is getting more to the heart of it...

The base of true redneck-ism is a certain degree of prejudice, loyalty to traditions that would be better off abandoned, fear of new ideas...

Not everyone who listens to country music is a redneck, but just about all rednecks listen to country music.

Not everyone who is into NASCAR is a redneck, but I've NEVER met a redneck who wasn't into NASCAR.

It seems that toting around a big ole bag of prejudices and longing for a past that included segregation and white supremacy as part of the culture are more telling than any musical preference.

[fairfaxvadem]

5. When they say, "We vote Guns and Babies".

That is a big tipoff.

[Solly Mack]

8. originally applied to small farmers who did their own work

their necks would turn red from being out in the sun all day...it's a term held over from "antebellum" days..plantation owners referred to poor(er) farmers in that manner

it has since evolved and become expansive

[democratreformed]

21. I didn't know that!

Interesting info.

[Mr. McD]

9. Red·neck

n. Offensive Slang

1. Used as a disparaging term for a member of the white rural laboring class, especially in the southern United States.
2. A white person regarded as having a provincial, conservative, often bigoted attitude.

[Canadian_moderate]

19. Disagree

Colour should not have anything to do with it. Also, there are many rednecks in the northern US states as well as in Canada.

[Mr. McD]

27. Thats according to dictionary.com

:shrug:

[segue]

10. REDNECKING

Redneck doesn't mean you can't enjoy NASCAR or country music. Rebel flags........well..that's pushing it. Still, however, a redneck is defined by a persons actions. I grew up in Richmond VA!! Boy have I seen some necks!!!!!!!!!!!!You can usually tell a redneck from their short/long, white sneakers and a the use of words like y'all and ain't. Still, actions determine a redneck. Does she hate? Did she vote for bush(MURDERER)? Does she like fox news? Does she belong to free republic? If not, she is probably not a redneck.

[Rainbowreflect]

11. As Jeff Foxworthy would say...

"If your family tree does not fork, you may be a redneck."
That is my favorite.

[MissMillie]

16. If you've ever mowed your lawn and found a car

you might be a redneck.

[Sequoia]

12. They're generally racists

I can take the good old country music and grits, but the racism stuff and fundie mentality is a real sign of an ultra redneck.

[Bertha Venation]

24. I couldn't disagree more.

See post number 18.

[GumboYaYa]

13. Redneck is a derogatory term typically used to describe

poor whites from the South. It has been extended to include fans of NASCAR and other Southerners regardless of socio economic class.

Do not delude yourself to think that the term is anything other than derogatory. People who use the word to describe others are bigots IMO. People within the socieconomic class will sometimes use the word to describe themselves, but this should not make anyone think that it is an okay word outside of that class of people.

Personally I abhor that word almost as much as I abhor the infamous "n" word.

[southpaw]

29. Fret not, friend... I use it as a pointedly derogatory term...

That's the problem. It goes deep into my adolescence, which was largely defined by daily abuse and teasing from the people I came to call rednecks. When I call someone a redneck, I mean it as the lowest insult.

The problem is, I have now met a person who fits several of the surface criteria I have long used as 'indicators' of underlying redneck-ism. But I KNOW this person. I KNOW that despite posessing certain preferences that most rednecks would share, she lacks the underlying bigotry and closed-mindedness that are, in my view, the DEFINING traits of a true redneck.

[Dukkha]

14. my take on them

an unkempt person of below average intelligence and social skills.
poor economic working class, in not unemployed.
a breeder if married.

[worksux]

36. sorry I have to respond

I live in North Dallas a wealthy area. I consider the breeder S.U.V. driving men with the huge American flag sticker like the people at Mussolini's speeches waving the flag a redneck.
Gosh people, Texas is the most red of all!
WE "produced" GW Bush who drapes himself in TX culture in order to appeal to (not my phrase, folks) NASCAR dads.
My point:
you don't have to be poor, uneducated and have bad social skills to be a redneck. Come see it here.
Cheers-
Kathryn

[mac56]

17. Jeff Foxworthy defines it as

"a glorious lack of sophistication".

[Bertha Venation]

18. What is the definition of a lesbian?

What is the definition of a Republican?

What is the definition of an Eritrean?

What is the definition of a Christian?

I realize you're in a quandary with your friend, but I think your quandary shows that you can't define anyone by their geographical locus or their skin color or religion or orientation or political bent.

Besides, I am married to a woman whose neck is redder than the label on a Coca-Cola bottle. She is more liberal, more progressive than I am; she grew up Southern Baptist in the Appalachians of Eastern Tennessee; she speaks with an accent that I still can't understand sometimes; she loves country music -- and bluegrass -- and jazz, and classical, and rock & roll; she is an oenophile. She loathes NASCAR. She wouldn't fly the Rebel flag but understands why some people do. She is a lesbian.

And her parents are redneck, Southern Baptist, lesbian-daughter-accepting Democrats.

Go figure.

[Mr Bojangles]

23. You should consider yourself blessed

To be involved with the small percentage that actually have more than a brain stem.

The majority of the population of my hometown would fall into the "Redneck" or "Good 'ol boy" categories. Lots of tobacco (that subsequently gets spit on the cement, the closest wall, or anything else that isn't covered), a dangerously narrow mind, and access to lots of guns.

I don't consider myself "better", I just feel I have a tighter grip on what's going on outside of my town.

[Mrs. Venation]

26. You Don't Know What You're Talking About

"Small percentage that actually have more than a brain stem?" And you have the audacity to judge us?

Messages like yours only prove that there are bigots everywhere, even on DU, and the stench of bigotry is the same no matter who the target might be. I come from a long and distiguished line of rednecks. My people are more intellectual than you want to believe. None of my people who use tobacco spit anywhere in public, and they'd be damned embarassed to see someone who does. They are also much more open minded than you appear to be, given the narrowness of your message.

Your mean-spirited remark speaks only to your own lack of civility and ability to accept people who are different. I'd prefer the company of the rednecks with whom I grew up any day of the week.

"More than a brain stem," indeed.

[Mr Bojangles]

33. I don't expect

you to know what I went through while going to school. I don't expect you to know about how I got harrassed almost every day by drunken, dip spitting, pocket-knife carrying neanderthals with the combined IQ of a raisin. Just because I didn't wear tight Wranglers and listen to Hank Williams, Jr. I base my opinion on what I've been shown. None of my thoughts on the situation are based on a preconceived stereotype. There's no doubt in my mind that there are intelligent rednecks, just given my experience with the "redneck" culture, there didn't seem to be that many.

I didn't mean to offend the intelligent among us, but perhaps you should let them know that they're giving you guys a bad name.

[southpaw]

28. May I begin by saying...

How truly honored I am to have you respond so thoughtfully to my question, BV? I count you among the small handfull of DU posters whose opinions I respect the most. Honestly, I do.

The real problem with my friend (s.o. until recently, actually) is that she hears me venting my distaste for rednecks, yet she considers herself to be one. I do not see it that way.

She is a Democrat, athiest, open-minded, person who supports same sex marraige and has broad-ranging tastes in music, art, entertainment etc. That she enjoys NASCAR and country music in no way makes her a redneck.

She knows that I have a long-standing dislike of 'rednecks' originating from having been tormented by them during my formative years... simply because I wasn't one of them. She can't seem to understand how I can use things like NASCAR, Country music and other things as indicators of redneck-ism, yet not consider them defining characteristics.

Anyway... thanks for responding. I apprecaite your input :)

[Bertha Venation]

30. can't tell you how well I understand

I, in turn, tormented a young redneck during her formative years. Teresa was new at my school the year I was in eighth grade. One day she spoke in math class; she pronounced % "per-say-yent" and the poor girl never had a moment's peace after that. I am ashamed of myself.

It seems you recognize that generalization has its limits. That's a great place to start. (It seems your friend is a lot like my Kathy ("kpharmer" here).)

Good luck figuring it all out, m'dear. :pals:

[southpaw]

31. Swoon....

What can I say...

THE Bertha Venation has hugged me (virtually, at least)!!!

:hug:

[Bertha Venation]

32. well...

drive on up from Alabama some time. Kathy & I will give you real hugs, cook for you, put you up in our finest (and only) guest room, and all we'll ask in exchange is for you to tell us what it means when Emmylou Harris sings about the stars falling on Alabama. :)

[proud patriot]

20. Someone who works in the sun and has a red neck

:D

[Arwennick]

25. Same ole DU Bigots

Typical Southern bashing with the same old DU bigots rearing thier ugly heads.
But,hey, I've gotten used to it here.

[HEyHEY]

34. I believe the term refers to

Working stiffs who used to get sunburns on their necks from working with their heads down all day.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

35. You really should embrace your

"redneckness". Be one with it. Realize it's ok to have an Inner Redneck AND be a liberal.

I have an Inner Redneck and I'm a liberal. Born in Dallas to parents from deepest east Texas and central Texas and grew up on fried bologna on white and super-sugarfied Kool-Aid and listening to Tom T. Hall and Hank Williams Sr. and Loretta Lynn. Fishing for crawdads in a nasty creek with string and bologna. You get the picture and probably have been there done that bought the t-shirt.

Stop fighting your Inner Redneck. Be one with him or her.

On edit after reading this thread completely: to me redneck doesn't necessarily mean closed-minded or bigoted. I mean there ARE rednecks who are closed-minded and bigoted, but there are all KINDS of people like that! To me a redneck is just a person with deep rural roots who is, as Jeff Foxworthy says "gloriously unsophisticated." Some of my favorite people are unbigoted rednecks. They'd give you the shirt off their back and do anything for you in an instant!

[JSJ]

37. difference between a redneck and good 'ol boy...

...good 'ol boy throws his empties into the back of his p/u or behind his seat... while a redneck tosses them out the window.

[TrogL]

38. Simplemindedness

Resistant to change, refusal to think (critically or otherwise), desperate need to be the same, hatred of complexity

[TrogL]

40. Yes, I'm surrounded by rednecks even up here in Alberta

Yes, I posted this before I read the thread.

I am unapologetic about my utter disdain for rednecks.

I'm shaking just reading this thread. I have never encountered such mind-bending, head-banging, slack-jawed utter stupidity in all my life until I moved here.

I've lived in rural areas before, in Ontario. There's no comparison. I swear it's the fundie churches who are responsible. They're literally on every street corner here. They've rented out every billboard for hundreds of miles around. Every car has a Jesus fish and "Jesus saves" bumper stickers. They've turned everybody into fucking zombies.

[Sweetpea]

39. Charlie Daniels.

[bo44]

41. Ignorant brain dead moran

If you are from a rural area you're a redneck for being ignorant and brain dead. If you are from the city you are "ghetto" for being ignorant and brain dead.

[AlFrankenFan]

42. Well, having redneck relatives and being a bit of one myself...

Yes, all of my relatives in the South (Florida, South and North Carolina, and Virginia) love NASCAR. As Jeff Foxworthy puts it (I'm paraphrasing here) a redneck is one who has a "lack of sophistication". All of my relatives are rebel flag waving Americans (ironic, huh), love southern rock, and believe it or not, they are Democrats!

[Swamp Rat]

44. It's interesting how this word has different meanings to different people.

The folks that live around me describe a redneck as: the man who puts a noose around your neck and hangs you in front of hooded men, or the dude who handcuffs you to the bumper and drives down the highway at 90 miles an hour.