Origins of some labels for Southerners

[csziggy]

Some labels commonly used in this country have some surprising origins:

Many words commonly used in America today such as Hillbillies and Rednecks have their origins in our Scottish roots. While the following three terms are associated today with the American South and southern culture, their origins are distinctly Scottish and Ulster-Scottish (Scots-Irish), and date to the mass immigration of Scottish Lowland and Ulster Presbyterians to America during the 1700’s.

HILLBILLY (Hillbillies)

The origin of this American nickname for mountain folk in the Ozarks and in Appalachia comes from Ulster. Ulster-Scottish (The often incorrectly labeled “Scots-Irish”) settlers in the hill-country of Appalachia brought their traditional music with them to the new world, and many of their songs and ballads dealt with William, Prince of Orange, who defeated the Catholic King James II of the Stuart family at the Battle of the Boyne, Ireland in 1690.

Supporters of King William were known as “Orangemen” and "Billy Boys" and their North American counterparts were soon referred to as "hillbillies". It is interesting to note that a traditional song of the Glasgow Rangers football club today begins with the line, "Hurrah! Hurrah! We are the Billy Boys!" and shares its tune with the famous American Civil War song, "Marching Through Georgia".


REDNECKS

The origins of this term Redneck are Scottish and refer to supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant, or "Covenanters", largely Lowland Presbyterians, many of whom would flee Scotland for Ulster (Northern Ireland) during persecutions by the British Crown. The Covenanters of 1638 and 1641 signed the documents that stated that Scotland desired the Presbyterian form of church government and would not accept the Church of England as its official state church.

Many Covenanters signed in their own blood and wore red pieces of cloth around their necks as distinctive insignia; hence the term "Red neck", (rednecks) which became slang for a Scottish dissenter. One Scottish immigrant, interviewed by the author, remembered a Presbyterian minister, one Dr. Coulter, in Glasgow in the 1940's wearing a red clerical collar -- is this symbolic of the "rednecks"?

Since many Ulster-Scottish settlers in America (especially the South) were Presbyterian, the term was applied to them, and then, later, their Southern descendants. One of the earliest examples of its use comes from 1830, when an author noted that "red-neck" was a "name bestowed upon the Presbyterians." It makes you wonder if the originators of the ever-present "redneck" joke are aware of the term’s origins - Rednecks?

CRACKER

Another Ulster-Scot term, a "cracker" was a person who talked and boasted, and "craic" (Crack) is a term still used in Scotland and Ireland to describe "talking", chat or conversation in a social sense ("Let’s go down to the pub and have a craic"; "what's the craic"). The term, first used to describe a southerner of Ulster-Scottish background, later became a nickname for any white southerner, especially those who were uneducated.

And while not an exclusively Southern term, but rather referring in general to all Americans, the origins of this word are related to the other three.

GRINGO

Often used in Latin America to refer to people from the United States, “gringo” also has a Scottish connection. The term originates from the Mexican War (1846-1848), when American Soldiers would sing Robert Burns’s “Green Grow the Rashes, O!”, or the very popular song “Green Grows the Laurel” (or lilacs) while serving in Mexico, thus inspiring the locals to refer to the Yankees as “gringos”, or “green-grows”. The song “Green Grows the Laurel” refers to several periods in Scottish and Ulster-Scottish history; Jacobites might “change the green laurel for the “bonnets so blue” of the exiled Stewart monarchs of Scotland during the Jacobite Rebellions of the late 1600’s – early 1700’s. Scottish Lowlanders and Ulster Presbyterians would change the green laurel of James II in 1690 for the “Orange and Blue” of William of Orange, and later on, many of these Ulstermen would immigrate to America, and thus “change the green laurel for the red, white and blue.”

[NanceGreggs]

1. Interesting stuff!

Thanks for posting!

I'd often heard an Irish friend use the term "craic" when referring to having a gab - but never knew the connection to the term "cracker".

[csziggy]

2. Here in Florida they claim the term "cracker"

came from the use of whips to herd cattle. I always thought that was a bit strange.

[NanceGreggs]

3. Funny how different expressions ...

... manage to have different "origins", depending on who is telling the tale.

There were certain expressions used in my family when I was growing up (German & Irish, back in NY). When I asked what they meant, or where they'd originated, I would get completely different stories from my grandparents, aunts and uncles - and each was equally sure that their version was the correct one!

[Speck Tater]

9. There is a vast difference

between folk legends passed down from grandpa and scholarly research into word origins.

You may well swear that what grandpappy told you was true, just because grandpappy told you it was true, but I don't care how sweet a guy grandpappy was, he's just repeating some bit of nonsense he was told when he was a kid.

I'll believe the scholars over the family legends every time.

My own grandmother swore that she was the great-great granddaughter of Andrew Jackson. Everyone in the family believed this legend. When I actually traced the family tree, I managed to establish a connection to an existing DAR genealogy, complete with extensive documentation, and discovered that the supposed daughter of Andrew Jackson that was supposed to be my great-great-great grandmother, was, in fact, a niece of president Andrew Jackson on his wife's side (the Donelson side), not the daughter of, or even a blood relative of the president himself.

Every one of my older family members told me my research had to be wrong, because they all knew the family legend was true because grandma said it was true because great-grandma said it was true. Everyone preferred to believe the lie that we were descended from president Jackson, but the DAR has the documentation to back up the fact that we are not. Scholarly research trumps family legend every time. Period.

So if grandpappy told you where "cracker", or "redneck" really came from, don't you believe it without scholarly backup.

[csziggy]

18. I learned the term Florida Cracker from the sesquicentennial celebration

of Polk County Florida when I was a little kid. They had a musical with a number about Florida Crackers and a guy cracking a bullwhip on stage - all the other cast members got totally clear. ;) What was funny was that they had a recording of the production and everybody lip synched to it - that way they did not have to have a band or rely on the cast members to be good singers. But the idiot with the bull whip insisted on trying to crack it for real - and could never do it at the correct time for the crack on the recording.

My Mom just retired as the editor of the Historical Quarterly - I'll have to check the back issues to see if they ever did a scholarly article about the Florida Cracker term origin.

[silverojo]

6. You're close!

"Cracker" is derived from the cracking sound of a whip--a "cracker" was a white man who used a whip to drive black slaves. That's why black people use the word "cracker" as a derogatory term for whites.

[hootinholler]

13. I was told it's slang for a white person...

Because the overseer cracked the whip over the slaves.

-Hoot

[spin]

17. Three theories about origin of "Florida Cracker"

We uncovered three theories about the origins of the term "Cracker".

THEORY ONE : The term Cracker comes for a Celtic word meaning Braggart or loud mouth. Where did we hear that before?

THEORY TWO: The word comes from the practice of "corncracking" or grinding dried corn for use as grits and meal. Note the lyrics of the folk song Blue Tailed Fly, "Jimmy crack corn." This theory implies that a cracker is someone who can't afford any other food.

THEORY THREE: We hear the sound of whips used to drive cattle and oxen out of the palmetto scrub, Settlers used whip to pull their carts and wagons since the early 1800's. This is probably the most popular theory today.
Depending on which part of the state you live you are likely to have a different favorite version. Northern Floridians and Southern Georgia citizen appreciate the "Cracked corn" theory. While the Whip crack theory is popular among the central Florida population.

But a variant of braggart theory developed during the civil right movement of the late 50's early 60's. Cracker began to be associated with opinionated, ignorant whites who could easily be incited to violence. In many urban areas throughout the States, "Cracker still means "bigot".

Historically, Crackers lived in rural areas and were been self-sufficient, growing their own vegetables, hunting or raising their own meat and building their own houses.
These small clapboard homes with wraparound porches are now called "Cracker houses".
http://www.crackerwear.com/do/getNews?ref=186&type=history

[Wizard777]

4. Redneck refers to someone with short hair and a sun burnt back of the neck from working outside.

That may not be what it means in Scotland. But it's definitely what it means down south. They like to work the land. A southern redneck actually has a red neck from sun burn.

[csziggy]

7. I thought the modern rednecks were from driving pickups

and getting a sunburn on the back of the neck maybe with a shadow line from the gun rack. I know I ended up with a red neck when we leased a pickup years ago. B-)

[Wizard777]

11. No, it's from working outside. Some places don't care how your neck got red.

Just as long as it's red. You will be accepted as redneck. Then you have the hard core redneck places that vow and declare your neck must red from working a farm before you can claim to be a redneck. They don't care how "country," "backwoods," or just plain simple "Hick" you are. If your neck ain't red from working a farm. You're not a real redneck.

I once saw a guy in a bar try to claim to be a redneck. Because he thought it was an attitude thing. A guy walked up behind him and pulled down the collar of his shirt. He said, "it's whiter than my wifes linens. You ain't no redneck!"

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Here's an old one from slave times.

buckra
disparaging term among U.S. blacks for "white person," especially a poor one, 1790, apparently from an African language; cf. mbakara "master" in Efik, a language of the Ibibio people of southern Nigeria.

[Selatius]

8. I'm still wondering about the origin of the name "Jim Crow." nt

[TexasProgresive]

10. It's hard to know when and where many of these prases entered

the lexicon and why. Here's something on Jim Crow and the author is clear that the origins are murky.

Creating Jim Crow: In-Depth Essay
By Ronald L. F. Davis, Ph. D.

The term Jim Crow is believed to have originated around 1830 when a white, minstrel show performer, Thomas "Daddy" Rice, blackened his face with charcoal paste or burnt cork and danced a ridiculous jig while singing the lyrics to the song, "Jump Jim Crow." Rice created this character after seeing (while traveling in the South) a crippled, elderly black man (or some say a young black boy) dancing and singing a song ending with these chorus words:

"Weel about and turn about and do jis so,
Eb'ry time I weel about I jump Jim Crow."

Some historians believe that a Mr. Crow owned the slave who inspired Rice's act--thus the reason for the Jim Crow term in the lyrics. In any case, Rice incorporated the skit into his minstrel act, and by the 1850s the "Jim Crow" character had become a standard part of the minstrel show scene in America. On the eve of the Civil War, the Jim Crow idea was one of many stereotypical images of black inferiority in the popular culture of the day--along with Sambos, Coons, and Zip Dandies. The word Jim Crow became a racial slur synonymous with black, colored, or Negro in the vocabulary of many whites; and by the end of the century acts of racial discrimination toward blacks were often referred to as Jim Crow laws and practices.

http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/history/creating2.htm

[noonwitch]

12. I thought red neck came from a coal miner's strike in W. Virginia

the strikers all wore red scarves.

[skooooo]

14. That's what the history channel says....

[Obamanaut]

15. I just read the 'gringo' and 'lilacs' connection is an urban legend.

http://spanish.about.com/od/wordsweshare/p/gringo.htm

The origin of the Spanish word is uncertain, although it is likely to have come from griego, the word for "Greek." As in English, in Spanish it has long been common to refer to an unintelligible language as Greek ("It's Greek to me," or "Habla en griego"). So over time, griego's apparent variant, gringo, came to refer to a foreign language and to foreigners in general. The first known written English use of the word was in 1849 by an explorer.
Folk etymology: It has been said that gringo originated in Mexico during the Mexican-American war because Americans would sing the song "Green Grow the Lilies." As the word originated in Spain long before there was a Spanish-speaking Mexico, there is no truth to this urban legend. In fact, at one time, the word in Spain was often used to refer specifically to the Irish. And according to a 1787 dictionary, it often referred to someone who spoke Spanish poorly.

[pitohui]

16. "ulster-scottish?" ok, that's funny, we call ourselves scots-irish

i've never heard "ulster-scottish," do we or do we not believe in calling people what they call themselves?

i think some of those stories are "just so" stories but whatever

[RoyGBiv]

19. The usage is correct ...

Even if the stories are a bit ... how to say it ... controversial, the term is genuine as it relates to historical groups.

Scots-Irish is a generalized term.

[pitohui]

23. i'll take your word for it but i'll continue to call myself scots-irish

i speak english or at least hillbilly, and i have never heard "ulster-scottish" -- true i've lived in new orleans for a few mumble mumble decades and rarely interact these days with other scots-irish outside of family but "ulster-scottish?" come on, have you ever heard anyone say that?

[RoyGBiv]

24. I hear you ...

I'm not saying you should change anything. Scots-Irish is the general term and the one most commonly used. I was just noting "ulster-scottish" is a correct term in the historical context offered.

Having said that, as I mentioned in another post, the ideas in the original post come from (or are at least derived from) Grady McWinney's and Forrest McDonald's controversial Celtic Thesis that posits Southern distinctiveness based on genetic heritage. The claims made are controversial at best and, in my opinion, strained attempts to define "distinctiveness" that are far more clearly defined by other scholars. At best what they describe is a historical tendency among some Southerners to define their cultural traits based on ancestry. McWhinney, for instance, has another thesis that claims Southerners are *naturally* more violent because of their Celtic ancestry, suggesting something akin to a genetic predisposition.

With the matter of words, a linguist might point out (and I believe linguists have, but I don't have any sources easily available to me at the moment) that modern usage does not always have a direct lineage to usage elsewhere, especially when it comes to slang. "Cracker," for instance, means a lot of things, and just because someone on some island five centuries ago spoke a word that sounded a bit like it doesn't mean people in another age are using the term similarly.

[madeline_con]

20. Cracker is interesting...

People here in FL say it refers to the early settlerts who had hog farms, and used whips to herd them, "cracking" the whips.

[RoyGBiv]

22. That's closer ...

It also refers to the "crack" of a slave driver's whip, thus the usage as a derisive term for white people.

[RoyGBiv]

21. Been reading Grady McWhinney ...

... and/or Forrest McDonald or something derived from them I see.

The so-called Celtic Thesis these two put forth is not exactly accepted as fact, and many consider it utter hogwash. This is part of an attempt to connect Southern distinctiveness to Celtic origins, what in essence is a claim of a genetic predisposition to certain cultural traits.

The origins of many of these terms in their common usage are often more recent.