I know it is a derrogatory term to describe a certain gorup of people, but which group? And what is the origin of the word? I've seen it associated with Southwest Airlines, but can't see the connection. Regards.

A redneck is a buck toothed, uncleanly shaven, overall wearing, tobacco chewing, sister marrying, trailer dwelling, pick up truck driving, speech slurring, beer drinking, NASACAR loving person. Or according to those in the North, anyone south of the Mason-Dixon line. Rednecks, also like to hunt and fish all the time, and have a gunrack in the back of their truck.

Redneck is a term originally used to characterize the farming class. Their necks would get from working under the sun all day. I don't know since when it has been used as a derrogatory term, but it is now usually applied to working class whites that are usually ultra-conservative and considered uncultured, ignorant, narrowminded, and sometimes racist by others. It's nothing racial as whites often call other whites rednecks, as well as some calling themselves a redneck.

About the association to Southwest Airlines, if you saw Airline, some of the passengers that fly on there fit the redneck characteristic very well. Which is why some people associate Southwest as having a lot of redneck passengers.

[Edited 2004-07-09 18:18:29]

If you mow your lawn and find more than one car, you might be a redneck.

However I will firmly state that redneck and white trash are not the same thing.

RE: However I will firmly state that redneck and white trash are not the same thing.

Absolutely - "white trash" is a universal concept, you get them EVERYwhere. Rednecks are more localised (and usually far less annoying).

Or according to those in the North, anyone south of the Mason-Dixon line

ahh come on! I live just a couple miles south of the line and im no redneck.eveyrone here drives porsche (or honda) and make 120k a year in the office.My mother works at the walter Reed hospital!well of course maryland is not famous for rednecks.

Q:What Is A "redneck"?

If you think N'sync is where your dirty dishes are,you might be a redneck

If you work without a shirt on and so does your husband,you might be a redneck

If youve worn a strapless dress with a bra that isnt,you might be a redneck

if you have stared at a carton of juice because it said "concentrate",you might be a redneck

If you think a terminal illness is getting sick at the airport,you might be a redneck

 

Phxairfan/Espon007:

What/where is the Mason-Dixon line?

BF

The Mason Dixon line is the line that separated The North from the South in the American Civil War era.

Here's more info http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa041999.htm

Also why the south of the US is sometimes called Dixie.

Espion, yes Maryland may be south of the Mason-Dixon, but it is really the only state that doesn't count. The Virginia's, especially West and everything south are typically the redneck states. I was alluding more to northerners calling us rednecks, and us calling northerners yanks.

What/where is the Mason-Dixon line?

It was the intangible division between the Union (north) and Rebel (southern) states both during and before the Civil War.

FYI....
Mdsh00's post translated into redneck speak......

Redneck is a term origeenally used t'chareeckerize th' farmin' class. Their necks'd git fum wawkin' unner th' sun all day. ah doesn't knows on account o' when it has been used as a derrogato'y term, but it is now usually applied t'wawkin' class whites thet is usually ultra-cornservative an' cornsidered uncultured, igno'ant, narrowminded, an' sometimes racist by others. It's nothin' racial as whites offen call other whites rednecks, as fine as some callin' themselves a redneck. Shet mah mouth! About th' associashun t'Southwess Airlines, eff'n yo' sar Airline, some of th' passengers thet fly on thar fit th' redneck chareeckeristic mighty fine. Which is whuffo' some varmints assosheeate Southwess as havin' a lot of redneck passengers.


Try http://rinkworks.com/dialect/

Mark

if you saw Airline, some of the passengers that fly on there fit the redneck characteristic very well.

Some of them???

What is the difference between a "redneck" and a "hillbilly"?

Here are some rednecks for everyone to enjoy.

http://kappachapter.org/~kevinh/photos/redneck.jpg
http://www.b-info.com/places/Bulgaria/image/Ivan/redneck.gif
http://www.manbottle.com/pictures/redneck-limo.jpg
http://www.news-at-ten.tv/articles/images/redneck.jpg
http://www.oldwoodies.com/img/rv/redneck-rv.jpg

I tried to directly post the pictures in but got a message saying A.NET wouldn't allow them. So if you are to busy to click each link complain to a.net not me.

[Edited 2004-07-09 19:59:20]

Some of them???

What is the difference between a "redneck" and a "hillbilly"?

Okay, many of them are rednecks!

Hillbillies are different because they are a bit more northern than rednecks. A lot of them live in the Appalacians and other small ranges near the Mason-Dixon line. Hillbillies are more rustic, have British-style teeth  , and have been known to inbreed. Basically, the redneck is a bit more advanced than a hillbilly.

LOL!

Having lived in Montana, the redneck state above all others, I agree fully with all the statements.

A couple of very true facts about Montana people.

Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor

"Vacation" means driving through Glacier or Yellowstone Park or going back to
school shopping in Billings.

You've seen all the biggest bands ten years after they were popular.

You measure distance in miles. Not minutes.

You've been to a tractor rally.

Down south to you means Wyoming.

Minneapolis is "back East", Washington is "the coast".

You know people who have hit deer, elk, moose or cattle.

You know who has to pay for the damage to your truck and the dead cow if you hit one.

Your school classes were canceled because of cold, but only when it
was-40F or colder and the schools boiler ran out of coal.

You drive 100 miles out of your way for a Pickle Barrel or Pork Chop Johns.

You know what a red beer and a whiskey ditch are.

You think the best beers available on the market today are Ranier, Oly, and Coors. You're still mad that Great Falls Select is no longer made.

You've ridden the school bus for an hour each way.

You've had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.

You think ethanol makes your truck "run a lot better."

You've seen people wear bib overalls at funerals.

You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it no matter what time of the year.

You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example:
"Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to the mall I wanna go with you."

You often reply "you bet!" or "hell yes!"

The festivals across the state are named after fruits, vegetables, grain or testicles.

You've gotten a "To Go" drink from the local bar.

You've stopped by the local bar to cash a check.

You install security lights on your house and barn and leave both unlocked.

Think of the major four food groups as beef, pork, beer, and Jell-O salad
with marshmallows.

You carry jumper cables in your car.

You know what "Cow Tipping", "Garden Raiding" or "Snipe Hunting" are.

You only own 3 spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup.

You understand that it is simply not proper to put ketchup or
steak sauce on a good steak.

You know someone who's lost their license due to a DUI and have seen their
tractor or snowmobile parked at the local bar.

You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

You've gone to the grocery store on a snowmobile.

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

Driving in the winter is often simply a matter of staying between
the fence posts.

You think that washing your pickup is a waste of time and money.

You have never owned a vehicle that did not have cracks in the windshield.

You think everyone from a bigger city is stuck up.

You get a little claustrophobic when you're in a "big city" like Missoula and
their traffic is "just awful, you wouldn't believe it".

You've attempted to set new land speed records on Montana's highways.

You think sexy winter lingerie is a flannel nightie and tube socks.

You know how many cords of wood it will take to get through the
winter.

The local paper covers national and international headlines on one page but
requires 6 pages for High School Sports.

You think that the opening of elk season should be a national
holiday.

You carry a roll of toilet paper in the glove box in case you have to stop
and go by the road.

Your radio antenna is an old clothes hanger or piece of baling wire.

You find -20 degrees F "a little chilly".

You know all 4 seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction.

You know what a real Rocky Mountain Oyster is, and have a recipe for them.

You know what a Pasty is.

You know how to properly pronounce the capital of Montana, the
capital of South Dakota and the state of Oregon.

You know someone who's shot themselves accidentally.

Driver's Education was a joke for you and all your classmates since you all
had been driving since you were 10.


 

johan

Johan, that is classic, props my friend. Where in Montana did you live? My grandparents live in St. Marie north of Glasgow.

I lived in Libby, 90 mins from Kalispell and an hour from the Canadian border, right by Idaho.

Some nice flying up there!

johan

In redneck country, an accepted defence in a court of law is "He stole my pickup truck. He needed killing."

The most popular question to the agony aunt on radio phone-in programs is "If I divorce my wife, does that mean she's not my sister any more?"

Johan, I especially loved the one about the pickle barrel. Although in college I only had to walk across the street to get one. Felt like a 100 miles with a hangover.

My two favorites are

Driving in the winter is often simply a matter of staying between
the fence posts

and

You've attempted to set new land speed records on Montana's highways.

they can't be more true...

johan

"You've attempted to set new land speed records on Montana's highways."

Frightening... Consider that can be done legally here in Germany, and you'll understand why I'm scared.  

This is a Redneck:

Frightening... Consider that can be done legally here in Germany, and you'll understand why I'm scared

It used to be pretty common practice in Montana. Not sure if it still is as I haven't lived there since '90. The state never wanted to comply with the federally mandated 55MPH speed limit. Not wanting to lose federal highway money they did so reluctantly but came up with a different approach to deal with speed violators. Reasoning that the purpose of the 55MPH speed limit was to decrease fuel consumption, Montana came up with the wasting resources citation. If you were speeding but under 80MPH you would be issued a wasting resources ticket and could pay the $5 fine to the officer that pulled you over. No court appearances and no marks on your driving record. The 80MPH rule was subject to the discretion of the officer with many letting speeders caught at much higher speeds off with wasting resources. Add the facts that Montana highways are some of the lightest traveled in the U.S. and in places run straight for miles, how could any self respecting speed freak pass up the opportunity to light it up?

If you think N'sync is where your dirty dishes are

Isn't that so? LOL

Any one who is born and raised in TEXAS is a redneck

somebody I would'nt have hanging round my neck   

Now, speed limits on highways in MT are 70 during the day and 65 during the night. I believe the Interstates have a 75 mph limit. Up until 1999, there were no speed limits. Kinda scary 

I believe Montana's drinking age was 19 for a period of time, but again, they would lose highway funding if they didn't raise it to the national norm.

It's pretty close to Canada anyways...  

johan

"Up until 1999, there were no speed limits. Kinda scary "

Scary... yeah, quite so.  I was only hoping Montana and Germany didn't have much more in common than the size and the lack of speed limits.

Subscript: "Dave Anthony toasts his achievement after driving his truck onto the roof of a friend's soon-to-be demolished Kent home on the West Valley Highway"

 

A redneck is a person who have been out in the sun to much... You can see them on beaches from Palma de Mallorca to Cyprus. Usually UK citizens.

In redneck country, an accepted defence in a court of law is "He stole my pickup truck. He needed killing."

While I can't vouch 100% for its accuracy, I recall reading that until about 25 years ago in Texas, a man who caught his wife in flagrante with another man was legally entitled to shoot one or both of them and avoid prosecution.

 

Yep, Wietse.. That's what I consider to be a 'Redneck'

You are a redneck if your social status is determined by:

Number of tattoos

Weight (means you have a lot of livestock)

Age of your tractor fleet.

You have probably never traveled abroad and cannot possibly understand how other people do not speak English or like America. You cannot understand that other countries have their own laws, and they do not have to do whatever George W. Bush says (at least not directly).

I think that John Kerry is taking his "I am the same as you common folk" routine a bit too far.

[Edited 2004-07-10 05:36:56]

"You carry jumper cables in your car."

How primitive...

PROSA,

I've also heard that, from my Civics teacher here in Sweden (he's from Oregon by the way).

Funny thing was, he got away with it even though he got in his car and drove someplace to get the weapon. The defense lawyers couldn't say he was struck by temporary insanity. It was planned, he had time to think it over and he got away with it. Amazing.

johan

Anyone from Queensland (in Australia)

NASCAR

None
Athletic
Sports
Centered
Around
Rednecks

Just to update the 'Mason-Dixon Lne" explanations; it's the "Smith-and-Wesson Line".

"Over and Under" is a shotgun/caliber round concept as opposed to the Left Coast adult recreational thesis, and as I am planning on having to move my bathroom about every three months or so when I finally get down to Tennessee, I guess I'm morphing into the 'Redneck' status. Is John Edwards a redneck with a $2,000. suit? I dunno, but I'm more comfortable in Levis. No old fridge or washing machine on the front porch, though. Regards...Jack

Qantasclub,

I'm a Queenslander and take offence at that! LOL

A redneck is anyone "South of the Border". (USA)

As in anyone in the USA that would support the blithering chimp that GWB is.

*folks are dumb we're I come from*

JB

I think that John Kerry is taking his "I am the same as you common folk" routine a bit too far.

LOL!

L-188 that's the gosh-darn, rootin' tootin' funniest thang you done gone and said in your 'ole gad-daym life, git it?!

JeepBoy
From Australia, joined Jul 2004, 2 posts, RR: 0
Reply: 38
Posted Sat Jul 10 2004 15:36:57 UTC+1 and read 2 times:
Qantasclub,

I'm a Queenslander and take offence at that! LOL

A redneck is anyone "South of the Border". (USA)

As in anyone in the USA that would support the blithering chimp that GWB is.

*folks are dumb we're I come from*

JB

Yehaw thas rite we is a bigg bunch of dumb dumbs we is, us Mericans.

think that John Kerry is taking his "I am the same as you common folk" routine a bit too far.

LOL!

L-188 that's the gosh-darn, rootin' tootin' funniest thang you done gone and said in your 'ole gad-daym life, git it?!

Next thing you know, he is going to start talking about his desire to nail Paris Hilton  

Galaxy5,

Nice of you to be so welcoming!

The comment of *folks are dumb we're I come from* stands.

But it entirely means "from where".

JB

Here are a couple of responses to the name callers who speak from ignorance by one of Americas great men of letters (most of whom were Southerners if I recall correctly...Twain, Faulkner, Williams). I will freely admit that I could not better their efforts in defending Southerners, but I try. There is one particularly poignant definition by Lewis that I cannot find right now, but it is worth finding. I believe one can find it in his book "My Daddy was a Pistol, and I'm a Son of s Gun". Lewis eulogized his grandfather as a redneck, and not the derogatory term in common use by some bigoted northerners who view southerners as ignorant incestuous idiots (the same ones who refer to everything between New York and LA as flyover territory), but as a man who made his living with his hands, served his country, worked with his head bowed down all day in the worst heat and humidity out there so that his neck seemed to be always sunburned, had callouses on his hands from the muleskinning, and scars on his knuckle from picking cotton; then made it to church on SUnday to deliver his sermon (he was a pastor) and raised his children, and cared for his grandchildren, and lived a full and good life. THis is the definition of a true "redneck" and it is a sorry thing to misuse the term. The same people who use this perjoratively would be immediately offended if anyone used anti-ethnic group slurs against any other group.

GIve these a read, and Iwill post the last if I can find it on-line.

(W/kind permission of Lewis Grizzard (I asked him if it was alright, and he said Hell Yes, boy!)

"Bubba Bashers" Use Stereotype That Doesn't Fit
(June 1992)

For years, I have attempted to enlighten those individuals who hold biased and ill-based opinions about the name "Bubba." Most think men named Bubba are nothing more than ignorant swine who wear caps with the names of heavy equipment dealers on the front, shoot anything that moves, listen to music about doing bodily harm to hippies and put beer on their grits.

There may be Bubbas who fit the above description, but there are plenty who don't.

I once wrote of a man college-educated, with no tobacco juice stains on his teeth, whose family had always referred to him as Bubba. "I got that name," he explained, "because my baby sister couldn't say brother. She called me Bubba."

The man's problem was that he had taken a job with some sort of high-tech corporation, and his boss insisted he drop the name "Bubba" because he thought clients wouldn't respect a man with such a name. Our Bubba refused to use any other name, however, and became quite successful with his new company and wound up with his former boss's job. The former boss now refers to his old employee as "Mr. Bubba."

Anyway, I happened to pick up a back issue of Southern magazine recently, and on the very front cover were the following words: "Bubba! You don't have to be dumb, mean, fat, slow, white or male to be one!" I turned to page 37 and began to read: "Of all the Southern stereotypes," the story began, "the one that answers to 'Bubba' is probably the least flattering." The article went on to do portraits of eight Bubbas. Do any of the following fit the typical "Bubba stereotype"?

Keith "Bubba" Taniguche: lawyer, Austin, Texas. Full-blooded Japanese. Into Zen.

John "Bubba" Trotman: state director of the U.S.D.A in Alabama. On people moving into his state, he says: "At first, they say, 'Alabama, that's Tobacco Road.' Then you can't blow them out of here with a cannon!”

James "Bubba" Armstrong: surgeon, Tampa, Florida. Careful poking fun at anybody who knows his way around a scalpel.

Paul "Bubba" Meiner: owns a barbecue joint in Winter Park, Florida. Nice Lady.

Bernard "Bubba" Meng: state administrator for U.S. Senator Ernest Hollings. Columbia, South Carolina. He's "Little Bubba." Dad was "Big, etc."

Kyle "Bubba" Patrick: elementary school student, Auburntown, Tennessee. He wants to be a basketball player when he grows up.

One more thing: The University of Georgia veterinary school produced the state's first test-tube calf, a Holstein bull, weighing 100 pounds. They named him Bubba. What else?

and here is one apropos to our mutual interests:

"If y'all don't like Dixie, Delta is ready"(when you are)

By Lewis Grizzard

I don't care what they do to the Georgia state flag. They can put a big peach on the thing as far as I'm concerned. They can put Deion Sanders' smiling face on it.

And let it be known that the opponents of the flag, with its reminiscence of the Confederate banner, will bring down that flag.

One way or the other, color it red, white, blue and gone. It's politically incorrect and all the things that are deemed such have no future in this country.

We elected Hillary Rodham Clinton and the ban on the gays in the military will be lifted. It's a done deal. Like it or not, the Georgia state flag has no chance either.

The issue on my mind is white Southerners like myself.

They don't like us. They don't trust us. They want to tell us why we're wrong. They want to tell us how we should change.

They is practically every s.o.b. who isn't one of us.

I read a piece on the op-ed page of the Constitution written by somebody who in the jargon of my past "ain't from around here."

He wrote white Southerners are always looking back and that we should look forward. He said that about me.

I'm looking back? I live in one of the most progressive cities in the world. We built a subway to make Yankees feel at home.
And I live in a region the rest of the country can't wait to move to.

A friend, also a native Southerner, who shares my anger about the constant belittling of our kind and our place in this world, put it this way: "Nobody is going into an Atlanta bar tonight celebrating because they've just been transferred to New Jersey."

Damn straight.

I was having lunch at an Atlanta golf club recently. I was talking with friends.

A man sitting at another table heard me speaking and asked, "Where are you all from?" He was mocking me. He was mocking my Southern accent. He was sitting in Atlanta, Ga., and was making fun of the way I speak.

He was from Toledo. He had been transferred to Atlanta. If I hadn't have been 46 years old, skinny and a basic coward with a bad heart, I'd have punched him. I did, however, give him a severe verbal dressing down.

I was in my doctor's office in Atlanta. One of the women who works there, a transplanted Northerner, asked how I
pronounced the world "siren."

I said I pronounced it "si-reen." I was half kidding, but that is the way I heard the word pronounced when I was a child.

The woman laughed and said, "You Southerners really crack me up. You have a language all your own."

Yeah we do. If you don't like it, go back home and stick your head in a snow bank.

They want to tell us how to speak, how to live, what to eat, what to think and they also want to tell us how they used to do it
back in Buffalo.

Buffalo? What was the score? A hundred and ten to Zip.

The man writing on the op-ed page was writing about that bumper sticker that shows the old Confederate soldier and he's saying, "FERGIT HELL!" I don't go around sulking about the fact the South lost the Civil War. But I am aware that once upon a long time ago, a group of Americans saw fit to rebel against what they thought was an overbearing federal government. There is no record anywhere that indicates anybody in my family living in 1861 owned slaves. As a matter of fact, I come from a long line of sharecroppers, horse thieves and used car dealers. But a few of them fought anyway -- not to keep their slaves, because they didn't have any. I guess they simply thought it was the right thing to do at the time.

Whatever the reason, there was a citizenry that once saw fit to fight and die and I come from all that, and I look at those people as brave and gallant, and a frightful force until their hearts and their lands were burnt away.

I will never turn my back on that heritage.

But know this: I'm a white man and I'm a Southerner. And I'm sick of being told what is wrong with me from outside critics, and I'm tired of being stereotyped as a refugee from "God's Little Acre."

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, and I'll probably have to say it a thousand times again.

Delta may be hurting financially, but it's still ready to take you back to Toledo when you are ready to go.


-- Published Feb. 5, 1993

Amazing how some things don't change.

Next thing you know, he is going to start talking about his desire to nail Paris Hilton

I have this desire. Have you seen the video?

From Jeff Foxworthy

You might be a redneck if...........
Your house still has the "WIDE LOAD" sign on the back

You think TACO BELL is the Mexican Phone Company

You think subdivision is part of a math problem

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

You believe dual air bags refer to your wife and mother-in-law.
You've got more than one brother named 'Darryl'.

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

It's easier to spray weed killer on your lawn than mow it.

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

Your idea of high-quality entertainment is a six pack and a bug zapper.

A Redneck is a person whom Bush is sure to get 100% votes from 

You might be a redneck if you think rednecks are synonymous with an indian tribe out to conquer your 100 acre ranch.