redneck To many people, the term "redneck" conjures images of trailer parks and rifle racks; hunting knives and confederate flags. Which is no wonder, given how often it's used as an insult to describe Southerners in the United States. According to the stereotype, "rednecks" aren't just from the red states--they're often alcoholic and racist too. Calling someone a "redneck" is similar to calling them ""white trash"--it implies that they are poor and uneducated--but it's slightly more regional. According to the "Oxford English Dictionary," this meaning of the word dates back to 1893 when it was a derogatory term used to insult rural farm workers. Farmers would work all day in the sun wearing straw hats and tee-shirts, and the backs of their necks would get sunburned. Get it, "red neck"? Since the South long remained the agricultural hub of the U.S., the term was eventually applied to Southerners in general. The word was first used, however, in 1830, to refer to the Presbyterians of Fayetteville, Georgia. Some historians argue that today's meaning of the term originated with this reference to poor Scotch-Irish farmers. These days, "redneck" has become a source of Southern pride in some circles. Comedians like Jeff Foxworthy turn "redneck" stereotypes into lighthearted mockery, as do television shows like "King of the Hill." Whether a source of pride or prejudice, it seems "redneck" culture has become a part of popular culture.

Comments

[Erica Suzanne]

TO: Ashley Poe
and everyone who thinks rednecks are shitty and uneducated.

Okay, Miss. Ashley, I disagree. Im from Kansas and do all the things you listed and more. You say that You go across the street and get treated like familly? Hell, i walk Across the street and actually am family, dont gotta be treated like it. Whats wrong with steak and tatoes? Especially when its home grown. and there is nothin that beats fried chicken and corn bread made from scratch. The drinkin age? At 2 weeks old my brother stole my spongebob toy, stuck it in the beer and sucked it out. we dont need no bottles. Who says we go to the beer barn? Nahh, we just take the whole damn fridge. And are friends with the liquor store owner and get half off and free beer alla the time. There aint no way in hell ima lettin no boy drive me around muddin. I get out my own shit, that i fix by myself, which ive been doin since i was 7, and see who can get the muddiest. Yall may send out 2 rednecks a shotgun and a rifle.. blah blah we send out one redneck and a country boy and get the job done with their bare hands. Good weed in kuntucky? Ha. who do you think grows the weed and sells it to you? WHen someone cuts us off? We get out of our big ass 4x4 ford, Pull the window down, Knock'em out and then run them over with our truck. Our women dont want no sissy girl cars, no pink little barbie cars, they want big ford 4x4 monster trucks. beat that. Of course you dont stop at stop signs. none of you can drive. Football is a way of life you say?
Football is the ten fucking commandments.
90% of teenagers say "holy shit" before they get in a car crash. the other 10% are from kansas and say "hold my beer and watch this shit"
We're taught to say "Yes Sir" and "Yes Ma'am" and respect our elders because of it.We also say "Howdy" and "fixin" and "Yinz" are pretty much recognized right away anywhere in the world :) We're famous.
You're chicks aren't way hotter than ours... they are almost equal...and thats only due to silicone, saline, botox, lasers and hair dye...We have the real ones and they can beat yours up.
Babe, Kansas is where its at. (ive been to kentucky. i would know)

Okay this is to all yall who think rednecks are uneducated and fuck our mommas sisters and daddys. (Cocka-doo and Kayla) Obviously, youve never met a redneck. Because if you woulda, youd be too scared to say anything like this cuz wed kick your ass. Your a judegemental pussy and think your better than anyone else. We aint toothless. We aint fat. We aint outta shape.
You can go check out my Facebook and myspace and see the pics on there of my family and see whos ft, ugly, outta shape and toothless. Now, bitch, waddya gotta sayta that?

[bethy]

I was born and raised in the South. For years I hated it... I tried my hardest to hide my Southern roots... but I can't, and lately, I'm beginning to see that that's who I am.
I live in a littl town, always filled with tourists.. one day a group of kids came into a store and were talking about how much they'd like to get out of my town and go out into 'civilization.'
luckily, my preacher was there, and he overheard them. He said (Southern as you please) "You lookin' for civilized? 'Round here, we don't lock our doors. We leave our keys in our cars. Our kids can run all over town and we never have to worry. The people here are as polite and friendly as you'll ever find anywhere else. Don't you even try to tell me we ain't civilized."
And my family is as Redneck as you get around here, and my little brother is half black. There aren't many black people around, but every black kid in my shool is in one of the "popular" groups. Yes, we have white trash. But even rich people, fancy northeners... they have trashy people, whores and drunks. At least we're not afraid to show who we are. If there's a drunk redneck, you know it.
Saying all Rednecks are rude white trailer trash racists who screw their daughters or daddy's is no better than saying all Northerners are snobby pricks who do nothing but birdwatch and write bad poetry and have their own shrink on speed dial...
i mean, you got the general idea... but unless you're FROM THE SOUTH then you'll never fully understand.
Have a nice day, ya'll

[u dont need 2 know my name]

to:pixie117

your wrong, never go by steriotypes, hell i know quite a few blacks that call themselves rednecks if your not from the south or the country you rely shouldnt have an opion becasue you have no idea what your talking about and you sound just plain stupid

[u dont need 2 know my name]

to: Cocka-Doo!

your the idiot! i bet you you will end up flunking out of schoola nd ding in a gang acident....while i go on to go to collage and get richa and by a ranch out in the country were i can keep living my simple and easy going way of life as a REDNECK u ignoran little twit who needs to learn that being judgemental is never a good thing and one day you are going to get your ignorant little toung cut out by a "redneck" that just didnt like how you look...

to:RIKA BOO
hony its not always a bad thing...hell i know plenty of people who would take it as a complement!! just saying

[Amanda]

HEY REDNECK IS NOT A insult!! heck I'm proud to be a redneck i love my southern pride! most people call themselves redneck were im from, purty much if ur white , u dip and hunt u are a redneck and are proud to be 1 because its who you are its part of you...does it mean ur uneducated?? no does it mean ur racist?? no does it mean u have pride in the southa nd arnt afraid to work for a living? HECK YES!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kristina]

Hey all, im 15 and im was born and bred in the south, its heritage not hate baby and thats how I roll

[Ashley Poe]

I'm a born and raised KENTUCKIAN.
And yes, dear..it is a word.

In KENTUCKY!!!!

-Fuck the sandals. We go barefoot & we LIKE it.
-We don't go to the beach, or the Beer barn. We grab a cooler, some budweiser, fishin pole, and a 22 and head to the river.
-Yeah, your chicks maybe hotter than ours, but California girls are all plastic, and lousiana girls are always sweatin over a stove... Kentucky girls are the ones who will jump in the back of a 4X4 and go muddin.
-You say "Like" we say Like. You say "For sure" we say fer sher/ you say "Yes sir." and "Yes Ma'am" We says yessir and yes'um. It's not howdy, It's hidy. Learn yer English.
-You know what real cheese is, and you prefer steak and potatoes? The real way to eat is fried chicken and cornbread!
-Wanna know about some good weed, visit Kentucky, haven't you seen our Tobacco?
-California rolls 40 deep. Louisiana sends 5 country boys. We send 2 rednecks with a shotgun, rifle, and a 4x4 and we'll get the job done faster.
-I live next door to Mexicans and I call them Mexicans. They call me white. And we call "African Americans" black. It's just a name, quit making a big deal.
-California may brag about not getting snow days off, and Louisiana might think they're stupid for doing so. But Kentucky gets enough snow days to respect the summer.
-We're smart enough to know 65 means 65. But we're also smart enough to tell which cops will and will not pull you over for doing 85.
-When someone cuts us off, they don't get the finger, they don't get run over, we get out of the vehicle and fight. We're not cowards like that.
-Drinking age is 21, California starts at 14. Louisiana starts at a year old. My best friend drank Jack out of his baby bottle.
-California goes out at midnight. Louisiana isn't home by midnight. Us KENTUCKIANS are just now coming off a 3 day drunk.
-Area codes don't mean shit. When asked where you're from in Kentucky, you give them the name of your high school football/basketball team.
-You won't get looked at funny if you're here, you'll just get a few new bumper stickers. So they can look at you funny when you're back home.
-California doesn't stop at Stop signs. Louisiana stops everytime. If we miss one, we stop twice at the next....
-You can pick up REAL mexican food 24 hours a day, you can go to home depot and pick up 24 mexicans. You both gotta pay. I walk next door and ask for some food, I'm welcomed like family...That's how WE roll.
-You can have your golden state, and your pelican state. MY blood bleeds blue. We got my old KENTUCKY home, and KENTUCKY fried chicken...and the KENTUCKY derby...our state is more then just a name.
-We don't have beer barn, or In-N-out, But we have buddies who are constantly stocked on whatever it is we need.
-You guys may have the best athletes, but we have our Wildcats they're the best athletes as far as we're concerned!
-Football isn't a sport, or a religion, it's a lifestyle, and you may not agree with it, but if My sunday mass isn't at the stadium, it's in front of a big screen.
-In Kentucky, Basketball=life. If we lose, everyone is miserable.
-You guys think you're tough? You ain't seen the REAL american dream until you see Kentucky. We got farms, horses, and we got hotties.

[amber]

i was born and raised in a little nowhere town by a open-minded momma and a redneck deddy and you know what, i'm proud of it. i'm proud to be a hard working, southern gosple loving, god worshiping southerner and if you got a problem with any of that well that's your problem not mine buddie. sure there are a lot of black hatin' bible thumpers but the south ain't the only place you'll find that and not everybody down south is in the KKK. and i'll have you know that we ain't all uneducated either. my unoffical IQ is 138 and i've probably read more books that any of you. and another thing in my opinion, this whole streotype that has been placed over southerners is just as bad as racism.

[Whitney :)]

People are who they are because they are raised that way. I am from New York City and I moved to Georgia 2 years ago. I am actually fascinated with the country redneck life. They have so much fun and I can do things I cannot do in the busy city. I am black and my boyfriend is a boy and raised redneck and he is proud of it! My friends are all like you can't turn into a redneck because you were raised redneck. I however, love the redneck way of life. I feel the change coming on already, I sound more and more country everyday. I know I want to raise my family in a small country town. I feel more at ease in the country. So screw people who think that all rednecks are racist because they aren't.

[Nicole]

Nikki:
"ACCUSATION:uneducation.
DEFENSE:i am, and most of my friends are, strait A students.i am in the gifted program at my school and there are so many great presidents and important leaders who have come from the south."

hahahaha, oh my goddd.
"uneducation" is NOT a word.
in your attempt to prove that those from the south are educated, you actually demonstrated that you are indeed uneducated.

[Sydney]

I'd have to say that most of the redneck stuff is true. I live in Texas but I'm definately not a redneck. Actually alot of people mistake me for a European which is crazy since I was born and raised in Texas :) my boyfriend is a redneck though but he's not terrible. His father is awful though and extremly racist. He disgusts me. It just depends who your talking to. My aunt is a redneck but she's not racist or uneducated. She just happens to live on a ranch, ride horses, and talk really loud :) but I love her.

[Cocka-Doo!]

You Rednecks make me laugh... You are all fat, out-of-shape, ugly, toothless, ignorant morons with no intelligence. You all fuck your sisters and your mamas, and you get raped by your redneck daddy.... You all think you are tough, but you're not! You're the low-down worthless scum! Fuck the South! Fuck your dixieland southern Alamo pride! Fuck your culture and your history! You are the shittiest of the shits!

[Lea]

rednecks in the south? try my town in pennsylvannia!

[Kayla]

Oh, and P.S.

I love to shoot guns.

I love riding dirt bikes.

I can fish like a mother fucker.

I'm just not that into being an ignorant, rasict waste of a human brain.

[Kayla]

"If you don't like it - then get the hell out."

Typical jerkoff redneck response to anyone threating their usually stubborn pattern of life, or "ways". I live in the south. I have family here. But trust me, I want to get the hell out. If the topic of my appreciation for the south comes up in a casual conversation and the person with whom I'm speaking to disagrees, I ususally get told to "get the hell out,". To which I retort, "Give the money to move and I will gladly leave this land of toothless, grease-chugging, obese, dumb-assed, bible licking, horse fuckers!!" I don't have much tolerance for ignorance. I don't see the humor in stupidity. I don't eat meat, don't drive a truck that emits twice it's weight in CO2 a year, and I love people with intelligence and an open mind. I can appreciate people from different backgrounds who aren't stereotypical of worldly systems of classification. It seems to me that most people who willigly allow themselves to be put in a box have no sense of who they are. They play the role that people expect of them. Plant that in your garden and grow it.

[nikki]

look people.
i am damn proud to be from the south.
ACCUSATION:racism
DEFENSE:u can go anywhere in the u.s. and find racism.i have black friends and have nothing against them.i judge people not skin color.

ACCUSATION:uneducation.
DEFENSE:i am, and most of my friends are, strait A students.i am in the gifted program at my school and there are so many great presidents and important leaders who have come from the south.

we can trust people and murder and serious crime isnt a problem in a small town.

there are people down here that are bad but where can u go that u wont find people like that.

why can nobody see that southern ppl are capable of bein perfectly good people.

[Hannah]

Im from California!
I am considered a redneck. I raise hogs, love to hunt, and my dad is from the south. I think redneck is a way of life. That doesnt mean I am racist. Cuz im not. But i just like the good ol boy way is all. i love my boots!

[pixie117]

I dont know why people are getting on here all defensive for the south .U all are the main ones associating southerners to redneck. just because u live in the south doesnt make u a redneck .im black and 7 of my 8 great grand parent are from the south(georgia) all of the a mixed and one of them was more white then all of them but she was not a redneck, there are redneck all over this country .i was just saying i hate racist rednecks.

[savannah]

ok see rednecks aren't all southerners and they are not people who are proud to live in the south. I live in the south...i love living in the south... i'm proud to be texan... and i'm half black. There is no way i'm a redneck. See a redneck is a certain person... some one who is generally racist, always has the confederate flag wavin around, drinks, dips, etc. But rednecks aren't all southerners.

[troubl315]

well i live in upstate new york and i live on a farm. i have been called a redneck and white trash. i am like what the hell they live in the country to but act like they are all that. i think it is bullshit to catergorize people for what they wear and where they live...some people dont have alot of money and they call them shit...people need to get a life!!!!!!!

[Jess]

WTF.
I'm from Louisiana.
And no, I'm not in the fucking KKK.
I don't understand why everyone below the Mason-Dixon line is considered a redneck.
And if you don't know what the Mason-Dixon line is, maybe you're the poor, uneducated one.
I'm damn proud of where I'm from.
My friends are in the FFA & I could ride a four wheeler all damn day.
I have no objections to any race, stop associating the South with racism.
It's everywhere.
In the South, people smile & greet each other, everyone is worth stopping & talking to.
If an elderly woman offers to hold your baby at the grocery store, you let her, I can almost ensure she'll get the baby to fall asleep.
In the North, if you smile, you aren't trusted, if you offer to hold that screaming little baby, you're a baby snatcher.
The South is amazing.
We have bonfires & can lay out under the stars, naming every star in the sky after a relative.
Yeah, we go hunting & fishing.
If need be, we can live straight off the land, no skin off our back.
I like to say ya'll & go on trailrides.
I'm proud to be in the South.
We're the original belles & gentlemen.
We have our aristocrats & run this country through our exports (anyone get gas lately or buy sugar or rice? Not to mention all the other things this country relies on from the South)
We aren't poor or uneducated.
I know some pretty stupid Northerners & some brilliant Southerners.
I'm from Louisiana & fuck you if you think I'm uneducated & a slob.

[Mandz]

A couple years ago I moved up from the "South" to New York. People called, and still do call, me redneck just because of the region I'm from. I find it extremely offensive and I'm frustrated that I don't have a name to call them back. Yankee just doesn't have the same context as redneck. ):

[Nicole]

If I ever had to move from New York City to a state down south, I`d systematically shoot myself with one of the locals precious rifles.
I`d probably die from sheer crassness of it all anyway.

[pixie117]

the reason i kinda dislike redneck are they're the reason so many countries hate us(Americans) cause most of them are racist,closed minded,ignorant fools.And i HATE the the racist ones the most cause the stuff i see "redneck" do there is NOTHING they could say to make me feel they are better than me because im not white.but if ur proud to be a redneck go ahead thts ur buissness

[Rika b00]

i think calling a white person "red neck" and "white trash" is like calling a black person a "nigger". its just insulting,period. dont say it....