TIL the term Redneck likely originated from the sunburned red neck of those working in fields.
TIL the term Redneck likely originated from the sunburned red neck of those working in fields.
The term originally characterized farmers that had a red neck, caused by sunburn from long hours working in the fields. A citation from 1893 provides a definition as "poorer inhabitants of the rural districts ... men who work in the field, as a matter of course, generally have their skin stained red and burnt by the sun, and especially is this true of the back of their necks".[12] Hats were usually worn and they protected that wearer's head from the sun, but also provided psychological protection by shading the face from close scrutiny.[13] The back of the neck however was more exposed to the sun and allowed closer scrutiny about the person's background in the same way callused working hands could not be easily covered.
By 1900, "rednecks" was in common use to designate the political factions inside the Democratic Party comprising poor white farmers in the South.[14] The same group was also often called the "wool hat boys" (for they opposed the rich men, who wore expensive silk hats). A newspaper notice in Mississippi in August 1891 called on rednecks to rally at the polls at the upcoming primary election:[15]
I thought this was common knowledge
273Kids out here learning the basics of life on social media.
Kids, remember the vast majority of mortgage payments are in interest alone. Also “mortgage” means “death contract”.
And beer before liquor, never been sicker.86Well, it's also interesting for non native speakers who never thought about it, or just didn't make the connection. I always assumed that was the reason for the term, but it's nice to have confirmation.
12honestly its less about mixing and more about the quantity you drink. at the end alcohol is alcohol, its just that the prior consumption of it makes you more likely to get overconfident and take things too far.
anyway, its one those you have to live to learn what your limits are, so the point is moot anyway. finding the sweet spot and managing to stay there takes a bit of experience.
9Liquor before beer, we're in the clear, so let's fuckin party.
5
Right? I don’t think anyone ever even told me that was the origin, it just sort of made sense intuitively.
23Yeah, I thought everyone kinda intuitively understood this because redneck and farmer used to be synonymous.
4
Obvious slang is obvious.
14
The entire reason it became an insult was because of wealthy urbanites disparaging the working class.
108Look how PaLe I aM! *laughs foppishly*
38Downright ghostly, my dear.
16You just reminded me of that news blooper.
"I so pale...." "you're on....." first news reporter starts the news report as if nothing happened, while the second one stiffles giggles
I swear they both give of a Pam Beasley vibe. So two Pams, and they have a Pam/Jim vibe with each other, and one is "so pale".
6
Did you know the invention of lawns was also a way to flaunt that you were wealthy enough to have unfarmed land?
22I hate lawns so much, but there’s no other option unless you go for a townhouse/condo, which are more expensive in my area because of the great location. Why would anyone want to use and pay for extra water, then mow and trim every other week, for a patch of grass that doesn’t provide any benefit as a plant.
3
Permanently Deleted
3You think the rich isn't? Mostly Classist, but there's quite a few Racists too.
2
Some people have great trouble splitting words into their component parts, as if their internal GPT just stores everything as single token like "redneck", so they never split it semantically or conceptually into red+neck.
54Germans trembling
31A man who gers! Did i get it right?
13I guess Germans do need to be particularly good at this, based on the mega words they can have.
On the other hand, when listening to American Youtubers read something onscreen, it seems like they use some internal rainbow table to look up prefixes of words, and then just autocomplete the word based on probability.
I say this because during reading they often substitute words with some that sound similar, but are not semantically close to what is written.
8
No shit.
44Lol my exact words before jumping to the comments. There's no mysteries to be had here.
12The point isn't that it's a mystery, but that it's a word people usually don't really think about.
No one's reacting to it with "Hussa, finally this mystery that's been plaguing me for ages has been resolved for me", they are reacting to it with "Huh, never really thought about it. Makes sense"
2@naticus @John_McMurray You're a mystery to be had.
1
I thought it had something to do with union membership, something about red handkerchiefs.
35That's one of the reasons it was popularized - coal miner unions wearing red bandanas. But late 19th century usage appears to be sunburnt workers.
40This was an extension of that. Unionist coal miners didn't have red necks (because they work under ground) so they would wear red handkerchiefs to show solidarity with farm hands.
This is the history that capitalist removed from history books. That and white washing The Black Panthers, American Indian Movement and The Rainbow coalition.
23Wiki says:
A citation from 1893 provides a definition as "poorer inhabitants of the rural districts ... men who work in the field, as a matter of course, generally have their skin stained red and burnt by the sun, and especially is this true of the back of their necks".[12] ... By 1900, "rednecks" was in common use to designate the political factions inside the Democratic Party comprising poor white farmers in the South.[14]
Coal miners
The term "redneck" in the early 20th century was occasionally used in reference to American coal miner union members who wore red bandanas for solidarity.
Looks like sunburn predates coal miners.
16I wouldn't take that as gospel giving the single reference for that claim and the discussion for that article https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Redneck
6
Nah, that's just a fish story a certain type likes to tell.
1
Wait until they learn the Spanish word for black, or worse Latin.
30Woke mafia coming for your beans!
/s
1Frijole freedom ain't free!
3
Why are people gatekeeping today's 10,000?
26Some people get really snarky about word breakdowns for some reason. See it quite often.
7No! All common knowledge belong to me.
3
Duh??
26Remember kids.. no matter what TikTok says, sunscreen does NOT cause cancer.
24Sun on the other hand..
20Medical organizations such as the American Cancer Society recommend the use of sunscreen because it aids in the prevention of squamous cell carcinomas.
Sunscreen good
As of 2021, only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are generally recognized as safe and effective (GRASE) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since there is currently insufficient data to support recognizing petrochemical UV filters as safe.
Okay, mineral sunscreen good
5trust me on the sunscreen https://youtu.be/KdQbb3FXSEI
1Ironically, this was played for the Class of 98 at our Senior Prom and the lyric for the song was Class of 97, the version from the album before they re-released it for that money grab with Class of 99.
The song was just a retelling of the original ‘Wear Sunscreen’ written by Mary Schmich, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune in 1997.
2
"but also provided psychological protection by shading the face from close scrutiny. "
To me it feels like this was made up by some spoiled twat, who couldn't stand that people that they thought were socially inferior, wouldn't show the expected obeisance by removing their hat in front of their "betters".
23And I thought a "trucker's tan" was the window-side arm of someone who drives a lot. Anyhoo, congratulations on being one of the 10,000, amigo!
17I thought it was from union miners wearing red bandanas during fights against Pinkertons
12They took a negative and turned it into a rallying cry.
Same as with "Yankee Doodle." Yankee was a derogatory term for Americans, because many were of Dutch origin. "Jan" was a popular Dutch name. Doodle mean, well doo-doo.
Funny how some derogatory terms get embraced and others don't.
Nerd used to be a big insult. So was 'porn.'
9Looks like use for farmers predates coal miners' bandanas.
4
Yes, the south was a predominantly agrarian economy.
7Eh.. yes? Isn't that kinda obvious from the word itself?!
5I remember in school people would say something loudly- neck check? or redneck check? I'm really not sure- and then slap you on the back of the neck. The assumption was that if you had a sunburned neck it'd hurt. I can't remember why the hell it was done, just that it was.
4I read somewhere that the red neck part came from the red clay/dirt in the south. Where the backwoodsman usually had their neck covered by the dust. Hence redneck.
2http://alturl.com/94ddn learn something new everyday
-4That doesn't make sense, you get sun burn like that if you go from no sun exposure to lots of sun exposure. People working in the fields would not have been constantly sun burned unless they were albino.
-28Tell me you've never worked on a farm without telling me that you've never worked on a farm.
The thumbnail photo is extreme, yes. But white farm workers still get sunburns.
28Most white people are not able to get a proper strong tan. And even when they do it compares to SPF 5, which is not nearly enough to protect you from working in the field for the entire day.
So, yeah, you'll have a tanned neck, but also it will be red very, very often.
20Farmers also wore hats and covered their necks. My point is that if you saw a red neck 100 years ago it would more likely belong to someone who works indoors, is groomed to expose their neck, and spent the day outside as opposed to a farmer. A farmer would know better, they're not stupid. This is just one of those explanations that sounds logical until you dig a tiny bit.
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