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]
The entire reason it became an insult was because of wealthy urbanites disparaging the working class.
the reason it remained that way is because they’re fucking racists (mostly)
Whatever you call the kind of bigotry your comment represents it’s no better. Thank you for reminding us all that it’s still around.
Being “bigoted” against racists is infinitely better than being racist. Moral-relativist false equivalences can fuck all the way off.
I am talking about being bigoted against “rednecks” who are mostly no more racist than everyone else. I grew up in redneck territory and support those who reclaim it as a label of pride.
Interesting, I read that comment as referring to the wealthy urbanites as mostly racist
Do they call you downpunxx because you go down on every swinging dick within half a mile?
Found the redneck, guys
You think the rich isn’t? Mostly Classist, but there’s quite a few Racists too.
Look how PaLe I aM! *laughs foppishly*
Downright ghostly, my dear.
You 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”.
Did you know the invention of lawns was also a way to flaunt that you were wealthy enough to have unfarmed land?
I 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.
And to pay an army of people to take care of the stupid lawn.
Uh, they originally weren’t paid. They were paid for.
Eh… yes? Isn’t that kinda obvious from the word itself?!
Why are people gatekeeping today’s 10,000?
No! All common knowledge belong to me.
Some people get really snarky about word breakdowns for some reason. See it quite often.
Remember kids… no matter what TikTok says, sunscreen does NOT cause cancer.
Medical 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
Don’t forget Class of 99 https://youtu.be/bwVVpwBKUp0
Ironically, 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.
Sun on the other hand…
That 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.
Most 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.
Farmers 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.
…child of ulster scot farmers, here: yes, we tan a bit, but working outside leaves our necks perpetually red nonetheless, even with long collars and hats…
…it’s called a farmer tan for good reason…
Tell 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.
Grew up surrounded by pink farmers, can confirm
Modern farming isn’t really comparable to folks working the land 100+ years ago. My point is that farmers 100 years ago weren’t stupid, they would have protected themselves when necessary and would have earned an impressive base tan.
I don’t think it’s a particularly far fetched idea to imagine that people spending their days outside before the invention of sunscreen would develop more sunburns than the general population regardless, even if only once or twice a year on unexpectedly long or sunny days…
It doesn’t seem far fetched which is what makes this urban myth appealing. But this red neck theory makes loads of assumptions, like these farmers didn’t know how to protect themselves from the sun, these farmers were groomed in a way to reveal their necks, etc. In reality, they would have had solid base tans, worn hats, and probably kept their neck and ears covered with hair.
I am British by decent and lived on a boat for a year. First few months I was burned a few times but after a short while I was fine. Even when I was in places like the Bahamas. That was the same for all the other white folks, only the tourists were sunburned.
Yep. Irish descent here. Burn once in the spring, it turns into a tan and then I’m fine till next spring. (Obviously I’m not the glow in the dark type)
I 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.
Duh??
This isn’t not knowing, this is not understanding something obvious.
And 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!
http://alturl.com/94ddn learn something new everyday
I thought it was from union miners wearing red bandanas during fights against Pinkertons
They 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.’
Looks like use for farmers predates coal miners’ bandanas.
I 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.
"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”.
No shit.
Lol my exact words before jumping to the comments. There’s no mysteries to be had here.
The 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”
I thought this was common knowledge
Obvious slang is obvious.
The forgotten wisdom of Cotton Eye Joe
Where did you come from, where did you go…
A “cotton eye joe” is forgotten slang for a blue eyed black man, btw.
Kids 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.Well, 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.
Liquor before beer, we’re in the clear, so let’s fuckin party.
honestly 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.
“Kids out here learning the basics of life on social media.”
Well, they gotta learn SOMEWHERE! We certainly have dismantled public education to be less of a school and more of a free daycare.
i think the bigger thing here is how broke teens and young adults don’t have many places else to hang out.
Yeah, I feel most people my age remember things like $1 or less beers and cheap bar food like 25 cent chicken wings? And just generally being able to hang out with couch change, like look we pooled $10 we can go out. The youth now have $12 cocktails and $7 french fries at the sketchy af “dive bar”, $20 drinks and $20 entrees if they dare step into a real place or heaven forbid an applebees.
I don’t think the etymology of redneck is part of any school curriculum. OP is just one of today’s 10,000.
blows party noisemaker
Right? I don’t think anyone ever even told me that was the origin, it just sort of made sense intuitively.
I live in a part of America where it’s repeated constantly to school kids. Also, that’s not actually the origin; the red necks were militant unionists who fought for collective bargaining rights in the Coal Wars, the part of American history that never gets taught.
Other sources were already posted in the comments showing that “redneck” referring to farmers predates its usage to refer to coal miners/communists. Definitely agree there’s a lot of stuff conveniently left out of our history books, though.
Yeah, I thought everyone kinda intuitively understood this because redneck and farmer used to be synonymous.
Love that one
I have this printed out in my classroom. I teach adults at a trade school and I feel it’s especially important for all adults to know it’s ok to learn new things.
