people...please know the difference

[SwampG8r]

the term redneck is thrown out here a lot
it is usually meant to describe a southerner
i myself am a redneck
i fish
hunt birds
go camping
drive a pickup
believe in the 2nd amendment
eat cornbread and collard greens
love jesus (he loves me back ...not that theres anything WRONG with that)
i say sir and ma'am
not one single one (or any combination of them) of these things makes me stupid or unamerican
nor do any exclude me from membership in the democratic party

what most of you mean by redneck is what we call white trash
bless their hearts (southerners know what i mean when i say this!)


Rednecks and white trash. One in the same, right? Wrong. While rednecks and white trash live in the same areas and are physically identical, there are several key differences that separate the two bottom rungs of the Southern American social ladder. One should never be mistaken for the other, for obvious reasons. Having spent my entire life in a small Tennessee town, I'm offering my assessment of a few differences between these two radically different groups of people.


http://everything2.com/e2node/Rednecks%2520vs.%2520white%2520trash
warning: i myself did not write the linked article and some language used within is stong

thank you for your time

[southpaw]

1. I know what white trash is...

and the line between white trash and redneck is finer than frog hair.

But don't listen to me... I'm just a lifelong Alabamian who lives half an hour from Talladega SuperSpeedway.

[SwampG8r]

4. the line is thin but it does exist

being a redneck isnt what makes you bad

[yellowdogintexas]

2. this Ole Kentucky Gal says you are spot on.

and my town's probably smaller than your town...they don't get much smaller than 200

[Thegonagle]

12. .

oops self delete

[Misskittycat]

3. What's the origin of the word "redneck"?

[SwampG8r]

7. it is muddled

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redneck

[JackintheGreen]

17. I think a lot of etymoligies are over-thought

I also think that it is possible to re-etymologize an older expression. A "virginian" meaning for redneck has no meaning in the farming midwest, let alone an English/Presbyterian covenant.

Anyhoo, my 2c

[NYC_SKP]

20. Redneck: working in the sun all day, bending over in the fields...red neck.

hey gator. I'm a redneck, redneck roots, raised on a farm, still have an el camino and a couple shotguns and rifles.

I know that regionally it can be a very serious put-down, but not so much here in the central valley.

Gotta go....

[seabeyond]

24. that is what i had learned. working out in sun

[iamthebandfanman]

8. i think it has its roots in farming

and the suntan that gets on your kneck from working a long day in the hot sun

[LeftinOH]

9. Ever been to the South? The soil is reddish-brown in many areas...n/t

[JackintheGreen]

11. Working outside in the summer

It burns your neck, making you a "red neck."

It is a mark of a manual laborer, not "white collar" work.

[iamthebandfanman]

19. yup,

thats how it was defined to me growing up

[voteearlyvoteoften]

5. Rednecks for Obama

Obama is a good man. Rednecks can appreciate his honesty and love of family. BS smells the same no matter what the color of your neck.

[RichGirl]

6. There's nothing sexier than a liberal red neck.

A tough guy with brains.

[SwampG8r]

10. all the girls sure love a cowboy

he is just a redneck with a horse and a cow!

[iamthebandfanman]

13. you say sir and maam ?!

how dare you!

haha

actually, i dun see what that has to do with being a redneck... that should be just common politeness everyone should follow...

i know i was taught to as a young boy and still do to this day...
i also live in kentucky and enjoy the outdoors

but i wouldnt say im a redneck ;)

im one of those people who can seemingly turn on and off my accent ;)

[IndianaJones]

14. you just went up a notch in my book. nt.

[SwampG8r]

18. so now im actually in it?

[IndianaJones]

26. I like your list of qualifications, give or take a couple. nt.

[SwampG8r]

29. it was jesus and collard greens i bet

[IndianaJones]

34. i love collard greens. nt.

[SwampG8r]

37. see...rodney king was right!

we CAN all get along !
:rofl:

[AndyA]

15. I'm from Oklahoma, and I've always thought of a redneck as someone who is vocal about it.

You know, they drive LOUD pick up trucks, holler out the window at people, and are generally abrasive, loud, people. They can live in nice houses, or shacks. Drive new cars, or rusty old ones, but they're always LOUD. They drive like maniacs. Abandon their vehicle where they want, with no concern for blocking others.

I have a friend who fits this description, and I tell him he's a redneck to his face. He thinks it's funny, in a Jeff Foxworthy sort of way. I don't necessarily view it as bad or demeaning, it's just a description, although I guess it is hurtful to some, which makes me think they aren't really rednecks, because being called one almost seems to be a badge of honor to them. :shrug:

Now white trash...just check My Name is Earl for white trash.

[SwampG8r]

21. no im sorry to say

but the rudeness you describe is indicitive of white trash
just cause they have money doesnt make them rednecks

[AndyA]

25. They don't all necessarily have money, though.

Perhaps it has to do with the particular part of the country.

Where I'm from, it's pretty easy to tell the difference between a redneck and white trash.

[southpaw]

27. That's typically true

"Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit." -Max Ehrman


I grew up in Alabama, a sensitive and somewhat artistically inclined boy who didn't like sports, abhored the killing of animals for sport, and enjoyed music that sounded nothing like the country western garbage my peers seemed to view as the only thing worse listening to.

Being victimized and marginalized by self proclaimed 'rednecks' with their goddamned rebel flags and cowboy hats and 'yeee-haw' personalities has made me a bit bitter, I guess.

Sorry.

[Thegonagle]

16. Well done, except I closed the page once I got to the N-word.

There's just not much reason to use that word anymore, even if you use it in a context that means no harm. Find a different word or phrase. (No, it doesn't need to be "African American.")

[SwampG8r]

22. i apologize for that

but i myself did not write the article you cite
i thought it was obviously not mine
i will edit the OP to indicate i am not the author

[Arkansas Granny]

23. This Arkansan says that you are exactly right. And those who don't know the difference,

bless their hearts, should pay particular attention to your post.

[SwampG8r]

28. bells ring out across the land

after all this time and all these squabbles i find myself in complete agreement with some of my harshest critics

whoda thunk it?

[seabeyond]

30. what most of you mean by redneck is what we call white trash. thank you for clarification

people would use term redneck and i would say, hey, they are proud of that title. not insult to them. but then a lot of the white trash are proud of that title too, lol and work really hard at it, so they dont see it as an insult.

BUT.... you are right on the clarification, and i guess i had just forgotten it over the years. i have people in texas with bold redneck on their trucks and it is generally in the vicinity of a confederate flag. toothless and dirty. that is what they are advertising. i am not pinning anything on them

so the caricature was fuzzy.

[SwampG8r]

32. white trash aspires to redneckism

they may claim they are but they sure enough aint!

[seabeyond]

44. i agree. i am remembering back in the day. they were not inherently closed minded

stpuid and bigoted.

they were admired for a smartness, integrity, character that lacks in the "rednecks" we see today. but you see the difference in the southern boys? with foxworthy. he and at least one buddy that talk about the redneck is the positive redneck. the fat, ugly, dumpy, crude pig male that i hate on the show presents the worst image of the redneck.

[SwampG8r]

45. larry?he is a sham redneck no redneck at all

[seabeyond]

47. good. that is how i see it. n/t

[SwampG8r]

49. the whole thing

is make believe
like christian bales as batman
everyone knows batman is much taller than bales!

[seabeyond]

50. lol lol lol..... okay. lol. n/t

[LanternWaste]

31. Sure you're not a 'Good ol' boy'?

You sound less like a red-neck, and more like a 'good-ol' boy'. At least that's what this particular Texan has been led to believe through my limited knowledge of Texas colloquialisms.

[SwampG8r]

33. a good old boy is like the highest form of redneck

and yes
i am a good ol' boy

[dbmk]

35. Ok, I am a foreigner, so can't really say what goes in US english :)

But to me the distinction WOULD be the mental thing. I would never call someone a redneck based on the description you gave alone. To me its more a description of a state of mind than a lifestyle.

But, hey, I don't live it, so if you say so... :)

[SwampG8r]

41. it is a lifestyle that is influenced by a state of mind

[dbmk]

43. Oh, by state of mind I meant stupid :)

Which you clearly aren't. So I would never think of calling you a redneck.

But I learn all the time. :)

[TheKentuckian]

36. I see country and outdoorsy being muddled up with redneck

I don't know if Foxworthy changed the perception but I still think redneck has a negative connotation.

I'd rather be a hick than a redneck, myself.

[faithfulcitizen]

53. I agree. Round these parts (Indiana) I think hick is preferred to redneck. Maybe geographical?

know lots of "good ole boys" round here too. I personally refer to myself as "outdoorsy", which is somewhere between "country" and "environmentalist", lol.

[4_Legs_Good]

38. Thanks, swampg8r! That was very well said

and appreciated!

David

[chowder66]

39. Don't forget Sophisticated Redneck....

as my nephew likes to refer to himself. He's a "country boy" (his words) who is curious about serious subjects.

[Barack_America]

40. See now I always thought that it went: Hick < Redneck < White Trash...

in order of increasing offensiveness.

From what you described, I would consider you a hick, as in "country". As in half of my family, lol. When I think of a "redneck", at least in the Midwestern sense, I'm thinking of someone who is undereducated with considerable racist beliefs. And "white trash" being a redneck who can't support themselves or their families financially, often as a result of substance abuse and general lack of social functioning.

Honestly, to be quite honest, I try not to judge people according to these terms at all (like I said, half of my beloved family). So this is just my understanding of how the terms are defined.

[SwampG8r]

42. i was raised by hicks

maybe that is what threw you:rofl:

[Barack_America]

52. But what makes you a "redneck" in your opinion?

And don't you think that "redneck" suggests some degree of bigotry? Or is that just the Northern definition?

[SwampG8r]

54. thats a northern perception

of a southern reality
i cant call myself a bigot by any means
i am 64/128 tsalagi (cherokee) and i have a complete family of cousins in NC who are AA
its hard to define what exactly makes me think myself a redneck though
i feel it more a cultural distinction

[Barack_America]

60. Yeah, I think that the difference in definitions is interesting.

Northerners definitely include some anti-Southern sentiments into their definition. In the North, a "redneck" is basically a racist (Southern) hick.

The first time I heard people describe themselves as "rednecks" (i.e. Jeff Foxworthy) I was shocked. I thought they were openly admitting to being racist.

Sorry for posting so much, but I actually find this discussion really interesting. I'm kind of a geek for how things are understood and interpreted in various regions. It's a favorite conversation topic of mine.

ETA: And I got to be rec. #5 for you. Cool.

[undeterred]

46. northern women don't like ma'am

because it makes us feel old... I know its meant respectfully, but it makes us feel old. I have no problem with any of the rest!

[SwampG8r]

48. sorry to hear that ma'am

:rofl:

[lapislzi]

64. THIS northern woman quite likes being called "ma'am"

I enjoy being treated respectfully, and whatever vocabulary you choose to do that is just fine with me.

I am not old, and the term doesn't make me feel old. When I hear it, I think that the person using it is respectful of a person he/she doesn't know well. I use it myself.

[JuniperLea]

51. My great granny was from New Orleans...

She used to say "bless their little pea picking hearts" a lot... and whenever she spoke of anyone she didn't like, it was always with a "bless their heart". She also insisted that us younguns said ma'am and sir, please and thankee:) You opened the windy, and if you left a door open you were asked if you were born in a barn.

I loved her so:)

Blue collar, white collar, and redneck... the rednecks worked hard, and partied hard. Granny never called anyone trash.

[SwampG8r]

55. we had the same granny methinks

but i think you got her location wrong when she was my mamaw she was living in tenn

[JuniperLea]

57. She did spend a spell in West Verginny...

And some of her kin are now in Tennessee. That's God's country right-chaer. ;)

[SwampG8r]

58. well...bless your heart for saying that

:rofl:

[JuniperLea]

61. Have a K & R, Cousin:)

:rofl:

[JuniperLea]

62. I just had a thought...

My name is June, and I share that name with about 20 other women in my family, but I'm the only one with the first name.

There's Beverly June, Barbara June, Dorothy June, Edith June, Becky June... etc., but I'm June "Juniper" Lea, like my cousins Sandra Lea, Marion Lea, Julia Lea, Millicent Lea... they do that silly stuff in your family? Everyone had a nickname too...

[SwampG8r]

56. only 2 more recs

and i get serious self validation
c'mon folks you can do it

[crankychatter]

68. What's the opposite of a recommendation? NT

[Lex]

59. Rednecks are all over. Not just in the South.

Ever been to upstate New York?

[intheflow]

69. I knew a lot of rednecks in upstate NY.

All over Western Massachusetts, too.

[moriah]

63. My origins aren't redneck, more hillbilly.

Or, well, on one side of the family, the others were Carolinian coastal people. My sister's father's family were Appalachian hillbilly's, our maternal grandfather's family was Ozark hillbilly. Granny's family has become more redneck, but she remembers them associating themselves more with immigrants than adopting a local culture like redneck.

My sister married into a true redneck family. It seems like the divide between hillbilly and redneck is pretty obvious here in Arkansas, even though most of the same characteristics mentioned in that article apply to hillbillies as well. Hillbillies are much more likely to live in cabins or houses they built themselves instead of hauling in a trailer, and if they are living in a home they built themselves, will often have an electric well pump but doing a septic is later on down the list -- you have to be really careful where you locate a septic tank considering the water table can vary widely in the hills.

When the well pump is a handpump powered by a windshield wiper motor from one of the vehicles in the personal salvage yard, the diaphragm in it from a shoe that the dogs chewed up, you stock tetramycin and when your dog gets shot you treat him yourself (or when a cat kittens and gets a uterine infection), you treat yourself with folk medicine and herbal treatments you grew/wildcrafted (and they work!), and you know from firsthand experience that a woodstove is a better bet than a propane heater to get you through the winter... you might be a hillbilly.

[mitchum]

65. Harry Crews uses the term "grit" for what you call "redneck"

Being from the south, I still find "redneck" and "white trash" to be synonymous

[FatDave]

66. I live in rural Iowa.

I'm 7 miles from the nearest town, and it's population is around 300. It has one stop sign. I have a chicken coop that I built in my back yard. I have 2 horses and more cats than I can count. I have a piece-of-shit 1989 Ford F-150 that I keep barely running. I own a tractor.

But I'm not a redneck.

I understand that some rural folk may want to claim the word as a badge of honor, but I'm sorry. The historical meaning of the word, at least around my area, is something no-one should aspire to.

And besides, there's people running around calling themselves trash as if it's something to be proud of now. Saw a girl, couldn't have been more than 12, wearing a shirt with "Trash" emblazoned across the front. In another few years I'm sure the self-anointed trash contingent on DU will be all up in arms about that word too.

(Edit: removed some redundancy and repetition)

[crankychatter]

67. Prejudice against Southern Dems kept Edwards at the rear of the pack in '04

At least in Washington State Caucuses. (my opinion).

It's always annoyed me. The exodus to the GOP is ancient history (for the most part). People just need to get over it.

I don't want to flame this OP because I know you to be a good egg. (yes, I read the stuff here).

I cannot concur. The landed gentry of the deep south can be as duplicitous and dangerous as medieval Medici.

The second tier of business owners, contractors etc., that are allowed to prosper (usually as a function of corruption and good old boyism), are the bulwark between the ruling class and the "great unwashed."

When I was a boy my father told me that the term "Redneck" was a defamatory word, like "N****r," used by the landed, college educated gentry, as an epithet against lower class White people, that have to labor for a living. It's classist language deprecatory of labor. It originates from the "farmers tan," white torso, red neck, common among us.

Although strictly Agnostic, he told me to remind people, that Jesus was a carpenter. I guess that carries weight, eh?

The new popularity, championed by humorists, to make the word "redneck," a badge of honor or pride, is a manifestation of backlash, in the face of rising cultural affinity for Black people, in the general population, through hip-hop and popular media. It's frankly, racial in origin.

I'm your "White trash," and I'm not genetically inferior to ANYONE. I'm not inbred. I don't have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I didn't do well in school. I HAVE lived in a trailer.

AND

Ya'all are cordially invited to go fuck yourselves.

I mean that in the best possible way.

edited to add: What I'm saying is your use of the term "trash" to describe those of lesser means and socio-economic status in your little world, is as horrific as the use of the word "N*****."

It's evil. Quit justifying it. Take your stereotypes of poor people and stick them where the sun don't shine.

Again, this is meant in the best possible way. I DO want you to have fun doing it.

[Chloroplast]

70. I know Black rednecks. I actually indentify with a lot on your list. Go figure.