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
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, they gotta learn SOMEWHERE! We certainly have dismantled public education to be less of a school and more of a free daycare.
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
idk, i learned that shit on the playground. does that count as curriculum?
i think the bigger thing here is how broke teens and young adults don’t have many places else to hang out and do this in person.
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.
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.
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. finding the sweet spot and managing to stay there takes a bit of experience.
Liquor before beer, we’re in the clear, so let’s fuckin party.
The forgotten wisdom of Cotton Eye Joe
Where did you come from, where did you go…
Right? I don’t think anyone ever even told me that was the origin, it just sort of made sense intuitively.
relevant xkcd
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.
Love that one
Yeah, I thought everyone kinda intuitively understood this because redneck and farmer used to be synonymous.
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.
Obvious slang is obvious.