Is the word "Redneck" derogatory?

I live in the northeast of the US, and work with a kid who is a self-identified "redneck". Confederate flag on his truck, listens to nothing but country, into the whole "redneck" style. Brags about it. I've also had other people tell me that I shouldn't call someone a redneck, that it is a perjorative and insulting. Well, I'm not from the South, so I don't have a great perspective on this.

Is it like the "N" word, where you can use it yourself if it applies to you, otherwise its an insult?

What do you all think?

reply to post by TwoTonTommy

I deserve it, so I don't take offense to it.

You can call me a hillbilly or a hick also, but I do take offense to the term white trash if it is undeserved.

ETA: I should explain. I eat a variety of wild things and I don't require the services of a butcher. I don't take my Christmas lights down unless I am moving. I don't wash my car or truck. And so on.......

I have to say no. I am from the south and that is where I remain til this day. I am not offended when I hear it and nobody I know is offended by it either. Though I am sure SOMEBODY, somewhere could work up enough energy to get offended, as is usually the case with just about anything these days.

Most people here are like your friend.... self proclaimed.

There is no way that it is on par with the N-Word either.

The name has a ton of stereotypes built into it, but most find it humorous because each of us usually knows someone who fits the type perfectly.

Being a "redneck" is a cultural designation of a particular mindset of unsophisticated individuals. Mindset being the key descriptive term.

A person can live in a trailer, raise hogs, drive a F150 with big tires, dip skoal, and be a huge NASCAR fan and not be a redneck. However it would be highly unlikely.

On the other hand I know millionaires with Maserati's, living in Boston, born in the Hamptons that consider themselves rednecks. Go figure....

reply to post by TwoTonTommy


The original meaning of redneck isn't derogatory at all, It described the lower class laborers who had a 'red neck' after toiling in a field all day (I guess that makes me kind of a redneck as well.) And in that sense it would seem like a compliment and no one should take offense to that. It's just the stereotype of the redneck that has made it derogatory.

I've been called a penal colonist even though I was born almost 200 years after the first fleet arrived and the term shouldn't apply to me. Words is words until someone takes offense or takes it out of context.

reply to post by TwoTonTommy


Redneck also applies to the red bandanas striking union coalminers wore to identify themselves in the miner wars to distinguish themselves from company hired guns.
Yes guns, there was a real war in the US that was not military action!!!
This is just one of the little reasons why "outsiders" are not welcomed in certain parts of the US.
I would go more indepth, but ATS T$C forbid it. Suffice to say, google can be your friend.
Google blair mountain war

I'm a proud of a redneck, and what redneck thread wouldnt be complete without Jeff Foxworthy:





or Bill Engvall:

No, it's not an insult, where I come from it's a badge of pride,
working my ass off in the sun all day leaves me and my pale ass skin
with a red neck. It's a satisfying recognition of who I am and what my culture is,
anyone is more than welcome to call me a redneck.

reply to post by TwoTonTommy


There is a distinct difference between the two. Redneck is a term that isn't racially loaded. It's a cultural and class connotation here in the south. Many black people refer to themselves as "rednecks" or "country". The other word you brought up is strictly racial in connotation.

reply to post by Thecakeisalie


This is my understanding as well. Redneck = damn hard worker. As with all words though you have to look at context. If it's one that is ignorant of the real meaning they may MEAN it to be derogatory. As in dumb. Like I said though, that is ignorance. Rednecks are far from stupid. Our own TheRedneck I've had the privilege to talk to on the phone and I'll tell you, he's one of the smartest people I've talked to. He starts in on math, robotics and such and I'm like, "Um, what?" WAY beyond my comprehension. And don't let the Duck Dynasty crew fool you. Those guys are well educated. Well, maybe not Si.

reply to post by TwoTonTommy


I do not know how persons to whom the term "Redneck" can be applied, would react upon being addressed in such a fashion. However, I live in a county called Essex, and when someone calls me an Essex Boy, it irks me. Aside from the fact that I can pronounce the letter T, can differentiate between v and th sounds, and have a significant vocabulary, I also share virtually no cultural identity with many of the denizens of this county.

People think that Essex means idiots dressed in track suits, with fake tans, big cars, and tiny intellects, who like to go to dance clubs, get drunk, hit other gents with bottles, and knock their woman around to boot. Chauvinism and an obsession with ones appearance are also common to the stereotype. To be described as an Essex Boy therefore, is nearly always derogatory, no matter how geographically accurate it might be. I am sure there are other residents of Essex who feel differently, but that is because these people actually IDENTIFY with the stereotype.

I however identify with my own cultural outlook, that of chivalrous conduct toward my fellow human beings, an upholding of intellectual pursuits, a determination to keep the English language intact and free from banalities, and a deep respect for the traditions and history of Britain as a whole. That is why I object to being called an Essex Boy. There are no positives to the term.

Perhaps there are positive connotations to the term Redneck, which have lead to the confusion.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Just a question: Is "essex boy" simply a synonym for "Chav" then?

reply to post by antonia


It could be seen as such by some, however Essex Boys come from all manner of financial backgrounds, and obviously, from Essex. However CHAV culture is not limited to Essex, but IS a term which cannot legitimately be applied to anyone who is well off.

You could say that CHAV is a term which describes a persons socio-economic status, as much as it does their choice of clothing and inability to string a couple of sentences together, without the aid of some twine, glue, and a staple gun.

TrueBrit
reply to post by antonia

 

It could be seen as such by some, however Essex Boys come from all manner of financial backgrounds, and obviously, from Essex. However CHAV culture is not limited to Essex, but IS a term which cannot legitimately be applied to anyone who is well off.

I see, I just got slightly confused because the description you gave earlier seem an awful lot like a chav. I get it now.

TwoTonTomlmy
I live in the northeast of the US, and work with a kid who is a self-identified "redneck". Confederate flag on his truck, t Virginiato nothing but country, into the whole "redneck" style. Brags about it. I've also had other people tell me that I shouldn't call someone a redneck, that it is a perjorative and insulting. Well, I'm not from the South, so I don't have a great perspective on this.

Is it like the "N" word, where you can use it yourself if it applies to you, otherwise its an insult?

What do you all think?

To those who know the true source of the term, "redneck" can be a prideful thing. Striking coal miners in Logan County West Virginia, in 1921 engaged in the Battle of Blair Mountain, where the miners fought armed "private detectives" from the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency. As their distinguishing uniform, the minors wore red bandanas around their necks, and became known as the redneck miners. A Sheriff named Sid Hatfield tried to aid the miners, and for that was murdered on the courthouse steps by Baldwin-Felts agents. The miners eventually prevailed and the United Mine Workers of America unionized the Southern West Virginia coal fields.

TwoTonTommy
Well, I'm not from the South, so I don't have a great perspective on this.

You don't have to be from the south to be a redneck. Check out upstate New York. Even New York City/New Jersey has rednecks... only they call them guidos.

Like any word, it carries no connotation in itself. The connotation is whatever people want to ascribe to it.

I AM a redneck. Right now there are 5 cars parked in my front yard... one of them runs. I qualify on about 50% of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck if..." jokes (I mowed my yard once and found two cars and a tractor... my brother-in-law mowed his yard once and found my truck - TRUE). Both rear windows on the car that runs are sealed at the top with duct tape... works good, since the car is silver and both quit working at about the same time. I have worked on car motors supported by a chain from a tree limb. I have driven a car with a wire stretched across the roof to run power to part of it so it would be legal. In my prime, I outran every local cop in this area at least once, usually because I didn't want them to confiscate my out-of-state beer. Heck, with the exception of the jumps (which were obviously staged with multiple cars... some of those are physically impossible), I have performed most of the stunts on "The Dukes of Hazzard."

But that doesn't mean I'm dumb. I hold an AAS degree in Computer Information Systems with a GPA of 3.867, an AS degree in Engineering and Mathematics with a GPA of 3.899, and I have a GPA of 4.0 in the BSEE program at UAH. I have a Professional Tutor certification from the local college. I have designed and built electronic stuff for 30 years, using only the cheap tools I could afford or stuff I made myself. I do all the maintenance and repair on my car(s), my home, and my land. Not much on the home and land breaks, though, because I designed and built it all. Professional repairmen hate me.

It doesn't mean I am lazy. Right now I'm working two part-time jobs, going to UAH full-time, caring for a wife with a heart condition and caring for my mother who is in poor health. Somehow I find time to be on the All Things Survival Radio Show, visit ATS as much as I can, tutor two school kids, do some computer repair on the side, and I am building a new robotic base for the IEEE club at UAH to use in their competitions.

Forget all the stereotypes... I am not racist, not homophobic (maybe homo-apathetic?), not dumb, not lazy, not stupid, and I still have all of my teeth (for the time being ). Stereotypes are useless fantasies that insecure people invent to try and make their own lives look better by comparison.

If you call me a redneck, it means nothing... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING... to me. Heck, it's my real life nickname. Yell it in a crowd and I will literally turn around to see who is calling me. Oh, it started as a derogatory remark, sure, way way back in high school when I was introduced to kids whose parents had money. But I LIKE being a redneck, so it quickly became a nickname instead of a cutdown. They have a lot of money, but I'm the guy who will make stuff he needs from stuff others throw away (my father actually made a tractor, now mine, from a Briggs & Stratton motor he found in a junkyard, some pulleys, and sheet metal... and to do so he first had to build a forge out of rock he found in our mountain). I'm the guy who will do the stuff that has to be done when everyone else is complaining about not having enough time. I'm the guy who will survive, thrive even, when everyone else is sitting crying and wringing their hands in despair.

I went to my 30-year class reunion a few years back. Me and one other guy (who lives maybe a mile and a half from me and runs his own farm) had to help the others onto the flatbed, go get some more hay, and pretty much do all the work. As old as I am, I can still get around and do, while they were having trouble walking. I guess all that money wasn't the big deal they used to think it was. They were comparing who took the most meds. I don't even have a doctor; don't need one.

The thing is, anyone can do what I have done with any word they want. The offense never comes from the person who says it; the offense always comes from the person getting offended. We just live in a society where people like to be able to blame someone else rather than grow a skin. You wanna call me a redneck? Go right on ahead! It's what I am; it's what I want to be. If it's not what you want me to be, well, that sounds like a personal problem to me. Good luck with it.

Personally, I think all people should be proud of who and what they are, or they should change it. It's that simple, and others will respect that pride in oneself.

The(Proud)Redneck

I always thought redneck is some sort of class thing rich people call southerners with the stereotype.