this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2024
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Today I Learned

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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]

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[–] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 273 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I thought this was common knowledge

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 86 points 4 months ago (4 children)

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.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 33 points 4 months ago (3 children)

"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.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 21 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I don’t think the etymology of redneck is part of any school curriculum. OP is just one of today’s 10,000.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

blows party noisemaker

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[–] StitchIsABitch@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

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.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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.

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[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 27 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The forgotten wisdom of Cotton Eye Joe

[–] ramble81@lemm.ee 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Where did you come from, where did you go…

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[–] Confused_Emus@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Right? I don’t think anyone ever even told me that was the origin, it just sort of made sense intuitively.

[–] owsei@programming.dev 20 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] ghost_towels@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 months ago

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.

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[–] snooggums@midwest.social 14 points 4 months ago

Obvious slang is obvious.

[–] ogmios@sh.itjust.works 108 points 4 months ago (11 children)

The entire reason it became an insult was because of wealthy urbanites disparaging the working class.

[–] FinalRemix@lemmy.world 38 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Look how PaLe I aM! *laughs foppishly*

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

Downright ghostly, my dear.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

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".

[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 22 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Did you know the invention of lawns was also a way to flaunt that you were wealthy enough to have unfarmed land?

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[–] anywho@lemmy.world 54 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] el_bhm@lemm.ee 31 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] Pilon23@feddit.dk 13 points 4 months ago

A man who gers! Did i get it right?

[–] anywho@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I 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.

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 months ago

Apparently that’s how some people are taught to read. Just kinda guess the word without actually reading it.

[–] John_McMurray@lemmy.world 43 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] naticus@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Lol my exact words before jumping to the comments. There's no mysteries to be had here.

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[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 35 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I thought it had something to do with union membership, something about red handkerchiefs.

[–] huginn@feddit.it 40 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's one of the reasons it was popularized - coal miner unions wearing red bandanas. But late 19th century usage appears to be sunburnt workers.

[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Interesting. It's kind of interesting, but in the battle of Blair mountain, there's definitely some hints that there were already communist and anti-communist sentiments at work. I wonder if the red bandanas were a nod to communism.

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[–] blindbunny@lemmy.ml 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

This 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.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Wiki 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.

[–] Greg@lemmy.ca 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I 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

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[–] bblkargonaut@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Wait until they learn the Spanish word for black, or worse Latin.

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[–] CombatWombat1212@lemmy.ml 26 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] JPAKx4@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Why are people gatekeeping today's 10,000?

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Some people get really snarky about word breakdowns for some reason. See it quite often.

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[–] WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world 24 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Remember kids.. no matter what TikTok says, sunscreen does NOT cause cancer.

[–] Assman@sh.itjust.works 20 points 4 months ago

Sun on the other hand..

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[–] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago

"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".

[–] JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

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!

[–] Dearth@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I thought it was from union miners wearing red bandanas during fights against Pinkertons

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 9 points 4 months ago

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.'

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[–] delirious_owl@discuss.online 7 points 4 months ago

Yes, the south was a predominantly agrarian economy.

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