310
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by someguy3@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world

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]

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth 272 points 4 months ago

I thought this was common knowledge

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 86 points 4 months ago

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

"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

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

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] lurch@sh.itjust.works 27 points 4 months ago

The forgotten wisdom of Cotton Eye Joe

[-] ramble81@lemm.ee 12 points 4 months ago

Where did you come from, where did you go…

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Confused_Emus@lemmy.world 23 points 4 months ago

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
[-] 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[-] snooggums@midwest.social 14 points 4 months ago

Obvious slang is obvious.

[-] ogmios@sh.itjust.works 108 points 4 months ago

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

[-] FinalRemix@lemmy.world 38 points 4 months ago

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

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

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
[-] anywho@lemmy.world 54 points 4 months ago

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
[-] 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

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 44 points 4 months ago
[-] naticus@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

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

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 35 points 4 months ago

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

[-] huginn@feddit.it 40 points 4 months ago

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

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] 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)

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

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

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] bblkargonaut@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago

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

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] JPAKx4@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 4 months ago

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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] CombatWombat1212@lemmy.ml 26 points 4 months ago
[-] WhatsHerBucket@lemmy.world 24 points 4 months ago

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..

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago

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

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] 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

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.'

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] delirious_owl@discuss.online 7 points 4 months ago

Yes, the south was a predominantly agrarian economy.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2024
310 points (81.8% liked)

Today I Learned

17901 readers
185 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS