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007
Joined: 30 Oct 2006
Posts: 2684
Location: UK/Veteran of the Magic Kingdom
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 Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
| And I agree completely that the term redneck also perfectly describes the same sort of people from the UK. |
VS, is it true that rednecks are largely descendants of the Scots-Irish and Lowland Scots immigrants who travelled to North America from Northern Ireland and Scotland in the late 17th and 18th centuries?
I wonder if Uncle Scotty can confirm or deny the above theory.  |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| 007 wrote: |
| VS, is it true that rednecks are largely descendants of the Scots-Irish and Lowland Scots immigrants who travelled to North America from Northern Ireland and Scotland in the late 17th and 18th centuries? |
No... the meaning of the word has moved far beyond any definition coming via Europe. |
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Gulezar
Joined: 19 Jun 2007
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 9:20 pm Post subject: Redneck? |
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| I always thought it just referred to anyone who worked outside on a farm and therefore got sunburned on the neck. I suppose a fair skinned individual might have a greater chance of getting a red neck. |
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miski
Joined: 04 Jul 2007
Posts: 298
Location: Kuwait
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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| 007 wrote: |
| veiledsentiments wrote: |
| And I agree completely that the term redneck also perfectly describes the same sort of people from the UK. |
VS, is it true that rednecks are largely descendants of the Scots-Irish and Lowland Scots immigrants who travelled to North America from Northern Ireland and Scotland in the late 17th and 18th centuries?
I wonder if Uncle Scotty can confirm or deny the above theory. |
The origins of the term redneck actually go back to the 1930's in a number of disputes in West Virginia. A large group of unionized miners marched south to Logan County, to pressure the mine owners there to allow their miners to become unionized. To identify themselves, the miners all wore red bandannas around their necks. The publicity associated with the battles and the subsequent court cases created the term red-necks, and at that time they were viewed as the good guys in the conflict.
The origins of this term Redneck are Scottish and refer to supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant, or "Covenanters", largely Lowland Presbyterians, many of whom would flee Scotland for Ulster (Northern Ireland) during persecutions by the British Crown. The Covenanters of 1638 and 1641 signed the documents that stated that Scotland desired the Presbyterian form of church government and would not accept the Church of England as its official state church.
Many Covenanters signed in their own blood and wore red pieces of cloth around their necks as distinctive insignia; hence the term "Red neck", (rednecks) which became slang for a Scottish dissenter*.
There ya go. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:21 am Post subject: |
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It really doesn't much matter what 'redneck' meant in the 1600s or 1700s or even the 1930s. What matters is what it means now ... which has nothing to do with Scotland or any other country in Europe or miners wearing red bandannas. 
VS |
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