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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[–] [email protected] 44 points 4 months ago (6 children)

I thought this was common knowledge

[–] [email protected] 17 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.

[–] [email protected] 7 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 3 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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[–] [email protected] 4 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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Yeah, I thought everyone kinda intuitively understood this because redneck and farmer used to be synonymous.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 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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[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 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".

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (11 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I hate lawns so much, but there’s no other option unless you go for a townhouse/condo, which are more expensive in my area because of the great location. Why would anyone want to use and pay for extra water, then mow and trim every other week, for a patch of grass that doesn’t provide any benefit as a plant.

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[–] [email protected] 12 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!

[–] [email protected] 11 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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

A man who gers! Did i get it right?

[–] [email protected] 3 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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 6 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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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Yes, the south was a predominantly agrarian economy.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Why are people gatekeeping today's 10,000?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

No! All common knowledge belong to me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Woke mafia coming for your beans!

/s

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I remember in school people would say something loudly- neck check? or redneck check? I'm really not sure- and then slap you on the back of the neck. The assumption was that if you had a sunburned neck it'd hurt. I can't remember why the hell it was done, just that it was.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Eh.. yes? Isn't that kinda obvious from the word itself?!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (6 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 8 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 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

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