What It Means to Be a 'Redneck' or a 'Hillbilly'

Vice Newsletter ^ | Apr 29 2016, 12:00am | Stacy Kranitz

[Chode]

i'm not a redneck cause i don't farm in the sun, but i'm sure-nuff a hillrod...

[RedMonqey]

There’s too many “posers” who think they are rednecks but never did a lick of work in the fields nor any hard work other than mowing their own yards. They buy trucks that will never see a dent caused by work loads not even a spot of mud. And drive up the cost for those of us who need these vehicles for the work we do daily.

Country music that doesn’t reflect the ‘working man’s blues’ but party on the beach with tattoos that don’t mean crap but a “fashion statement.”
Still, I guess it is a compliment of sorts.

[Dr. Sivana]

The reason Mick Jagger is a bad singer when he's doing a country song is because he's doing the accent, and he's trying to sound country. The hillbilly would never think about trying to sound a different way. They just sing the way they sing.

Interestingly, when Paul McCartney hit the country charts (as far as I know, his only time), he did NOT try to affect a southern accent. The song was "Sally G" (flipside of "Junior's Farm").

[HangnJudge]

8 generations West by gawd Virginia here
I know Hillbilly RedNeck and damn proud
Currently in E. Tenn.

[Fiddlstix]

[crz]

It is said that the terms originated in the UK when one side-the covenanters wore red around their necks to signify rebels in the Bishops Wars that preceded Cromwell. It eventually became a term towards Presbyterians in the lowlands of Scotland as well as the United States.

Hillbilly was supposed to be a term to signify Highland and other Scottish people who fought for William and Mary of Orange. Remember that Mary was the Granddaughter of the house of Stuart and they invited William into the fold to finalize the deal within the monarchy in the UK. He really wanted NOTHING to do with England AT ALL. As did many of the Germans who took that crown.

Pretty messed up hey? BTW, the name Windsor is not really the name of the present royalty. The name was changed during, or prior, to WW1.

Of course, the argument is that it all, redneck and hillbilly, originated in the USA.

[crz]

As far as the terms? Call me anything you want. Just dont call be a SOB and late for dinner. Thems fightin words.

[abclily]

Red Necks acquired red necks by bending over in the sun while they built this country.

[Texas resident]

My family is all Scotch-Irish. My understanding is that the term hillbilly came from the Scotsmen who lived in the highlands and their decendents that settled the Southeast USA. There are a lot of rednecks that are just plain white trash, but there are a lot of us that are self reliant and don’t want any government interference in our lives. My grandfather was a rancher and he taught me a lot about caring for animals and for family. I have passed that along to my adult children.

[Texas resident]

7 Generations Southeast Texas here.

Traditions run deep here.

Damn right.

[Fiji Hill]

The Redneck National Anthem--Vernon Oxford (1973)

"I'm a Redneck--banned in Boston, born in Austin."

[MrEdd]

I am from a different part of the country.
The state was dry until some years after I graduated high school and part of the reason is that being drunk or hung over in the morning when you went to work was real likely to get you dead or missing a limb.

I do not connect “redneck” with alcohol because a lot of workers were called rednecks but drinking was for special occasions when you didn’t work the next day.

That doesn’t make for much call for liquor by the drink.

[Fiji Hill]

One of my mother's favorite tunes:

When the Bloom Is on the Sage--The Beverly Hill Billies (1930)

[dgbrown]

I like to think of myself as a cultured hick.

[Inyo-Mono]

I read many years ago, that the term “hillbilly” came from those in the rural hill country who were sympathetic to the North during the Civil War. “Billy Yank,” thus “hillbilly.” My great-grandfather of western Virginia, now West Virginia, was a Confederate, but his younger brother, joined the Union Army, and was thus a “hillbilly.”

[JBW1949]

I, myself, am a “Hillwilliam”.....

A “Hillwilliam” is a “Hillbilly” with a college education....

[Da Coyote]

Hell, I’m a Cajun and we love our self depreciating jokes.
I can still outthink Dorkbama the Muslim eunuch quota cretin any day of the week. Weekends I can outthink the dork whilst sleeping.

As for the press, our ‘gators are smarter.

[MayflowerMadam]

I heard it was that they wore red bandannas around their necks in some kind of labor dispute for identification — that the sun-burned necks had nothing to do with it. I suppose there are all kinds of stories.