Andrea Mitchell felt compelled to apologize for calling southwest Virginia “real redneck country.”
Well, she’s right, it is. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I think that what she should be apologizing for (which perhaps she is, obliquely) is the insinuation that that’s a bad thing. While I understand that a lot of southerners take umbrage at the word, it’s really just a synonym for Scots-Irish, and it came over with them from England (and no, it has nothing to do with working in the hot sun). It was a phrase used to describe Presbyterians from northern England, who wore red collars. They were the people who settled Appalachia (and other regions). Eastern Virginia (and Maryland and Delaware) was settled by the so-called Cavaliers of southwest England, who had lost the Civil War to the Roundheads.
I think, though, that in the mind of east (and west) coast media elites like Andrea Mitchell, “redneck” is synonymous with “hillbilly,” which is unquestionably an uncomplimentary term, and why the apology was necessary. It’s also a mark of the cultural ignorance of those same media elite about flyover country.
These two articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redneck_%28stereotype%29
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots-Irish_American
are good reading. If you read the first paragraph of the redneck article, you might come away with the idea that Mitchell had nothing to apologize for. If you read both articles in their entirety, you might come to the conclusion that Mitchell was right to apologize.
Well you know, the trouble all started when Hank married Spanish Cathy. With Tony Blair becoming Catholic, and when Scots-Irish John McCain becomes President and works out a Grand Compromise on Mexican Immigration, history will have come full circle with regard to the Great Power confrontation between Spain and England and the effect on the English and Spanish-speaking peoples of North America.
What is there to apologize for, what she should have done is further qualify it as : Redneck Hillbilly Retards.
AKA : Amurkans.
Hillbilly is a pejorative? I thought they liked the Clintons? What about the rock opera hair? “I’m a colored spade…”
I’m a wop (or is it ginny?) on my mothers side with mex (can’t think of any spanish pejoratives but I’m sure
readers can fill in for me) relatives that hate what
the wetbacks are doing to AZ.
BTW, I’m a native American, I was born in Brooklyn which is a part of America last I heard.
Any redneck or redskin will tell ya that cowboy is not a pejorative except to euroweenies; ask John Wayne.
I’m just a palefaced yankee gringo wop that doesn’t get it.
It was a phrase used to describe Presbyterians from northern England, who wore red collars.
That’s nice to know. The word nice used to be an insult.
I think, though, that in the mind of east (and west) coast media elites like Andrea Mitchell, “redneck” is synonymous with “hillbilly,” which is unquestionably an uncomplimentary term, and why the apology was necessary.
I think Jeff Foxworthy is a wonderful guide to the current meaning of redneck, mainly because he is the person most responsible for creating that current meaning. Jeff Foxworthy makes fun of himself as a redneck. He is proud to be a redneck, and makes money by insulting rednecks kindly, in a way we enjoy. (I’m up to one-quarter redneck, as in Scotch-Irish. By Foxworthy’s current meaning I may be 100% redneck.) This certainly allows others, who aren’t rednecks, to use the word redneck in an unkind and insulting way. Listen to Foxworthy and tell me how the word redneck is like the word Polack as opposed to Polish.
Yours,
Wince
I’m pretty sure ‘American’ is the relevant pejorative in most of the civilized world.
They prefer “Mountain Williams”.
Intellectual, your appropriation of the word, “intellectual” doesn’t conform with the definition of the term.
I suspect it’s that vile idiot, Elifritz.
Now this is interesting:
OK, here’s a Fox-worthy joke for you.
You really know that you are of Presbyterian-Covenanter heritage when . . .
your brother-in-law suggests using a shotgun to remove tree branches beyond the reach of your pole saw . . . and you think that is a great idea!
“Intellectual wrote:
What is there to apologize for, what she should have done is further qualify it as : Redneck Hillbilly Retards.
AKA : Amurkans.”
You mean your intellectual betters and moral supeiors? The wipe better stuff off their hog-sloppin’ boots than Elishitz will ever become.
“your brother-in-law suggests using a shotgun to remove tree branches beyond the reach of your pole saw . . . and you think that is a great idea”
I have used a 12 guage trap gun to eliminate bees nests that were beyond the reach of the wasp spray.
Worked like a charm. Vilolence can very often solve problems.
iM confuzed. dOes i has ta chang mi skreen name now!
Around here redneck is generally understood to mean people of less than average manners, morals, and IQ. It is used as an insult at least half the time you hear it. I prefer Foxworthys’ “glorious lack of sophistication” definition.
“glorious lack of sophistication”
from sophisticare “adulterate, cheat, quibble”
We call ourselves Scotch Irish.
Not Scots Irish.
Oh, this thread is just crying out for some more Foxworthy jokes. Probably the funniest thing about his jokes is that no matter where in the world you are from or no matter what your ancestral heritage or level of education, his jokes are about someone you know personally, perhaps a friend or member of your own family, occasionally even yourself.
– if you have to move a transmission to take a shower…
– if your porch collapses and more than three dogs die…
– if you mow your lawn and find a car on cinderblocks…
– if your family tree has no forks…
– if your dad accompanies you to school because he’s in the same grade…
– if your momma opens her beer with her tooth…
– if your brother’s last words were “hey y’all, watch this!”…
– if you think a hyperlink is a huge chain of sausages…
– if your Christmas ornaments are made out of spent shot-gun shells…
– if you think the last words to The Star Spangled Banner are “Gentlemen, start your engines.”…
– if you think Sherlock Holmes is a housing project down in Biloxi…
– if you think a stock tip is advice on wormin’ your hogs…
– if you’ve been married three times and still have the same in-laws…
– if your state’s got a new law that says when a couple get divorced, they are still legally brother and sister…
– if your house still has the “WIDE LOAD” sign on the back…
– if your sister is the third generation of women in your family to conceive a baby as a result of an alien abduction…
– if you think Possum is “The Other White Meat”..
– if the centerpiece on your dining room table is an original signed work by a famous taxidermist…
– if you think safe sex is a padded headboard…
– if you believe dual air bags refer to your wife and mother-in-law…
– if your whole family is Democrats ‘cept little Mary: she lernt how to read…
– if you take a six-pack cooler to church…
– if you had to remove a toothpick for your wedding pictures…
– if you have to go outside to get something out of the ‘fridge…
– if one of your kids was born on a pool table…
– if someone asks to see your ID and you show them your belt buckle…
– if you’ve ever climbed a water tower with a bucket of paint to defend your sister’s honor…
– if you’ve been on TV more than 5 times describing the sound of a tornado…
– if you ever used a toilet brush as a back scratcher…
– if your coffee table used to be a cable spool [or in my dad’s case, a wagon wheel. seriously. – Ed]…
– if the taillight covers of your car are made of red tape…
– if you’ve painted a car with house paint…
– if your wife
Ed,
I’ve done eight of the listed items. Pretty
sure I qualify.
“Worked like a charm. Violence can very often solve problems.”
Who said anything about violence? If a shotgun can be used in a safe way to remove a wasp nest, it is used as a tool, just as using a chainsaw to remove a tree branch is using a tool.
On the other hand, if shotguns and chainsaws are both something you have practical experience with, you could be a . . .
Thae act of driving a car is violent when you consider the bugs.
Such is the nature of life.
Yes, the shotgun was used as a tool and it proved a very efficient one for the task at hand.
Perhaps we should start using the term “Northumbrian-American.”
redneck: George Washington preferred the term “uncooth” when describing the Scots-Irish