Redneck

[eberntson]

So the commoner definition is quite well know for the word Redneck. Although, I heard a historical Irishman's story, living near Boston you can't walk a mile without finding a Irish themed watering-hole, about the source of this word.

The story goes, that the English settlers were quite worried about the Native Americans as they expanded west from Atlantic Coast. So to provide a buffer between themselves and the American Indians and French they figured they could get some sods to come over and settle in the mountains to be a buffer if they just paid for passage. Apparently it worked and that population became the neck that stuck out as a buffer between the English Colonies and the Native American and French populations that they saw as a constant threat.

This story is here say, right now but it sounds like a plausible history.

[Perry Lassiter]

I always thought it referred to southerners who worked on farms and thereby got sunburned necks. The meaning expanded to "commoners" lacking sophistication. Louisiana in tres parted divisa est. in the north, rednecks, south central is Cajun, and New Orleans. Mississippi and Alabama are all redneck.

[eberntson]

Yes, I have always thought it referred to the the sun-burnt necks of the field folks too. My ingurgitation of this other history is understandable though, ain't it? It makes sense and has occurred that the frontier is populated by rednecks to shield the more civilized. This story is not new though, I swear, I have heard it before, perhaps it wishful thinking, or just a Cambridgian myth.

[Perry Lassiter]

Didn't know Cambridgians believe in myths or quisquis, and probably not couscous.