A small addition to Susan’s comment regarding the terms redneck and hillbilly.

The meaning of redneck and hillbilly depends on who is using the words. While urban and suburban speech is dull and lifeless, country speech is colorful and lively. To compensate for lifeless language, urban and suburban dwellers appropriate country speech. Trouble is, they do not understand the language, so they bastardize it. The result is two different languages, that sound the same, but mean different things.

Since, 96% of the land in the United States is occupied by rural Americans, there is a lot more cultural diversity in, and between, rural populations than there is in cities, or suburbs. However, rural language share a few similarities.

For example, take the phrase “Bless your heart”. If you live in the city, or suburbs, “bless your heart” means thanks, what a nice thing to do or say. However, if you live in the country, “bless your heart” means thanks for nothing, you phony ass.

If you live in a city or a suburb, you use redneck and hillbilly to insult, demean, humiliate, and shame country people. Given your use of language here, I am pretty sure you live in a city/suburb. If I’m correct, then you have used the terms correctly and I promise you I was duly insulted.

Since you don’t know what country people mean when we use those terms, let me do a little explaining.

If you live in the country, you use redneck and hillbilly to demonstrate affiliations (to unions, community, neighbors etc.) or emotional ties (to land, region, family history, community, etc.). The history of these terms dates back to the Gilded Age, when the Robber Barons were still “colonial-masters” of rural America (think railroads, coal mines, ranching, steel, etc.). The Robber Barrons thrived on division and anyone attempting to organize labour was quickly labeled a “communist.” The colour red was associated with communism, which gave rise to one use of the term redneck – an anti-communist slur still in use today.

Country music is rooted in the traditions of Scotts, Irish, and African Americans who settled in Appalachia. Hill + Billie (from the Scottish) – simply means mountain people. In Appalachian Border Ballads, “billie” (short for William) was a term of address or intimacy – meaning comrade, companion, brother in arms, a term of affection and familiarity, a wooer of a woman, and generally a young man. Border ballads usually tell the story of tragedies filled with violent passions, bloody conflicts, doomed love, hatred, and revenge of the people driven by cruel forces in those areas.

In 1921 Appalachia, 20,000 coal miners rose up against the coal companies. As a show of solidarity, the striking miners wore red bandanas around their necks. In the Battle of Blair Mountain, the government took the side of coal kings, and sent planes that dropped bombs on the striking miners – hence the term “rednecks” and the famous song that asks, “which side are you on?” When urban and suburban people label country people ‘rednecks” they are taking the side of the wealthy few – against us.

In ranching and farming country, farmers and cowboys work outside in the sun and are known for their sun burned necks, hence the term redneck in the west.

As the KKK moved into northwestern and western states the term redneck, as applied to communism, came to be associated with white supremacy. Again, that is an urban and suburban definition – not a rural one.

Anywho, thanks the insults. While rural liberals are fighting authoritarianism with all our might, urban and suburban liberals are busy helping the Republican Party.