You Might Be a Redneck If...

From the Interesting Facts Department-- This one's dedicated to my beloved SIL, the newly-minted Presbyterian, who just LOVES redneck jokes! (She and BIL left their Episcopal church for the same Presbyterian Church El Jefe and I recently joined.)

It seems that her new church home and her favorite source of humor are inextricably related. Although some say the term "red neck" derived from striking coal miners who wore red bandanna kerchiefs, the origin of the term goes back further in time.

From the website Scots History online:

RED NECK

"The origins of this term are Scottish and refer to supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League Covenant, or "Covenanters", largely Lowland Presbyterians and Ulster-Scots / Scotch-Irish Presbyterians.

The Covenanters of 1638 and 1641 signed the documents which stated that Scotland desired the Presbyterian form of church government and would not accept the Church of England as its official state church. Many Covenanters signed in their own blood and wore red pieces of cloth around their necks as distinctive insignia; hence the term "Red neck", which became slang for a Scottish dissenter.

Since many Ulster-Scottish settlers in America (especially the South) were Presbyterian, the term was applied to them, and then, later, their Southern descendants. One of the earliest examples of its use comes from 1830, when an author noted that "red-neck" was " a "name bestowed upon the Presbyterians" (emphasis added).

It makes you wonder if the originators of the ever-present "redneck" joke are aware of the term’s origins?"