Episode 22 – Rednecks

Click here to listen to Episode 22

Now before y’all get yer knickers in a twist, wait until we say our piece. This episode honors my ancestors, who fled the UK because of religious persecution. Read this excerpt for the full story:

Curious Sayings/Words – Redneck
from Wordorigins.org

A redneck is a white, working class US southerner, often with provincial and insular attitudes. It is most likely a reference to the sun-burned necks of those who work in the fields all day. But it could be a reference to either anger or pellagra, which can both turn the neck red.

from scotshistoryonline.co.uk
The origins of this term Redneck are Scottish and refer to supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant, or “Covenanters”, largely Lowland Presbyterians, many of whom would flee Scotland for Ulster (Northern Ireland) during persecutions by the British Crown.

The Covenanters of 1638 and 1641 signed the documents that 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 dissident.Since many Ulster-Scottish settlers in America (especially the South) were Presbyterian, the term was applied to them, and then, later, their Southern descendants.