The term "hillbilly" in the United States started early in the 18th century when British soldiers began using it when referring to Scots-Irish immigrants who lived in the frontier areas of the Ozarks and Appalachian Mountains.
These Protestant Irish colonists brought their traditions with them when they immigrated. Many of their stories, songs, and ballads dealt with the history of their Ulster and Lowland Scot homelands, especially relating the tale of the Protestant King William III, Prince of Orange.
Many of the settlers in the Appalachian mountains were of German origin and were named Wilhelm with the short form Willy, a common German name during that time. Those Wilhelms, who went by Bill or Billy, living in the Appalachian Mountains became known as hillbillies, that is Bills who lived in the hills. The term emerged as a derogatory nickname given by the coastal plain-dwelling Southerners to the hill-dwelling settlers of Eastern Tennessee, Western Virginia (including modern West Virginia), and Eastern Kentucky.
The term Appalachian Hillbillies arose in the years after The War Between the States, when the Appalachian region became increasingly bypassed by technological and social changes taking place in the rest of the country.
Until The War Between the States, the Appalachians were not significantly different from other rural areas of the country, but after the war, as the frontier pushed further west, the Appalachian country retained its frontier character, and the people themselves came to be considered as backward, quick to violence, and to make their living from moonshine stills.
Fueled by news stories of mountain feuds, such as that in the 1880s between the Hatfields and McCoys, the hillbilly stereotype developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
The origins of the 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.
Although the term "redneck" is characterized by farmers having a red neck caused by sunburn from hours working in the fields, many Covenanters signed in their own blood and wore red pieces of cloth around their necks as distinctive insignia.
Since many Ulster-Scottish settlers in America (especially in 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.
The term Redneck refers to a stereotype of usually rural, Caucasian people of lower socio-economic status in the United States and Canada.
Originally limited to the Appalachians, and later the South, the Ozarks, the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, this stereotype is now widespread throughout North America.
Southern comedian Jeff Foxworthy defines "redneck" as "a glorious lack of sophistication" stating that we are all guilty of at one time or another. The common stereotype of a "redneck" is a group of people that are generally from The South, though can be found throughout the United States. They are considered uncivilized, uneducated, racist, enjoy outdoor sports such as hunting and fishing, and country music. They know how to work on a farm, can fix their own vehicles, and know how to make moonshine. They tend to live in the backwoods.
The terms "hillbilly/redneck" is often misunderstood by those north of the Mason-Dixon line. Many Yankees use these terms to refer to Southerners and treat them as if they were illiterate, uneducated, inbred, and backward compared to the rest of the United States.
Maybe it's time to take a look at the core beliefs of a culture that values home, family, country, and God.
You might be a hillbilly/redneck if ~ It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase "One nation, under God"; You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places; you bow your head when someone prays; you stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem; you know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening; you respect your elders; or, you'd give your last dollar to a friend in need.
If you are not actively engaging EVERY enemy you encounter... you are allowing another to fight for you... and that is cowardice... plain and simple.
I saw that. Interesting read. James Webb has a book about that. There's a young lady on Instagram who is Appalachian and does some funny reels about the language and culture. FYI, she lives in a holler.
NRA-Benefactor TSRA-Life
"It's a terrible thing when governments send their young men to kill each other." Charles Byrne,WW2 Vet. On the day Desert Storm began.
I saw that. Interesting read. James Webb has a book about that. There's a young lady on Instagram who is Appalachian and does some funny reels about the language and culture. FYI, she lives in a holler.
There's a solitude that is almost unrivaled living in a Appalachian holler.
I don’t know where the term red neck originated from, but the battle of Blair’s mountain in W Virginia is what solidified it into the Appalachian culture and southern history.
"To distinguish one another in the dense forests, many of the miners tied red handkerchiefs around their necks. They soon became known as the “Red Neck Army.”
To quote Jeff Foxworthy....... "I think I are one"!
WE need a flag or a motto we can all stand behind, me being of Scottish and German ancestry. How about this one ?? Make America Great Again ??
Be an unsophisticated person of no culture and celebrate.
kwg
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. American conservative. Never trust a white liberal. Malcom X Current NRA member.
nice view...until some developer comes and buys up ajoining land. happening everywhere i look.
So, who is to blame...The developer or the local who sold out? Or the local home builders who do the building.
The Yankees who move down here and buy said houses. They move away from everything they hate, and then set out to change where they moved to into what they moved from.
Maybe it's time to take a look at the core beliefs of a culture that values home, family, country, and God.
You might be a hillbilly/redneck if ~ It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase "One nation, under God"; You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places; you bow your head when someone prays; you stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem; you know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening; you respect your elders; or, you'd give your last dollar to a friend in need.
The last paragraph is the reason why I use the term redneck for some folks, and why I take pride when someone says it about me. Sometime I use hillbilly as a derogatory term for folks way back in the boondocks where they have to pipe the sunlight in. If you have actually boinked a family member, you’re a freaking hillbilly. Guys in the service always called me a redneck or a hillbilly interchangeably trying to get to me. But I do bow my head and remove my cap when someone is praying, I do most of my own vehicle work, and I have often used unconventional means to accomplish a job such as welding bicycle fork to convert an old refrigerator carcass into a connivence for fishing gear, and using a dump truck lined with a plastic tarp to haul!water. Reon
"Preserving the Constitution, fighting off the nibblers and chippers, even nibblers and chippers with good intentions, was once regarded by conservatives as the first duty of the citizen. It still is." � Wesley Pruden
nice view...until some developer comes and buys up ajoining land. happening everywhere i look.
So, who is to blame...The developer or the local who sold out? Or the local home builders who do the building.
The Yankees who move down here and buy said houses. They move away from everything they hate, and then set out to change where they moved to into what they moved from.
If you didn’t build them there would be nothing to buy. “Build it and they will come.” Facts are they…. Your own politicians….have been begging Yankees to move down for at least 30 years. They want their money.
However, here we are losing population….looks like a win.
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