 REDNECK ETYMOLOGY |
Many words commonly used in America today may have their origins in Scottish roots.
While the following three terms are associated today with the American South and southern culture, their origins are said to be distinctly Scottish and Ulster-Scottish (Scots-Irish) in origin, and date to the mass immigration of Scottish Lowland and Ulster Presbyterians to America during the 1700's.
HILLBILLY
The origin of this American nickname for mountain folk in the Ozarks and in Appalachia comes from Ulster. Ulster-Scottish (The often incorrectly labeled "Scots-Irish") settlers in the hill-country of Appalachia brought their traditional music with them to the new world, and many of their songs and ballads dealt with William, Prince of Orange, who defeated the Catholic King James II of the Stuart family at the Battle of the Boyne, Ireland in 1690.
Supporters of King William were known as "Orangemen" and "Billy Boys" and their North American counterparts were soon referred to as "hill-billies". It is interesting to note that a traditional song of the Glasgow Rangers football club today begins with the line, "Hurrah! Hurrah! We are the Billy Boys!" and shares its tune with the famous American Civil War song, "Marching Through Georgia".
REDNECK
The origins of this term 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 dissenter. One Scottish immigrant, interviewed by the author, remembered a Presbyterian minister, one Dr. Coulter, in Glasgow in the 1940's wearing a red clerical collar -- is this symbolic of the "rednecks"?
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." It makes you wonder if the originators of the ever-present "redneck" joke are aware of the term's origins?
CRACKER
Another Ulster-Scot term, a "cracker" was a person who talked and boasted, and "craic" (Crack) is a term still used in Scotland and Ireland to describe "talking", chat or conversation in a social sense ("Let's go down to the pub and have a craic"; "what's the craic"). The term, first used to describe a southerner of Ulster-Scottish background, later became a nickname for any white southerner, especially those who were uneducated.
And while not an exclusively Southern term, but rather referring in general to all Americans, the origins of this word are related to the other two.
WHAT DID HE KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT CATEGORY
July 15 - In an extraordinary retraction of key elements in his last State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush revealed today that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein did not attempt to buy uranium in Africa, as earlier alleged, but merely geraniums. "As I was reading the speech to the nation, I should have caught that typo," the President told reporters today. "My bad."
WHILE THE NEWS ABOUT the uranium/geranium goof stunned diplomatic circles, Bush remained resolute about his decision to go to war, arguing that buying geraniums, while not as potentially dangerous as buying uranium, still represented a "suspicious" activity on the part of the Iraqi madman. "The question we have to ask is, who was he buying these geraniums for?" Bush said. "Was he buying them for Osama bin Laden or Kim Jung-Il or some other evildoer? Luckily, we'll never find out."
LEGAL HISTORY
A young man was sitting in law class when the professor asked him if he knew what the Roe vs. Wade decision was. He sat quietly, pondering this very profound question.
Finally, after giving it a lot of thought, he sighed and said, "I think this was the decision George Washington made prior to crossing the Delaware."
CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT RESPONSIBILITY
An organization with little more than 500 employees has been found to have compiled the following statistics:
- 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
- 7 have been arrested for fraud
- 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
- 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted businesses
- 3 have done time for assault
- 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
- 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
- 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
- 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
- 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
The Organization?
The United States Congress.
Its 535 members crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of the population in line.
Editor's Note:
Submitted as true. The UO has no knowledge as to its accuracy.
THE FIVE SECRETS OF A PERFECT RELATIONSHIP
1. It is important to find a woman who cooks, cleans up and has a job.
2. It is important to find a woman who can make you laugh.
3. It is important to find a woman who you can trust and who doesn't lie to you.
4. It is important to find a woman who is good in bed and who likes to be with you.
5. It is very important that these four women don't know each other.
(Submitted by Black Dog.)
THE VALUE OF
- To realize the value of four years: Ask a graduate.
- To realize the value of one year: Ask a student who has failed a final exam.
- To realize the value of nine months: Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
- To realize the value of one month: Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
- To realize the value of one week: Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
- To realize the value of one hour: Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
- To realize the value of one-minute: Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.
- To realize the value of one-second: Ask a person who has survived an accident.
- To realize the value of one millisecond: Ask a person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.
- To realize the value of a friend: Lose one.
Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have, when you can share it with someone special.
Selah
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Read also previous issue' articles:
The $5,000 Loan
Last Words
The Water Cooler
Pyrohies
Home Improvement
Too many Questions
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