2/26/11

Rednecks And Their Ways Of Life

By Pete Phaedrus


Over 100 years ago, rednecks were poor, southern white men who worked outside on farms and in the fields. They would get sun burnt day after day and the redness of their necks is what led the their nicknames. The term "redneck" was accepted as a description of a class of people and the word was even used to rally that class of people together.

In today's world, when someone refers to you as a "redneck", they are generally referring to the way you live, behave, dress, speak or think. It does not always pertain to your job or social class as it once did. It can even be pointed at someone with raciest beliefs even if they do not particularly fall into the other special categories.

The perfect example would be a young man whose first kiss was with his second cousin. He lives on his grandmother's property in an old travel trailer that has aluminum foil in place of drapes. A deck surrounds the trailer and is used as his living room with a couch, television and recliner. Two old beer kegs and a piece of plywood serve as the coffee table and old Christmas lights are used to see at night. The lawn has never been mowed and he has three cars parked on the other side of the driveway, none of them run.

Now, redneck entertainment may be something to write home about. Watermelon seed spitting, mud diving, car fixing and beer drinking seem to be some of the favorites. They are famous for wearing overalls and will wear them in any of the previously listed events. Overall's are appropriate attire for shopping, hanging out and even weddings.

These days, many people take pride in the terminology and lifestyle. The people who actually fit into the definition and meet the criteria, tend to have no idea. People throw themed parties with themed party decor. They purchase themed art work and have even borrowed several games and trends from the redneck lifestyle.

Rednecks live inventive lifestyles. They turn buses into homes, trucks into swimming pools, suburbans into limousines, toilet lids into horseshoes and camouflage into wedding gowns. It seems as if they can find something fun at every turn and don't particularly care what they look like when they are doing it, as long as it feels good to them.




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