define redneck??? (house, rent, jobs)

[huntman58]

Originally Posted by NOLA2SGF

Sam, I didn't get it either but I agree with your post 150%. People who grew up in the South know that the Confederate Flag is something to be proud of.

Umm I was born in North Dakota and raised for the last years of my growing in Calif so I am not southern but I own a bars and stars flag and fly it. Am proud of it and to me it stands for states and individual rights. I want a pick up as I miss mine and am forced to drive a SUV. Because I drive a Ford explore dose that mean I am a (o man hated word here ) Yuppie? also have a kia, ford Taurus and Chevy prism (cross between a Chevy and Toyota) wow after rereading this I think I am a mutt who was born were I did not want to be cause I am all screwed up dam Yankee by birth southern by chouse LOL I have also live in large cities had a high paying job. Lived in a trailer, owned it and also two stick built homes. Now live in a rented house in the sticks (closest house is over a mile away) living on SSI. So am I a rebel, dam Yankee, southern by chouse, racist, white trash (because I live on government SSI income after I became disabled) or what? all I know is I am a redneck and love most things people say are redneck things or way of life (dose not count racism as that would mean I would have to dislike most of my family close and distant and lest we forget slaves were not only Black ask any one who knows about the crazy white’s going into slavery by volunteering for it. I believe they called it indentured servintry). O ya hold on please I got to clean my gun as a big old fat turkey is waiting to be cooked after his last gobble here in calif. Now how much longer before dove and deer opening?

[huntman58]

Originally Posted by sandman72

Agreed Sam that this is a thread about redneck definition but this is my seven degrees of how we got here. Redneck Discussion>Confederate flag>Racism/Hate>Small Town Living/Church/Strong Work Ethics, and other stuff that makes up a redneck>Small Town Living>Small Town Exclusiveness>My Post

That is how my question came to pass. I thank you for your explanation and certainly do agree that many people tend to talk about when Ol Man Jenkins had pasture land before all of these buildings, and how you hear, "oh, your so and so's granddaughters twice removed step cousin" that it allows for a sense of, I don't know, inclusiveness into the society? I guess I simply wanted to know why it is that so and so's meth making cousin, simply because they grew up in that town, is part of it but an "outsider" has to work through some rite of passage but hey, feel free to shop and contribute to our town and pay your taxes and not be a burden to our society. I am not riding you Sam but just kinda confused as to why that is. Ignorance has to stop at some point and "small town folk" need to realize that the fish tank that they live in is growing and whether they like it or not they are going to have to change. Sad if the only thing you have to cling to is small town exclusiveness and hoping that all of their friends and families that have been 15th generation continue to pro-create so that their kids can have friends that fit into the "exclusiveness". Please understand that this is not directed at any of you but rather frustration of people's ignorance. Thanks for the answers Plains and Sam.

I have moved around some and what I find is unless it is a big city most places are like that. What I also found is some times it is not the place as much as how they or you act around each other. I used to ask the same thing when I lived in Idaho but later found I was almost doing the same thing to the newer people not that I did not want to know them but I wanted to know them before I tried to know them and one way that happened was by me losing my big city calif mind set. I was used to a fast paced life and 24 hour shopping not sidewalks being rolled up Saturday night at 9 pm and not coming back out tell Monday morning just things like this . so in other words also ask what am I doing that may make some act stand offy as it is never a one way street but a two way street and both need to may be relook at how they act . This comes from like I said moving around from and to big cities and small towns like were I live now pop of less then 200 and that is here in Calif.

[Sam I Am]

Originally Posted by sandman72

Agreed Sam that this is a thread about redneck definition but this is my seven degrees of how we got here. Redneck Discussion>Confederate flag>Racism/Hate>Small Town Living/Church/Strong Work Ethics, and other stuff that makes up a redneck>Small Town Living>Small Town Exclusiveness>My Post

That is how my question came to pass. I thank you for your explanation and certainly do agree that many people tend to talk about when Ol Man Jenkins had pasture land before all of these buildings, and how you hear, "oh, your so and so's granddaughters twice removed step cousin" that it allows for a sense of, I don't know, inclusiveness into the society? I guess I simply wanted to know why it is that so and so's meth making cousin, simply because they grew up in that town, is part of it but an "outsider" has to work through some rite of passage but hey, feel free to shop and contribute to our town and pay your taxes and not be a burden to our society. I am not riding you Sam but just kinda confused as to why that is. Ignorance has to stop at some point and "small town folk" need to realize that the fish tank that they live in is growing and whether they like it or not they are going to have to change. Sad if the only thing you have to cling to is small town exclusiveness and hoping that all of their friends and families that have been 15th generation continue to pro-create so that their kids can have friends that fit into the "exclusiveness". Please understand that this is not directed at any of you but rather frustration of people's ignorance. Thanks for the answers Plains and Sam.

Sandman, I won't argue with your interpretation - I will only say that so-and-so's meth cousin is a known quantity. You, perhaps, are not...we all went to school with the cousin, we know him, we know what he is capable of....and we treat him accordingly. If you go to your family reunion and Uncle Joe is there with his 4th wife, I doubt seriously everyone in the family is rushing up to greet her and her three sets of twins...they are stepping back and evaluating what they see. It's no different - small town people are interrelated a lot or there is a very familial feel to things because it's been the same people for a long time.

The world is a strange and frightening place and small towns are more insulated - there's not the "drifter factor" you find in the large towns. One ant looks pretty much like another on an anthill - but you take one ant and put him on a slice of white bread and he stands out. And you're the ant. Sorry 'bout that.

For all the commercialization and industrialization of America, there is a return to the small town life. Remember that many people who are raised in small towns are born there, live there, and die there.....an entire lifetime in a "fish tank" with other fish of like kind - well, it makes for a sort of kinship. I think there is a large portion of the population returning to small town America but taking big town values with them, and perhaps that's not the values of the small town. In small towns where large auto manufacturers have put in plants across the south (and they ALWAYS pick small towns), although the towns or states are grateful for the exponential growth of jobs, maybe they didn't foresee the 45 minute delay in getting to work or the crowded supermarket. With growth comes change - but if you have a town of 20,000 that suddenly swells by 10%, and all 10% have no ties to the community other than the job......well, it just makes for a weird situation for some folks. I don't think its a matter of exclusivity, I think it's a matter of "this is the way it's always been, now it's different, and we don't know how to readjust our lives". Look at the Mississippi Delta after the casinos went in - yes, there are enormous amounts of money being spent in those areas which improve the schools and roads - there's also more traffic, more crime, things your average delta person has never dealt with. The people of the delta are no doubt grateful for their jobs but wonder what the trade-off is.....does that make any sense at all?

I don't believe it is "ignorance" - isolation, maybe, but very word "ignorant" to me implies that you are defining a group of people as basically stupid, when actually their isolation may be self-imposed because they are busy working and don't have time to galavant around and broaden their scope of knowledge. And I come back to my basic definition of redneck - just a good ole hard-workin' boy and his family, trying to make an honest living.

[Ozarks21]

Huntman - Missouri was a border State in the Civil War. We actually had two State governments at one point, each claiming the other was invalid.

And it's doves in September, Deer later the same month (archery) and November (rifles).

Sam and Sandman, you're both right. I grew up in a very small town - I was related to many of the teachers in the school. I know how unwelcoming small towns can be and I also understand why.

Incidentally, I have no dreams of returning to small town life. I could never go back to that having tasted the convenience and variety of services in a larger town.

[sandman72]

My hat off to you Sam. That is probably the best interpretation of how people can be. I can agree to disagree about the Confederate flag issue with anyone, your beliefs are simply that, much like religion. As time goes on and, as you said, people get sick and tired of all the crime, moral degradation, etc. that big cities have they tend to migrate to a more familiar place where you can get to know your neighbors. The world is a very scary fishtank and many more ants are dropping on that piece of bread daily. Bolivar is a very good town and I have alot of great friends so I don't want anyone that has read this post to get discouraged about moving there.

[huntman58]

Originally Posted by Ozarks21

Huntman - Missouri was a border State in the Civil War. We actually had two State governments at one point, each claiming the other was invalid.

And it's doves in September, Deer later the same month (archery) and November (rifles).

Sam and Sandman, you're both right. I grew up in a very small town - I was related to many of the teachers in the school. I know how unwelcoming small towns can be and I also understand why.

Incidentally, I have no dreams of returning to small town life. I could never go back to that having tasted the convenience and variety of services in a larger town.

Ozarks21 thanks for the come back and time line on hunting there. I have spent many summer in Missouri in my youth and loved it. Unlike you I want to go back to small town America as I am sick of the big city and all of it's bad. Yes I love the good things but am willing to trade them off for simple. I have lived in areas of less then 500 people (town I live in now) to areas of over 9 million people (the San Fran Bay area calif)
Sam I Am wow great insight on how a small town works and right on the money. Even living in a big city we still did a sit back ad see when some one new moved in to the housing track after all they were not the people that we knew lived there. Some times we still refer to the house as so and so home even thou they have been gone for years and we do not know the ones who now own it and they have been there for years. I also believe this is a way people in general are only in bigger cities there as you said more used to the new people. Were I lived with my family in my teen years we knew every one? Mom still lives in the same house for the last 30 plus years and we still say so and so house as I said. Well when we moved there only about 50,000 people now over 400.000 plus bigger then Springfield and it is only a bedroom community. Lots of changes there over the years and I see how people are not nearly as friendly or open to talk to you there now days. they act like okay what are you going to do to me or please do not hurt me so I do believe it is every were just some places stands out more then others

[danbomo]

Looks like no post since June 1st. Time to bring it back.

Joke:

Hey people, it seems as though we may want to hang on to the Missouri quarters from the state set. They may be worth more than 25 cents. Seems as though there was a flaw in the design. The duct tape that held the two dimes and the nickle together jammed in the vending machines. Hey, don't blame me, someone sent it to me.

[ajf131]

Originally Posted by Plains10

ajf131 and I were having a debate about which parts of Missouri we considered part of the south. This was in another thread. Sorry if I confused you, but this member has posted in other Missouri threads. Anyway, we both sort of agreed that most parts of southern Missouri and southeast Missouri would be classified as "southern." I also think that portions of Missouri qualify as part of the south becasue larger numbers of people live in rural counties compared to most areas of the Midwest core.

I didn't necessarily agree that the entire Southern half should be grouped in with the South. What i agreed with was the Southern quarter of Missouri, specifically the Mississippi Delta counties. Sikeston, Missouri, Poplar Bluff, and Cape Girardeau are all parts of Missouri which truly feel like the South....dialect, culture, landscape, everything definitively can be called Southern in these areas. As for the rest of Southern Missouri, i'm not sure I'd say the entire Southern half leans more toward Dixie. To me there is some ambiguity in this area. Southern Missouri is what I'd describe as half-Dixie and half-transition between Midwest and Dixie. I would never group the entire Southern half of Missouri in with say, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. In any case, the term redneck to me means to me essentially lower class country people into guns, hunting, I dunno...I understand it traditionally was used to refer to the South but I think the definition has evolved to mean something much broader. Upstate New York has plenty of people fitting the profile of "redneck", as does Southern Indiana. Default Alias put an excellent map on here earlier. it defines the southern quarter of Missouri being truly Dixie, the parts between this area and the Northern half of Missouri (which includes the capital, st. louis, kc, etc.) as a transition area between the south and midwest. Southern Missouri I agree has Southern influences, but apart from the southern quarter i wouldn't say they are strong enough to include it in with the rest of the south. the mason-dixon (in Missouri roughly the latitude Cape Girardeau is at, where the Ohio River, flows into the Mississippi) has been a very accurate divider of culture. the northern half of Missouri is unquestionably Midwestern today. poverty aside, it is culturally, dialect patterns, religion-wise, southern baptism does not have a strong presence in Northern Missouri at all, cuisine-wise,attitude-wise, definitely the midwest. i'm not afraid of Southerness, I just don't think it makes sense to literally clump the entire southern half of missouri into the south other than if you're talking geography. it takes on more and more southern characteristics the further south you go but does not become truly southern in demeanor to me until i'm pretty far south in Missouri, like at the point where Illinois is on the verge of no longer being the state across the river from Missouri.

[gnubler]

Originally Posted by c3bunny

Although I do agree that the foreign vehicles are more gas efficient, I won't trade my Ford Expedition in for nothing. (Okay maybe a Hummer, LOL) I drive a Ford because they can haul, tow, and are made strong. When I was in an accident about 6 months ago, a teenage girl in a Saturn nailed the side of my truck and her car was totalled. My truck didn't even look like it was even in an accident, maybe because she hit the running boards but the frame held strong. I was shaken up a bit but didn't have a scratch on me. The teenage girl was smacked in the face by an airbag and had broken glass all over with the engine all squashed up. My 7yrs old daughter was in the back seat and was also commenting how safe she felt in my truck.

Of course her car was totalled; she crashed into your Overpriced American Road Monster. Would you have had the same experience if you were hit by another Ford Expedition?

I would pay money to see two SUVs crash into one another.

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by riptoman

i consider rednecks to be found in the south. here in the midwest, we have hoosiers.

I thought Hoosiers were only in Indiana! Boy, do I have alot to learn!