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<blockquote data-quote="wkmac" data-source="post: 850637" data-attributes="member: 2189">Redneck, Hillbilly and Cracker, another POV as to origin and intended use.&nbsp; Redneck: This term has it&#039;s origins in Scotland and refers to the lowland Scots who were Presbyterian in christian denomination and therefore rejected the State Church of England.&nbsp; These Scots were supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant and were thus called Covenanters who in 1638&#039; and 1641&#039; drew up a national covenant affirming their belief in a Presbyterian form of Church Gov&#039;t.&nbsp; It would be important here if you looked up the word presbyter or the greek word Presbyteros to better understand what was the basis of the church gov&#039;t they desired and also in some respects how it would help influence a new nation across the water 130 years later.These &quot;Covenanters&quot; or many of them signed the National Covenant in their own blood and to signify their public stance tied a red scarf around their necks as a form of public insignia and thus the term &quot;redneck&quot; was born.&nbsp; In the 1940&#039;s, a Glasgow minister by the name of Coulter began wearing a red clerical collar in honor of the convenanter tradition.&nbsp; The Redneck moniker came to America and at first was more assigned to a southern tradition because most Scots not only of the Ulster-Scottish tradition, lowland Scots who some say were wrongly called Scotch-Irish and also the Highland Scots mostly settled in the Southern US in the regions of Appalachia and the Ozarks (hillcountry) and thus we can move into the term Hillbilly.Hillbilly is another term derived from Scot origins and has has to do with Scot supporters of William of Orange who defeated the Catholic King James II of the house of Stuart in the Battle of the Boyne Ireland in 1690&#039;.&nbsp; These Scot supporters were often called &quot;Orangemen&quot; or &quot;Billy Boys&quot; and when these Scots settled in the Southeastern US hill country, &quot;hillbilly&quot; was an easy term to emerge from an older tradition.&nbsp; Many in the north came from a more British loyal concern or better yet a Jacobite tradition and these Jacobites were loyal to the House of Stuart and it&#039;s linage of Kings.&nbsp; If you understand the backstory, you&#039;ll begin to better understand the forces and ideals at play from the Jeffersonian (Southern, Scot, Orangeman tradition) and the Hamiltonian (British, Jacobite tradition) that was even at play in the backstory of our own civil war.&nbsp; It was then easy to take the term &quot;Billy Boy&quot; and with this tradition now in the southern hill country, to call these folks the new disparging term, &quot;Hill Billy.&quot;What about Cracker?&nbsp; It&#039;s origins go back to the gaelic word &quot;Craic&quot; which we say in the english &quot;Crack&quot; and it has to do with having fun, entertainment and enjoyable conversation.&nbsp; It&#039;s later usage came associated with &quot;one who talks&quot; and the term &quot;cracker&quot; was born to that use.&nbsp; Again being of Ulster-Scot origins and then coming over to the American colonies in the southern environs, this term came to be associated on a wider scale with southern whites.&nbsp; Our slang of &quot;crack a joke&quot; origins back to the fun, entertaining and story telling legacy of the gaelic word craic.&nbsp; How you use those terms going forward is up to you but in my own case and being of highland Scot traditions, understanding the origins, I find none of them offensive in the least and those who use them as such, I would question their own level of intelligence in the area of history and linguistics.That&#039;s my take anyway.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="wkmac, post: 850637, member: 2189"] Redneck, Hillbilly and Cracker, another POV as to origin and intended use. Redneck: This term has it's origins in Scotland and refers to the lowland Scots who were Presbyterian in christian denomination and therefore rejected the State Church of England. These Scots were supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant and were thus called Covenanters who in 1638' and 1641' drew up a national covenant affirming their belief in a Presbyterian form of Church Gov't. It would be important here if you looked up the word presbyter or the greek word Presbyteros to better understand what was the basis of the church gov't they desired and also in some respects how it would help influence a new nation across the water 130 years later. These "Covenanters" or many of them signed the National Covenant in their own blood and to signify their public stance tied a red scarf around their necks as a form of public insignia and thus the term "redneck" was born. In the 1940's, a Glasgow minister by the name of Coulter began wearing a red clerical collar in honor of the convenanter tradition. The Redneck moniker came to America and at first was more assigned to a southern tradition because most Scots not only of the Ulster-Scottish tradition, lowland Scots who some say were wrongly called Scotch-Irish and also the Highland Scots mostly settled in the Southern US in the regions of Appalachia and the Ozarks (hillcountry) and thus we can move into the term Hillbilly. Hillbilly is another term derived from Scot origins and has has to do with Scot supporters of William of Orange who defeated the Catholic King James II of the house of Stuart in the Battle of the Boyne Ireland in 1690'. These Scot supporters were often called "Orangemen" or "Billy Boys" and when these Scots settled in the Southeastern US hill country, "hillbilly" was an easy term to emerge from an older tradition. Many in the north came from a more British loyal concern or better yet a Jacobite tradition and these Jacobites were loyal to the House of Stuart and it's linage of Kings. If you understand the backstory, you'll begin to better understand the forces and ideals at play from the Jeffersonian (Southern, Scot, Orangeman tradition) and the Hamiltonian (British, Jacobite tradition) that was even at play in the backstory of our own civil war. It was then easy to take the term "Billy Boy" and with this tradition now in the southern hill country, to call these folks the new disparging term, "Hill Billy." What about Cracker? It's origins go back to the gaelic word "Craic" which we say in the english "Crack" and it has to do with having fun, entertainment and enjoyable conversation. It's later usage came associated with "one who talks" and the term "cracker" was born to that use. Again being of Ulster-Scot origins and then coming over to the American colonies in the southern environs, this term came to be associated on a wider scale with southern whites. Our slang of "crack a joke" origins back to the fun, entertaining and story telling legacy of the gaelic word craic. How you use those terms going forward is up to you but in my own case and being of highland Scot traditions, understanding the origins, I find none of them offensive in the least and those who use them as such, I would question their own level of intelligence in the area of history and linguistics. That's my take anyway. [/QUOTE]

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