50 Redneck Quotes About this Culturally Unique Term
Redneck culture is unique to the United States of America, and our redneck quotes explore the often misunderstood history of the word redneck.
Redneck is a unique term.
However, it shares something in common with another popular word in America with a dark history.
Without mentioning the other word, suffice it to say that people use redneck as a term of endearment and a slur.
Let us learn more about the history of the word redneck.
What is a redneck?
The word redneck goes back to the 1800s, and in different parts of the United States, its meaning has shifted over generations.
At its core, the broadest, most popular present-day definition of a redneck is someone who is a member of the White Southern rural working class.
However, over the years, that definition has changed many times.
Below are some people who have qualified as rednecks in the past:
- Poor, Southern White people.
- White coal miners who belonged to labor unions.
- Denigrate farmers who supported populist reforms.
- Any White racist, regardless of class, position, or birthplace.
We have applied the word redneck to various groups of people, many of which did not even share the same political or cultural ideologies.
Mostly, people use the word redneck as a pejorative term.
Yet, many people use the term with cultural pride.
Who are rednecks?
Well, this is where it gets nuanced.
In the United States, while the word redneck has been around for 200 years, we have applied it to many people.
Rednecks can be poor, white, southern families, but they can also be the upper class of the poorer rural whites in a district.
Rednecks can refer specifically to white Presbyterians from North Carolina.
Redneck is also a term used by African Americans in a degrading way to poke fun at poor rural whites.
What are rednecks known for?
People have a lot of misguided opinions about rednecks.
However, the most famous of the rednecks were probably the white coal miners who belonged to labor unions from West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Indiana who fought the United States’ national guard.
In 1921, the Battle of Blair Mountain occurred in West Virginia, when ten to twenty thousand armed “redneck” coal miners clashed with company enforcers to where the state called in the National Guard.
The miners and National Guard were deadlocked in a heated battle for over a week until negotiations were agreed upon.
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the most significant uprising in United States history since the Civil War.
Since then, the idea of what it means to be a redneck has transformed.
If you want to learn more, check out our redneck quotes below for more awesome content.
Short redneck quotes about America
The term redneck is uniquely American, and these short redneck quotes remind us why.
1. “What this world needs is a few more Rednecks.” — Charlie Daniels
2. “Nobody out-rednecks the great state of America.” — Jon Stewart
3. “To me, redneck is a sense of self and a way of life.” — Gretchen Wilson
4. “When in doubt, figure it out. That’s the redneck way.” — Jase Robertson
5. “Redneck law: Must have a gun. Must shoot it regularly.” — Willie Robertson
6. “You may be a redneck if your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand.” — Jeff Foxworthy
7. “When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.” — Steven Wright
8. “You might be a redneck if you’ve ever stolen toilet paper from a public restroom.” — Jeff Foxworthy
9. “You might be a redneck if you have to go outside to get something out of the fridge.” — Jeff Foxworthy
10. “You may be a redneck if you have spent more on your pickup truck than on your education.” — Jeff Foxworthy
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11. “My daughter is a redneck woman; she’s a redneck girl.” — Gretchen Wilson
12. “You might be a redneck if you think a chainsaw is a musical instrument.” — Jeff Foxworthy
13. “You might be a redneck if your dog can’t watch you eat without gagging.” — Jeff Foxworthy
14. “You might be a redneck if you have every episode of Hee Haw on tape.” — Jeff Foxworthy
15. “If you’ve ever made change in the offering plate, you might be a redneck.” — Jeff Foxworthy
16. “You might be a redneck if your high school basketball game got rained out.” — Jeff Foxworthy
17. “You might be a redneck if your belt buckle weighs more than three pounds.” — Jeff Foxworthy
18. “If the gas pedal on your car is shaped like a barefoot, you might be a redneck.” — Jeff Foxworthy
19. “You might be a redneck if your house doesn’t have curtains, but your truck does.” — Jeff Foxworthy
20. “You might be a redneck if directions to your house include turn off the paved road.” — Jeff Foxworthy
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21. “You know you’re a redneck if your home has wheels and your car doesn’t.” — Jeff Foxworthy
22. “If you think fast food is hitting a deer at 65 miles per hour, you might be a redneck.” — Jeff Foxworthy
23. “You might be a redneck if your grandmother can correctly execute the sleeper hold.” — Jeff Foxworthy
24. “You might be a redneck if your anniversary present was getting the septic tank pumped.” — Jeff Foxworthy
25. “If your working television sits on top of your non-working television, you might be a redneck.” — Jeff Foxworthy
26. “If you think ‘loading the dishwasher’ means ‘getting your wife drunk,’ you might be a redneck.” — Jeff Foxworthy
27. “If you own a home with wheels on it and several cars without, you just might be a redneck.” — Jeff Foxworthy
28. “If you have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say Kool Whip on the side, you might be a redneck.” — Jeff Foxworthy
29. “There’s the old joke, “What’s the difference between country and redneck? Well, that’s three hundred dollars.” — Larry the Cable Guy
30. “You might be a redneck if you think that John Deere Green, Ford Blue, and Primer Gray are the three of the primary colors.” — Jeff Foxworthy
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31. “‘Jerry Springer’ is just kind of the chubby, redneck version of throwing Christians to the lions.” — Hal Sparks
32. “I think I may have created a monster with my—I won’t say act—but with my redneck pose.” — Billy Carter
33. “You might be a redneck if you think the Mountain Men in Deliverance were just misunderstood.” — Jeff Foxworthy
34. “You might be a redneck if, on your first date, you had to ask your Dad to borrow the keys to the tractor.” — Jeff Foxworthy
35. “You might be a redneck if the most serious loss from the earthquake was your Conway Twitty record collection.” — Jeff Foxworthy
36. “You might be a redneck if your only condiment on the dining room table is the economy-size bottle of ketchup.” — Jeff Foxworthy
37. “You can imagine me as a kid growing up in redneck Texas with ballet shoes, tucking the violin under my arm. I had to fight my way up.” — Patrick Swayze
38. “You might be a redneck if you have refused to watch the Academy Awards since Smokey and the Bandit was snubbed for best picture.” — Jeff Foxworthy
39. “People look at you, and they’ve got just the perfect little box for you, the perfect category. Call you a redneck. Call you a hillbilly. Like those were insults.” — Travis Tritt
40. “I’m from West Virginia. If you didn’t know what was happening in NASCAR, you were on the outside. NASCAR is a big league sport, but it’s still also country and redneck.” — Randy Moss
Funny “you might be a redneck” quotes by Jeff Foxworthy and others
41. “You might be a redneck if your satellite dish payment delays buying school clothes for the kids.” — Jeff Foxworthy
42. “You might be a redneck if you won’t stop at a rest area if you have an empty beer can in the car.” — Jeff Foxworthy
43. “You might be a redneck if you bought a VCR so you could tape wrestling while you are at work.” — Jeff Foxworthy
44. “You might be a redneck if you’ve been on TV more than times describing the sound of a tornado.” — Jeff Foxworthy
45. “If your neighbors think you’re a detective because a cop always brings you home, you might be a redneck.” — Jeff Foxworthy
46. “You might be a redneck if you need one more hole punched in your card to get a freebie at the House of Tattoos.” — Jeff Foxworthy
47. “Elvis was the only man from Northeast Mississippi who could shake his hips and still be loved by rednecks, cops, and hippies.” — Jimmy Buffett
48. “You might be a redneck if the blue book value of your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas it has in it.” — Jeff Foxworthy
49. “The grand irony, however, is that Southern segregation was not brought to an end, nor redneck violence dramatically reduced, by violence.” — Stanley Crouch
50. “I’m against gun control. It’s not that I like guns, it’s just that allowing Americans to have guns will increase the chances that a bunch of rednecks will blow each other’s heads off.” — Bobcat Goldthwait
The rise of the post-modern redneck
The 1970s was an interesting time in American history.
The seventies are known for many things; the end of the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the energy crisis, and the Iranian Hostage Crisis.
However, the 70s is when the term redneck became fashionable.
It is also the birthplace of the term redneck chic.
The concept of upscale rednecks or classy rednecks was applied to a new generation of redneck people who identified with Southern roots and values but also appealed to pop culture.
Many people associate this new public acceptance of all things redneck with the presidency of Jimmy Carter, whose charming southern ways won over many Americans and redefined what it meant to be southern and, in turn, redneck.
In the 1990s, comedian Jeff Foxworthy completely turned redneck identity on its head and redefined the meaning for generations.
Today, people use ‘redneck’ for different reasons, but there is certainly more pride in being a redneck than we have ever seen.
Do you have a favorite redneck quote?
Please, be sure to let us know in the comments below.
