Sunday 24 May 2009

Sarah Palin and some definitions of redneck


Wikipedia:

Redneck refers to a person who is stereotypically Caucasian (i.e. white) and is of lower socio-economic status in the United States and Canada. Originally limited to the Southern United States, and then to Appalachia, the term has become widely used throughout North America.

... exclaves can be found throughout the oil-producing areas of Alaska. In the second half of the 20th-Century, concurrent with the development of the oil industry and pipeline, large numbers of Gulf Coast petroleum workers moved to Alaska for high pay and adventure — and many stayed. The Matanuska-Susitna Valley, home of Governor Sarah Palin, is considered to be redneck country. Mat-Su residents are pejoratively referred to locally as "Valley trash". Rednecks had relocated to the Pacific Northwest, the Rockies, and North-Central states in fairly large numbers.

Urban dictionary:

Rednecks tend to be socially conservative. They are extremely defensive against outsiders and anyone different from them. They have learned to avoid those who do not adopt their culture. Many rednecks may also be Evangelical Christians. They will not hesitate upon meeting you to tell you that you "are going to hell" if you are not also Baptist or a similar denomination.

They are very stubborn about their conservative beliefs. They believe that all liberals have lesser moral values. Part of this stubbornness also stems from their idea that their culture is under attack since they tend to associate morality with social conservativeness. This stubbornness can have many negative effects -- it can contribute to false knowledge of the world and the culture within and outside of the Southeast. For this reason, most rednecks will to this day deny that the Civil War was about slavery.

Finally, most rednecks are closet racists. They will vehemently deny this but racist remarks are often made among white groups. They are outwardly friendly towards minorities but they certainly have very large reservations about hiring or becoming close friends with them.

Sarah Palin
, in a 2005 interview:

Q: I noticed there was a new business license acquired in the Mat-Su under your name.

SP: Rouge Cou, it's a classy way of saying redneck. It's a French word, rouge is red, cou is neck. It's for marketing and consulting, in case I wanted to go that route, I'd have my ducks all lined up and have a business license. I just was granted that business license.

Picture: Redneck map of USA

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9 comments:

honestyinGov said...

Regina,
Both you and Celtic Diva have recently made comments about the FOIA requests Diva requested. I learned just this morning the details of how this English Parliament Scandal took place... over FOIA documents.It sounds just like palins tactics. On the Mudflats Open Thread today I posted some more links and details at post #75 for reference. Maybe you should email Ms. Burke to ask some questions...? I'll bet she would be helpful.... and more than willing to share.

KaJo said...

It's pretty plain Sarah Palin doesn't have a passing knowledge of French, either, too.

I took high school Spanish, but even I know that "rouge" and "cou" are properly referred to in a phrase as "cou (neck) rouge (red)", much the same as "mariachi loco" is "street musicians (mariachi) crazy (loco)".

If someone is going to Anglicize the phrase, then say it in English, fergoshsake!

(ha, ha -- my WV is "expalea")

Anonymous said...

Right, Kajo, but it's so much more rednecky as rouge cou, don'cha think? Wonder if Palin intended it to be an in joke?

CC ... said...

@ Anon 02:24

I don't believe she intended that at all. She really thought it was a "classy" way of saying redneck.

Good grief!!

All of this is too much ... I may need therapy soon. Oh wait, you guys ARE my therapy .... Thanks!!!

midnightcajun said...

Love that photo of Sarah in her FMBs. Ironically, it's an expression I'd never heard of until she hit the political scene and my daughter used it when we were talking about it. As short as she is, and given that designer clothes are made for tall women, you know she had to have all of those skirts shortened, just to get this effect. What a ho. What I don't understand is why she wasn't crucified for her flirtatious behavior and slutty way of dressing.

Now there's a good blog topic--Sarah the Slut

Floyd M. Orr said...

Regina, excuse me while I mention something that may sound like marketing, but are you aware that the subject of my third book, The Last Horizon, is about the social development of the culture that has allowed the Wasilla Witch to develop her status as a ringleader of the rednecks? Maybe you have not realized how much I am familiar with exactly what she is? I lived in a town in MS in the '60's that was much like Wasilla is today, and my study of that culture stayed with me for a lifetime. I love your post and the Redneck Map!

http://www.e-tabitha.com/2008/11/last-horizon.html

lynnrockets said...

I love the map, but please understand that some of us Boston Irish take a little (OK a lot) of offense at Massachusetts being labeled as "British." We are, after all known as "County Boston" and this is the Land of the Kennedys.

Your's is a terrific blog, by the way.

regina said...

Hey, I didn't draw the map. I googled "redneck" images and it came up.

It's very funny. I remember seeing a world map according to Bush some years back that was on a similar vein.

Regina

KaJo said...

Midnightcajun, believe it or not Palin has a duplicate pair of those FMB -- in red!

Even more unbelievable, she was seen wearing them 8 days before she supposedly "delivered" TriG.

(they're in the April 10, 2008 series of pictures of Palin and Joe Parrish at the ServeAlaska swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol steps -- I can't find the URL)

Can you imagine a pregnant woman 8 months along being able to pull the zipper all the way up on a pair of calf-high closefitting highheeled boots? Me neither.

Of course, I'm assuming under that long skirt the shaft of those red boots AREN'T flapping open, ready to trip the "pregnant" Palin when she walks around.

(ha, ha, my WV is "thide")