How is combining the words "wet" and "back" fundamentally worse than combining "red" and "neck"?

Question

Cause, ya know, you hear one of those terms on television and you don't hear the other one on television. That's how I base my theory that one is considered worse by society at large than the other.

I'm personally not very fond of either term.

country_girl: I definitely see your point and would agree in many cases but the term "redneck" was (I believe) coined for people in the SE United States that are defined by their poverty and general misfortune.

lil_red_angel: no, definitely never heard the term "water head" but probably because I'm very west but I'm probably just as south.

Answer 1

I agree. Here is the problem. Over the history of the US, white people have been associated with privlege and rights, while minorities have been discriminated against. It is ok for whites to be called cracker, red neck, etc while minorities cannot be based. I personally think that it is all the same. If you call one group names, why not be just as derogitory to another?



--- I am from the SE US, NC to be specific, and I always thought that too. Redneck to me is a word for poverty, ignorance, and lack of education. I took a Racial and Ethnic Relations class in college, and the black people in the class said that no matter how poor or stupid a white person was, they still had more privlege and better opportunities in the world than blacks do. I disagree, but so be it. With all that being said, I still would have to agree with you! Good Point!

Answer 2

Ok, growing up where I grew up and all I can easily say why. Mexicans haven't really turned that word into one that they use, that they have put their own meaning to, and that they have taken and made their own. Redneck however has been through that cycle. Some people may not like it, some people may hate it, and many people say it with pride. It's like the N word, the F word for homosexuals, and every other word that started out a slur and now only certain people can use. It's origins aren't the only meaning that it holds present day in times.

However I don't measure anything by television. I hear language on TV all the time that I can't believe they are airing. They bleep our God and leave d@mn *t. The reasoning behind that one boggles my mind.

Ummm, no...redneck was coined for people in the south, mainly the south east, that tended to do a great deal of work outdoors in our rather warm and sunny summers. White people plus lots of sun and you get red necks, literally. That's where it comes from, people doing heavy manual labor and farming. Others later put the poverty behind it and such. Then we took it back and formed it to simply mean a country southern person. And yes there is a difference, there are southerners that could never be called a redneck because they have no clue, they're too city. You want something to offend even a redneck, water head. If you are so far north that you've never heard it, it basically is saying that you are so backwoods, inbred, and crawl out of the woods so rarely that you head bobbles around like a water balloon...water head.

Answer 3

I think it's one of those terms that if it is a term that is apart of your OWN culture, it's okay to be said, but if not, it's not okay.

Kind of like the N word for African American people.

Kind of like "cracker" or "red necks" for Caucasians.

and

Kind of like "Wet-back" for Mexicans.

If you can be called one, it's considered "appropriate" to use the term, if not, it better not come out of your mouth according to society.

I, however, think they are all ignorant terms that should not be used by ANYONE, regardless of race/culture.

Answer 4

One is funny because of people like Jeff Foxworthy. Rednecks and hilljacks CAN be funny at times, they even laugh at themselves. But wetbacks? Nawww....