You (I) might be a redneck if

[Spock]

I realized this morning as I was burning garbage that our Christmas tree is still lying in the front yard.

I dragged it out of the house a couple of weeks ago.

That probably would not be looked upon favorably in a high-end gated community.

Now that I thought of it the Mrs did say something about it a few days ago. Now I suppose I will have to drag it into the woods.

[peacock2121]

Let's see......


- burning garbage on your property

- Christmas tree lying in the front yard

- wife not crazed about above

- plan to drag Christmas tree into the woods


I don't know about the redneck thing, I do know you and yours would fit right in with my community.

[MarleysGh0st]

Let's see......


- burning garbage on your property

- Christmas tree lying in the front yard

- wife not crazed about above

- plan to drag Christmas tree into the woods


I don't know about the redneck thing, I do know you and yours would fit right in with my community.

Burning garbage is a big no-no, but dragging the tree into the woods to let it decompose naturally might get Spock accepted into the granola-crunchy enviromentalist crowd, if he's not careful!

[Appa23]

I realized this morning as I was burning garbage that our Christmas tree is still lying in the front yard.

I dragged it out of the house a couple of weeks ago.

That probably would not be looked upon favorably in a high-end gated community.

Now that I thought of it the Mrs did say something about it a few days ago. Now I suppose I will have to drag it into the woods.

Burning garbage sounds like a mighty Redneck thing to do.

[TheCalvinator24]

Let's see......


- burning garbage on your property

- Christmas tree lying in the front yard

- wife not crazed about above

- plan to drag Christmas tree into the woods


I don't know about the redneck thing, I do know you and yours would fit right in with my community.

Growing up, I would have had 3 out of 4. Except the tree would have sat in the back yard until we dragged it to the wooded area on our farm.

One of my designated chores was to take out the trash and burn it.

[peacock2121]

We have 'wet garbage' and 'dry garbage'.

I get yelled at if non-burnable stuff gets found in the dry garbage.

Sting yells "NO WIRE HANGERS".

He burns garbage every day. It is always dry garbage.

We don't need a shredder.

[littlebeast13]

Brown Christmas trees laying in the backyard during summer are a fond memory of my childhood....

Burning garbage is a memory I have from my grandma's house. I always volunteers to burn anything and everything....

Of course, I prefer the term hoosiers over rednecks, even if it does offend Indianans....

lb13

[mrkelley23]

Brown Christmas trees laying in the backyard during summer are a fond memory of my childhood....

Burning garbage is a memory I have from my grandma's house. I always volunteers to burn anything and everything....

Of course, I prefer the term hoosiers over rednecks, even if it does offend Indianans....

lb13

Ah, go sit in your 8 inches of snow.

Wonder what Beastie has planned for his 1000th post on the Razzberry Bored?

[littlebeast13]

Brown Christmas trees laying in the backyard during summer are a fond memory of my childhood....

Burning garbage is a memory I have from my grandma's house. I always volunteers to burn anything and everything....

Of course, I prefer the term hoosiers over rednecks, even if it does offend Indianans....

lb13

Ah, go sit in your 8 inches of snow.

Wonder what Beastie has planned for his 1000th post on the Razzberry Bored?

Well, if mini will grace us with her presence this morning, I'll save it for some pithy comeback her way....

lb13

[VAdame]

Of course, I prefer the term hoosiers over rednecks, even if it does offend Indianans....

Hah! That is a St. Louis-ism from my Mom's childhood (1920s-30s)! And I bet the "oo" is pronounced like in "hook" and "book" -- not the long "oo" like the Indiana-style Hoosier.

[Catfish]

Brown Christmas trees laying in the backyard during summer are a fond memory of my childhood....

Burning garbage is a memory I have from my grandma's house. I always volunteers to burn anything and everything....

Of course, I prefer the term hoosiers over rednecks, even if it does offend Indianans....

lb13

Our neighbors live in a house where the previous owner burned and/or buried his garbage once a week for about 20 years. They still dig up some might fine stuff. Across the street from them is a house with an RV parked out back. The people had relatives living in the RV who ran their waste line directly into the drainage ditch that runs along the county road bordering their property.

Our Christmas tree is on the deck awaiting its trip to the burn pile for the annual spring bonfire.

Hoosier by transplantation and proud of it.

[littlebeast13]

Of course, I prefer the term hoosiers over rednecks, even if it does offend Indianans....

Hah! That is a St. Louis-ism from my Mom's childhood (1920s-30s)! And I bet the "oo" is pronounced like in "hook" and "book" -- not the long "oo" like the Indiana-style Hoosier.

I say Hoosier as it's meant to be said, but I think I can hear others around here saying it with that "book" sound. I also don't pronouce my "or"s as "ar"s (With the sole exception of the word orange, which I always pronounce as "arnge" because I think putting the "or" sound in it is too clunky), so I'm not really a very good native....

lb13

[andrewjackson]

Yep, we burned our garbage the entire time I was a kid. My mom burnt down the chicken house and most of the back yard several times but we kids weren't allowed to start the garbage fire because it was too dangerous.

Non-burnable stuff got piled up in a shed until we couldn't get the door to the shed closed. At that point we'd talk about hauling it to the dump for a while but that usually wouldn't happen until the pile outside the door to the shed got pretty big.

Indianans? I'm proud to be a Hoosier even if it sometimes means clarifying myself because a certain university couldn't be troubled to come up with their own nickname.

A certain university whose basketball team is now in fourth place, BTW.


This is the first time I've heard that Missourans had a different pronunciation for Hoosier. Interesting.

[tanstaafl2]

Put the tree on the garbage fire. Problem solved!

Works at our house everytime.

[VAdame]

This is the first time I've heard that Missourans had a different pronunciation for Hoosier. Interesting.

Mom grew up in the St. Louis of the '20s & '30s. To her, a "Hoosier" -- pronounced like hook or book -- was a Hillbilly, from anywhere. For whatever reason, it wasn't related to the Indiana long-oo "Hoosier" at all.

I will ask her if she has any more recollections of this word, & post it if she does

[littlebeast13]

Indianans? I'm proud to be a Hoosier even if it sometimes means clarifying myself because a certain university couldn't be troubled to come up with their own nickname.


This is the first time I've heard that Missourans had a different pronunciation for Hoosier. Interesting.

I know that Indianans are proud to be Hoosiers, but I was referring more to the derogitory use of the term around here to mean a Midwestern redneck (We proudly call my hometown a hoosier town)....

I think the alternate pronunciation is more common among the older folks around here. I can hear my grandma saying hoosier with the book sound, but not my parents....

And since mini was not around, this will be my 1,000th post here....

lb13

[andrewjackson]

It's the same Hoosier.

Hoosier meant hillbilly before it meant a person from Indiana. People in Indiana try to come up with all kinds of folk etymology to explain it but it means hillbilly.

[VAdame]

It's the same Hoosier.

Hoosier meant hillbilly before it meant a person from Indiana. People in Indiana try to come up with all kinds of folk etymology to explain it but it means hillbilly.

Thanks! My Mom said Hoosiers (short-oo) were Hillbillies -- whether from Indiana or anywhere else.

I'm pretty busy & haven't had a chance to ask her yet, but I'll keep yinz posted!

[VAdame]

OK -- I emailed Mom & will await her reply.

Meanwhile, here's what UncleWiki has to say about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosier#Other_uses

(Note the St. Louis usage)

[Bob Juch]

It's the same Hoosier.

Hoosier meant hillbilly before it meant a person from Indiana. People in Indiana try to come up with all kinds of folk etymology to explain it but it means hillbilly.

Then in Canada they have hosers.

[Spock]

To add to the Holiday Spirit as I was thinking about this today and stepping off the front steps-I realized the Halloween Punkins are just off to the side and halfburied in snow/ice.

I remember the Mrs saying something about maybe I should gt rid of them a few months ago.

[hermillion]

I'm so glad to read this thread. I was really feeling guilty about the fact that I hadn't taken the 4' lighted, artificial tree, with silk poinsettias clustered around the base, off of my front porch, yet. It's not plugged in anymore, so you have to actually pull into my driveway to notice it, but still . . .

It's coming down tomorrow!

[littlebeast13]

OK -- I emailed Mom & will await her reply.

Meanwhile, here's what UncleWiki has to say about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosier#Other_uses

(Note the St. Louis usage)

So hillbilly/redneck isn't a synonym for white trash everywhere else? I don't understand the difference.

I knew Hoosier had a slightly different definition in other parts, but white trash = trailer trash = redneck/hillbilly so far as I have come to know....

lb13

[tanstaafl2]

OK -- I emailed Mom & will await her reply.

Meanwhile, here's what UncleWiki has to say about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosier#Other_uses

(Note the St. Louis usage)

So hillbilly/redneck isn't a synonym for white trash everywhere else? I don't understand the difference.

I knew Hoosier had a slightly different definition in other parts, but white trash = trailer trash = redneck/hillbilly so far as I have come to know....

lb13

As with other perjorative words sometimes used to refer to one another by a particular culture it depends at least on part on the person using the term. Redneck has changed over time to be less perjorative at least when used by one "redneck" to another but might still be viewed as offensive when used by an outsider. Hillbilly tends to have more of a regional conotation in that it helps to be from a poor area that is also at least a little, well, hilly...

"White trash" on the other hand is still viewed as pretty much a put down no matter where you are as far as I can tell. Perhaps even more so now than when it first appeared.

[tanstaafl2]

Speaking of rednecks...

Here is a redneck tattoo for all you cat lovers. Don't say you weren't warned...

Spoiler