The concept of a redneck being a poor white farmer or laborer from the U.S. South dates back to the late 1800s, but 200 years earlier Scottish and Northern Irish Presbyterians were also known as rednecks.
To show their rejection of the Church of England, they wore red cloths around their necks.
The South African Boers called British soldiers rednecks for the same reason Southerners got the title.
Only the fair skin of their necks was exposed to the burning sun.
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