What's you favorite redneck patient story??

[Notanurse]

What's you favorite redneck patient story??

[psychomachia]

sbic56 writes: "Rednecks, hillbilles, whatever you call them, are not a distinct group, thus they are pretty much fair game when it comes to ribbing."

ME: But they are a "distinct" group or else you wouldn't be able to identify one and tell jokes/stories, would you??? And I agree they are pretty much fair game, which is why I ask the question of WHY is it OK to make fun of a group of people based on where they were born (South). Also, please don't give me that "rednecks are from anywhere so they aren't a group" b******t because you know damn well when someone says redneck, that they ain't talkin' bout no yankee!

sbic56 writes: "Rednecks, hillbilles, whatever you call them, are not a distinct group, thus they are pretty much fair game when it comes to ribbing. You cannot deny you are black or asian or some other minority, but there is no real definition of a redneck. Plus, that redneck could become more polished and loose the label altogether."

ME: WHAT??!!?? Didn't I tell you not to give me that b******t, so now I have to explain it to you again? Y'all lissen up now... Rednecks / hillbillies ARE a group of people because you've labeled them as such. Sure, some may be from states that are not traditionally thought of as Southern, but when you think of a redneck, he/she isn't speaking with a New York / New Jersey accent are they? These are people who are from a Southern heritage and/or white and poor. No? If I'm getting this wrong, please tell me your definition because when I tell people my relatives were tobacco farmers from N. Carolina, the first they think is that my family owned slaves! If I said they were corn farmers from Nebraska, I don't think the question would be asked.

And just what the hell is this crap about a "redneck could become more polished and loose the label altogether"??? Try saying a black person could lighten their skin, narrow their nose, straighten their hair and just be more "polished." Don't you see the double standard?? Just who the hell are you to say what a "redneck" should do when you can't even define one?

KaroSnowQueen writes: "My sister was told at college (she went for teaching) that she had to lose her accent and they sent her to classes to rid her of it. I have to admit, I purposely made mine exaggerated and taught it to her kids just to aggravate her."

ME: And did you question WHY would someone ask her to lose her accent??? Just so she could teach?? I can never understand my kid's elementary school teacher, but instead of asking her to change, I try to listen better, but hey, I'm from the South so she probably can't understand me either.

Here's a little something to read about accents from BusinessWeekOnline Sept 11, 2000 edition:

Job-Seekers' Tip: Lose the Accent

Can someone's accent affect the type of job they get? In recent years, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has increasingly been asked to rule on accent discrimination--usually in cases dealing with immigrants. Now comes word that even for native-born speakers, having an accent can hurt job opportunities.

The evidence? In a recent experiment, two researchers at the University of North Texas asked human resource directors to listen to identical recorded passages of text spoken in different U.S. regional accents--and then recommend the best type of job for the speaker. Researchers Patricia Cukor-Avila and Dianne Markley found that job-seekers with identifiable accents, such as a heavy Southern drawl, were more often recommended for lower-level jobs that offer little client or customer contact, such as support positions. Those with a less identifiable accent, such as that found in the Midwest, tended to get recommended for higher-contact, higher-profile--and often higher-paying--jobs in public relations and marketing.

Bottom line: Too often, employers still think that when it comes to talking the talk, bland is best.

By Taeyma Sapp

EDITED BY ROBERT McNATT

Interesting, no?

Ok, who is next on my reply list,

sanakruz writes: "MJ it seems to me your pt suffered from generations worth of poverty and isolation."

ME: You're right, and yet she lived to be 92 and raised a family who cared enough about her to question the "compassionate care" she was being given by those who saw them as "hillbillies."

So what do we do? Write a story about how they were our favorite rednecks!!!

sanakruz writes: "I think not having teeth would suck- and cause pain."

ME: NO S***T!! But hey, I know, lets make fun of that because, well, it just is when it's a bunch of "rednecks." It's OK, they like it because they got thick skin and don't mind being made fun of!!

Too bad all those other groups out there don't feel the same way...

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

This is kind of funny (as in interesting, not ha ha). My first thought when I saw this thread was "oh oh".

I honestly think that Psychomachia has a huge point. Could you substitute "watermelon eating, toothless, fried-chicken making" or "slant-eyed, seaweed eating", etc??

Maybe the answer is to stop being so politically correct and laugh at ethnic jokes. Then people wouldn't get so offended by being the only ones allowed to be laughed at for their idiosyncracies.

And I love Jeff Foxworthy and am married to a redneck . . he just drove up in his logging truck and our two year old had to be carried out, while yelling at the top of his lungs, to his daddy's truck and then lifted in so he can "drive".

Maybe we all need to lighten up . . . . go ahead, tell a blonde joke or two. I can take it.

Actually I had an eastern liberal elite guy as a patient who was the biggest . . . . . .nevermind.

steph

[sbic56, BSN, RN]

psychomachia

You are too funny. At first I thought you were seriously giving me crap, but then realized you were pulling my chain when you repeated the tirade again, except with such gusto the second time around!

Yer right about the lack of quality rednecks in NY/NJ...have to go a bit further north for that! Funny how the downeaster talk and southern drawl are the same in a sense. I know when I visit the south for any amount of time I find myself taking on the accent so naturally.

[RN 2005]

StevieLynn.....This is for you.

There was a blonde and she really wanted to become a cop. One day she went to the police station and said she wanted to become a police officer. They said well you have to be smart to be a police officer so we'll ask you a few questions.

"Okay" she said.

"What is 2 + 2?", said the police officer knowing how dumb blondes always are.

"Ummm, 4", she said hesitantly.

"Okay correct",he said.

"What color is the sky?" "Ummm", she though "Well many different. Usually blue but sometimes red or orange or yellow or a pretty shade of pink."

"Correct", the policeman said confused that she knew it. "Okay 2 more questions: What is a hare?"

She answered: "Either a hair on your head and legs or other places or it could be a rabbit!"

"Wow", the policeman said astonished. Okay last question: Who shot Abraham Lincoln?

"Hmm" she thought, "That's a hard one."

Okay the officer said, I'll let you sleep on it and you come back tomorrow with the answer.

That night she went home and had some friends over. They asked her if she got the police officer job and she said, "I think so. They put me on my first case!"

I'm blonde too by the way........I could not resist since you asked for it! LOL

[michelle95]

Well, I live in a run down trailer with almost a dozen dogs in the yard, as well as a dozen cats. We have our own "junkyard" complete with at least a dozen cars and dozens of old appliances. I walk barefoot all the time (callouses like wood) and my cousin used to be my step-brother.

Yeah, I resemble a red neck...maybe I am. I have no problem with the jokes and can relate to a lot of them.

I tell you all that have a problem with it to lighten up. Do you never laugh at anything?

Sheesh.

[RNmomma]

As a native San Franciscan going to nursing school in (rather) rural Virginia, I was a little bit culture shocked. Sure there were rednecks, people who were backwoods andnot as educated. The hospital I worked at was the only large public hospital for miles that took in anyone. There were also very well-educated and/or foriegn patients - it was a university hospital as well. Any of them could be just as likely to make me want to tear my hair out!

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

A funny ethnic joke is one where even those that are being picked on laugh- and I think we had a few rednecks giggling too on this thread.

[smk1, LPN]

wow i guess i just never thought of rednecks or hillbillie jokes as racist. its more of a stereotype of poor people much the same as a "hoodrat" or calling someone "ghetto". If it offends you then i have no problem refraining but i don't think you can equate redneck jokes with n***er jokes or chink/wap/spic etc. A more apt comparison would be using the term "cracker or honky" wouldn't it? (if im not mistaken these are the offensive racial slurs used against whites as a whole.) Also the Amos and Andy comparison just isn't valid because in 1953 blacks and whites were still segregated and most peoples view into black culture and life was via superficial interactions (job related) or they had no interactions at all. Also there probably wasn't ANY other "black" show on tv for people to use as a comparison view of blacks. This can't be said of "the beverly hillbillies" because practically every other show on tv was giving you a different view of whites so it was obvious that the hillbillies was a spoof or an aberation of the "norm". Amos and Andy needed to be taken off because there wasn't anything to counteract the negatvie sterotypes displayed there. This was clearly irresponsible programming.

[stevierae]

Originally posted by psychomachia

If not, then I'll start posting my favorite polack jokes.

Oh, come on, lighten the he** up, psychomachia!!! And please DO post some of your polack jokes--I, being of Polish descent, will laugh harder than anyone at them, and share them with my brothers, who love a good polack joke, too!!!

I remember one time in the Navy--one of our instructors, who also was of Polish descent and could laugh at himself--was lecturing on foreign bodies in the eye. He said: "Foreign bodies--you know--glass, metal, cinders, polacks--"

And this girl who obviously had a stick up her a**, and was of Polish descent, made a big scene by standing up, huffing, "I don't have to stand for this!" and made a big show of gathering her books and storming out of the room.

Did any of the rest of us think that instructor was out of line? Nope. He was a very respected hospital corpsman and Vietnam veteran who made our learning experience a lot more fun. This was 30 years ago, and I still remember the laughs we had (and the skills we learned) in his class.

I find Jeff Foxworthy hilarious, and I found mjlrn's story hilarious. She was not making fun of anyone, just stating facts.

I used to work with a nurse from North Carolina who, by her own admission, came from a family of what might be called "trailer trash" or "hillbillies." She LOVED Jeff Foxworthy---when he used to do his joke about "You know you're a redneck when you have more appliances on your porch then you do inside your house" (or something like that) she would laugh louder than anyone else, saying, "He could be describing my family!!" She was totally secure in her roots. In fact, she played them up--velvet Elvis paintings in her apartment, talking about her cousins going on Jerry Springer--all of that made her HER. She knew how to laugh at herself.

Don't take everything so seriously. Life and work should be as fun as you can make it, on a daily basis. Time enough to be serious and be somber when you're dead.

[stevierae]

Originally posted by mccosner

If you can decipher this then you are a redneck:

MR PIGS

MR NOT PIGS

LIB MR PIGS

let me know if you get it or not!!

I didn't get it, and I racked my brain.

Then when I saw the answer later on, posted by Belinda, I couldn't stop laughing. I had to go wake my husband up to show him the riddle.

That was tooooo funny!!! :roll :roll :roll

[michelle95]

Ha, ha, ha, stevie!

I got it the first time. :roll

Meanwhile, I think I'll have me a nice heaping bowl of grits.

[MishlB]

I worked in a dental clinic...a patient came in to re-fit his dentures, they were very ill-fitting. When asked how long he had them, he replied, "well, I took them from my mother-in-law. She don't need 'em anymore. She's dead.":eek: