Blueneck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The word blueneck was coined less than fifteen years ago and can take various meanings.

1 Political Slur
2 Comic Relief Feature
3 Country Music
4 See also
5 Sources

[edit] Political Slur

In Canada, the word blueneck is a slur used against the most radical hardliners of the Quebec separatist movement, who, unlike rednecks from small-town and rural Alberta, are generally progressive on social issues, but occasionally express intolerance towards the English-speaking culture.

During the 1997 federal election, Bloc Québécois MP Suzanne Tremblay, who represented the small-town riding of Rimouski-Neigette-et-La Mitis in Quebec, pointed at the fact that then Conservative leader Jean Charest's baptismal name was in fact "John James Charest". Charest, whose dad was a French-speaker and mother was an English-Speaker of Irish descent, grew up in a bicultural household environment. Suzanne Tremblay's move appeared to be a mere attempt to boost anglophobic resentment against Charest.

In the following hours, a columnist blasted Tremblay, declaring that Alberta sure has its share of rednecks, but that Suzanne Tremblay's comments prove that Quebec compensates largely by having its own brand of rednecks: the bluenecks.

The official flag of Canada is white and red; the one of Quebec is white and blue. In Quebec, members of the Liberal Party of Canada, are informally called "les rouges" (rouge = red). The separatist Bloc Québécois uses blue as its color, even though the colloquial expression "les bleus" (bleu = blue) applies to the Conservatives, instead.

[edit] Comic Relief Feature

On the blogosphere, the term blueneck is a recently coined corollary of redneck. It extends the traditional redneck stereotypes to more northern locations, such as Canada and Alaska, with a touch of humour, in a style that reminds the one of Jeff Foxworthy (You might be a blueneck if...)

[edit] Country Music

In the country music community, a blueneck is a progressive redneck or a redneck who expresses a political opinion that is contrary to the one of most rednecks from the American South. For instance, Texan singer Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks can be considered a blueneck, because of her criticism of the George W. Bush's Republican administration.

States that support the Republicans are generally known as red states; the ones voting for the Democrats being the blue states.