As a stand-up comedian and, more recently, in his WB television program “Blue Collar TV,” Jeff Foxworthy has gained a reputation for having a little more savoir faire than his redneck peers. That doesn’t by any means put Jeff Foxworthy’s Redneck Dictionary on the highbrow end of comic material. This compendium, compiled by Foxworthy and four other comedy writers, looks for the “punning” nature to be found in “cornpone-speak,” as old words emerge with new meanings. The text is arranged like a conventional dictionary, including pronunciation and usage tips, with each word used “appropriately” in a sentence. Take, for example, intense: “Next time we go campin’, I suggest we sleep intense.” So it goes through a couple hundred entries, which celebrate the stereotyped view of working-class Southerners and their distinctive dialect.
Martin Brady is a writer in Nashville.
