It gets worse. Grits are lacking in some essential vitamins, so long term ingestion brings on some serious vitamin deficiences - including a form of roseacea that affects the skin - hence the phrase red-neck meaning someone who eats grits that they have a vitamin deficiency that turns the back of their neck red. Can easily be cured by eating tortillas instead of grits. The mexicans learned long ago that you have to process cornmeal with lime to access the essential vitamins. So a redneck is someone who refuses to learn from other people how to eat corn properly.