Trivia fact: The Origin of the term "Cracker"

[Katashi_itto]

I heard this on WBLK New Orleans as they were discussing the Martin Case

Comes from the slave days, the overseers with whips.

The sound of Whip-"CRACK"...

?itok=rv4qOQTC

[Little Star]

1. Thanks for this. I've been trying to explain that to anyone who is willing to listen.

[Katashi_itto]

2. Np, yeah, I was pretty taken back by it myself. I'd no idea.

[Pelican]

3. What's the follow on?

Does that excuse the use today as a racist pejorative?

The origin of the word "fag" has to do with people who used to carry wood.

It doesn't mean it isn't a slur in it's modern usage or something you should use in polite society.

[Katashi_itto]

5. Note the title.... "Origin of the term"

I am not advocating the term.

I am explaining it's origin.

[Pelican]

7. I suppose...

As a result of the recent trial, I've heard it explained here that since it has that origin, it is acceptable and not racist to say.

If that wasn't your point, then I over reached.

Cheers...

[kestrel91316]

26. Always on the lookout for white rights, I see.

(and I'm white, so I get to make this observation)

[Pelican]

29. Try looking beyond skin color...

I'll bet you like it better.

[kestrel91316]

33. That has become impossible since Obama got elected and the

closet KKKers came out of the woodwork.

[Pelican]

34. You seem bound and determined to divide everyone into their appropriate groups...

Why is that exactly?

[kestrel91316]

41. It's you and your RW friends who are doing the dividing, sweetcakes.

[aristocles]

4. Partially true

There's more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(pejorative)

[Katashi_itto]

6. Interesting!

Etymology[edit]

There are multiple explanations of the etymology of "cracker", most dating its origin to the 18th century or earlier.
One theory holds that the term derives from the "cracking" of whips, either by slave foremen in the antebellum South against African slaves, or by rustics against their draft animals.[3][4][5][6] Those white foremen or rural poor who cracked their whips thus became known as "crackers."


A "cracker cowboy" with his Florida Cracker Horse and dog by Frederick Remington, 1895
Another whip-derived theory is based on Florida's "cracker cowboys" of the 19th and early 20th centuries; distinct from the Spanish vaquero and the Western cowboy. Cracker cowboys did not use lassos to herd or capture cattle. Their primary tools were cow whips and dogs.[7][citation needed]
An alternative theory holds that the term comes from the common diet of poor whites. The 1911 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica supposes that the term derives from the cracked (kernels of) corn which formed the staple food of this class of people.[8]
Examples of usage

[Bluenorthwest]

8. If you wish to believe that, do so. It is perhaps partially true or true in the minds of those who

hurl the name at others, but the facts of the English language are far more nuanced and obvious. The word 'Craic' pronounced 'Crack' is and has long been in use in Ireland and other places to mean conversation of a lively sort, one goes to the pub for a pint and some good craic. Note that even we Americans make 'wise cracks' and 'crack jokes'.
Elizabethan use of the word meant 'one who boasts or brags'. Shakespeare uses the term in King John written in 1595 as follows: "What cracker is this... that deafes our eares / With this abundance of superfluous breath?"
This is from a letter sent from the colonies to the Earl of Dartmouth in the mid 1700's: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode."

The descendents of these frontier 'rascalls' in Florida and Georgia became known as Crackers.
Of course many people use many words in many ways. But to claim the slaver's whip is the origin of that term takes an intentional exclusion of historical fact and literary citations.

[LuvNewcastle]

17. I've read that before and I believe you're correct.

If you've read much about etymology, cute little explanations for word origins like the one in the OP are very rarely accurate. Word origins are usually a lot more complex, and they usually go through different spellings and meanings before they become what they are now.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Fascinating...

Thank you for that reasoned explanation.
DU at its best.

[intaglio]

9. Ummmm - not necessarily

There seem to have been several possible sources for the word and it is not always from a slave whipcrack.

The earliest reference I have seen dates it back to the 1760s and specifically about bond servants. The letter to the Earl of Dartmouth actually states that it is because they are great boasters, which leads me to wonder if it actually derives from "craic" used in Northern England, Scotland and Ireland. It means gossip and enjoyable conversation and, by extension, bragging.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. 1595, King John by William Shakespeare uses the term. The OP says 1800

"What cracker is this same that deafe our eares with this abundance of superfluous breath?"William Shakespeare, King John, Act II, Scene 1.

[intaglio]

48. Well "craic" is derived from Middle English "Crak"

I think the first instance of the English use is back in the 14th Century. Eventually it fell out of use for the bulk of the population and, it seems, only retained in the North and so into Scotland from there, presumably, to the Pale and NI.

[ananda]

10. Thank you

I wondered about that.

[Brickbat]

11. Doubtful.

[Sunlei]

13. no just the slave days. USA had 80 ++ years of more slavery with prison labor rented to corps.

worked to death many of them. cheap to replace, just arrest more. All those guards were crackers too.

[all american girl]

14. As a kid growing up in Iowa, I think I first heard cracker on The Jeffersons

I thought white people were called crackers because we were the same coloring as a saltine cracker....remember, I was just a kid and it was logical to me.

[madville]

15. No, the term originally referred to Florida cattlemen

When Florida was settled and made into a giant cattle ranch a few centuries ago the cow hands were called Florida Crackers because of the whips they used while driving the cattle. I even remember my grandparents (they were farmers in FL) down here referring to people in the cattle business as crackers.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_cracker

[HooptieWagon]

27. Yes, that is true.

Although its possible thats one of several origins.

[Rstrstx]

28. That makes much more sense

When I hear the term "cracker" I immediately think of Florida

[alsame]

37. I have relatives in Georgia who've

heard white people refer to other white people as crackers. They are recent transplants from NY and weren't sure what it meant in that context.

[bluestate10]

42. Something similar is my understanding. Crackers can be White or Black depending

upon their lineage. The term has become used exclusively to refer to any White and is often used by Blacks or Hispanics. Technically, Zimmerman couldn't be a Cracker because he migrated to Florida. It is possible the Trayvon Martin was a Cracker, depending on the lineage of one or both of his parents.

[Katashi_itto]

16. Looking at the responses. I would imagine Cracker had several origins. However the days of slavery

gave it a particular meaning among African-Americans and it's usage in the US.

Just my thinking.

[Igel]

22. And that would be called a "folk etymology."

Not the origin, but what people, on hearing the word used, assume that its origin must be.

"Squaw" had the same kind of folk etymology applied to it. It was a fairly innocuous word picked up early on for Native American women, but when it was deemed offensive it had to have an offensive etymology so somebody managed to create one.

The problem with your line of thinking is evidence. We know it was used widely among whites to refer to themselves. Not much evidence for early use by American blacks, slaves or otherwise, to refer to whites in general (which is what it means outside of parts of the South). American black speech doesn't have a long and firm documentary history--typically if you were literate, you had education in whatever the educated standard English was in your area.


However, the entire thread is rooted in the etymological fallacy, as was the attempt to delegitimize "squaw" by making up an offensive etymology. Words don't mean their etymology. It doesn't matter that "starve" was just another word for "die" so you could starve from a heart attack or falling out a window; or "drench" originally meant "cause to drink." What matters is their current meaning, unless you're reading something from 1200 AD, then you worry about the historical meanings. "Negro" at one time was the "new unoffensive" term that replaced "colored," which was the unoffensive term that replaced something else. Their origin and original use are meaningless except when you're reading historical sources. That they're offensive today is the reason not to use them today. That some may still use them without intending offensive is the reason to hesitant in blanket condemnation today.

We'd never justify the use of "Negro" as just meaning "black" on the basis of the etymological fallacy. Where I live, "cracker" is offensive because it's used as an insult between races and not used as a term of solidarity among whites. But we are busy trying to justify its use based on ... the etymological fallacy. Why the hypocrisy? Self-perception and linguistic power. *We* cannot be racist in any way and properly have full control over our language; however, *we* decide what is racist and therefore have control over what others can and cannot say.

[Katashi_itto]

35. "etymological fallacy"? Uhh yeah....: Cracker (pejorative)

Cracker, sometimes white cracker or cracka, is a derogatory term for white people,[1] especially poor rural whites in the Southern United States. In reference to a native of Florida or Georgia, however, it is sometimes used in a neutral or positive context and is sometimes used self-descriptively with pride.[2]


Etymology[edit|edit source]

There are multiple explanations of the etymology of "cracker", most dating its origin to the 18th century or earlier.
One theory holds that the term derives from the "cracking" of whips, either by slave foremen in the antebellum South against African slaves, or by rustics against their draft animals.[3][4][5][6] Those white foremen or rural poor who cracked their whips thus became known as "crackers."


A "cracker cowboy" with his Florida Cracker Horse and dog by Frederick Remington, 1895
Another whip-derived theory is based on Florida's "cracker cowboys" of the 19th and early 20th centuries; distinct from the Spanish vaquero and the Western cowboy. Cracker cowboys did not use lassos to herd or capture cattle. Their primary tools were cow whips and dogs.[7][citation needed]
An alternative theory holds that the term comes from the common diet of poor whites. The 1911 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica supposes that the term derives from the cracked (kernels of) corn which formed the staple food of this class of people.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(pejorative)

[bluestate10]

43. Cracker took on a racial aspect due to segregation and Jim Crow laws in the South. nt

[Katashi_itto]

44. I agree, it may have different origins but the South changed all that.

Sort of like Hitler and the Swastika. Different origin/meaning but the Nazis changed that.

[Malone]

18. cracker box houses

I always thought it was originally a term for poor white people for the "cracker box" houses they lived in, basically an 1800's version of trailer trash. And often used by rich white people to describe poor white southerners.

[Bluenorthwest]

19. So the 'cracker' foodstuff itself did not exist until 1800 when the first application of the word

'cracker' to the recently invented Pilot Biscuit. What we now call crackers in the kitchen were previously known as savory biscuits. They first got called 'crackers' in MA in 1800. Not sure how long it took for the boxes to become a part of the language to mean rinky dink house but my guess is that happened in the 20's or 30's. Tins and wrappers and barrels would have been the containers for early crackers, mass paper box production came later.
The word I'd nominate for 1800's version of trailer would be 'shanty'.

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. 'shanty'.

from which we can now explore the origins of,
for "sea shanty" and "shanty Irish" ( as opposed to lace curtain Irish).

[Igel]

24. An en-shant-ing idea. n/t

[Arugula Latte]

25. I shant participate in that discussion.

[HooptieWagon]

30. Actually, sea "shanty" was a mutation of sea chanty.

They were musical form of rythmic chants sailors would make when undertaking heavy labor (like hoisting the anchor, bracing the yards, or towing ships with the yawlboats). The origins are British. There's several I perform.

[dixiegrrrrl]

45. Down here we spell it

y'all boats.......

[Igel]

23. Nice folk etymology to continue outrage.

It's wrong but serves it's purpose.

Most of the etymologies are wrong. It's possible it might have a couple of etymologies and there are actually *two* words, but that's a hard argument to make. You'd have to show that the two groups of users have little to no knowledge of each other because of time or space or both.

The earliest wins. Anything rooted in the early 1800s has to give way to the mid-1700s. And if it's widespread in the early/mid 1800s you can't it was innovated in the late 1800s. Unless you have a nice TARDIS or like the idea of linguistic preconstruction.

Yeah, yeah, nobody likes a wise cracker. Or, apparently, a foolish cracker.

[libodem]

31. Or a joke cracker

[cherokeeprogressive]

32. Cracka.

[Hekate]

36. Scots-Irish "craic" -- "loud conversation, bragging talk" & "news, gossip, fun, entertainment"

Please get your "trivia facts" straight. "Cracker" has its origins in the language of the Scots-Irish immigrants who settled in the Southern US. "What's the craic?" meant "What's the news?" An evening of craic was an occasion of much talk, banter, and boasting.

Those were the original "crackers," not the slave masters. The fact that it is an offensive term today does not erase its origins.

Please see below.

Hekate

See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic for the above

also

http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/rednecks/rednecks.html
Scottish History Online
Many words commonly used in America today such as Hillbillies and Rednecks have their origins in our Scottish roots. While the following three terms are associated today with the American South and southern culture, their origins are distinctly Scottish and Ulster-Scottish (Scots-Irish), and date to the mass immigration of Scottish Lowland and Ulster Presbyterians to America during the 1700’s.
>snip<
CRACKER
Another Ulster-Scot term, a "cracker" was a person who talked and boasted, and "craic" (Crack) is a term still used in Scotland and Ireland to describe "talking", chat or conversation in a social sense ("Let’s go down to the pub and have a craic"; "what's the craic&quot . The term, first used to describe a southerner of Ulster-Scottish background, later became a nickname for any white southerner, especially those who were uneducated.

[Katashi_itto]

38. Blanket statement, Word can adopt several origins obviously

[Hekate]

40. Pay no attention to petty things like facts and history

when going out of your way to offend an entire group with a blanket statement of your own.

[dixiegrrrrl]

46. What carries over to this day is that "chatting" is the Southern past time.

Folks down here talk to anyone and everyone at the drop of a "hey".( southern equivalent to "hello&quot .
A 10 minute run to the local store takes at least 30 minutes of chatting to folks you run into.

[Hekate]

47. I learned the origin of "cracker" as "craic" from an Irishman

There's apparently been quite a study of terms that came over, especially with the Scots-Irish in the late 1700s. The fellow I met knew his sources, and as an Irish-American with no Southern roots at all, I was fascinated.

Before I talked with him a few years ago I only knew the term as a slur -- specifically, my mother used it to refer to a deeply Southern family that moved onto our block. I don't know where her animosity came from, but it was clear she meant "ignorant, ill-educated" and some other not-very-nice things. Like I said, a slur.

There's no need to make up a slur to go on top another slur, especially if the origins of one can be accurately determined by the study of language and the other turns out to be a story that just fits someone's agenda, however righteous.

As for the "cowboy crackers," maybe they cracked their whips, but there were also a bunch who were Irish or Scots-Irish and we just don't remember their origins outside of Texas. The Hopalong Cassidy stories (a whole slew of books from 1904) had to come from someplace, and they did, as I determined with a little research on the google machine.

[YoungDemCA]

39. I thought it was/is used mostly by well-to-do whites to refer to other whites...

..of less means and education in a dismissive, condescending, "We are better than you" fashion.