How did the slang term "cracker" come about to mean white people

I believe it comes from the sound a whip used to make when cattlemen used them in the south.

"Cracker", sometimes "white cracker", is a usually pejorative term for a white person, mainly used in the Southern United States, but in recent decades it has entered common usage throughout North America.

"Cracker" has also been used as a proud or jocular self-description. With the huge influx of new residents from the North, "cracker" is now used informally by some white residents of Florida and Georgia ("Florida cracker" or "Georgia cracker") to indicate that their family has lived there for many generations. However, the term "white cracker" is not always used self-referentially and remains a racist term to many in the region.

There are various theories concerning the origin of the term "cracker".

The term "cracker" was in use during Elizabethan times to describe braggarts. The original root of this is the Middle English word crack1 meaning "entertaining conversation" (One may be said to "crack" a joke); this term and the alternate spelling "craic" are still in use in Ireland and Scotland. It is documented in Shakespeare's King John (1595): "What cracker is this ... that deafes our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath?"

By the 1760s, this term was in use by the English in the British North American colonies to refer to Scots-Irish settlers in the south. A letter to the Earl of Dartmouth reads: "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". A similar usage was that of Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species, to refer to "Virginia squatters" (illegal settlers) (p. 35).

Spaniards in Florida called them “Quáqueros,” a corruption of the English word “Quaker,” which the Spanish used to contemptuously refer to any Protestant.

One theory holds that the word derives from "corncracker", a traditional slang name for poor white people from certain southern states. The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, notes that "cracker" is a term of contempt for the "poor" or "mean whites," particularly of Georgia and Florida. Britannica notes that this usage of the term dates back to the American Revolution, and is derived from the "cracked corn" which formed their staple food.

Other possible origins of the term "cracker" are linked to early Florida cattle herders (Florida crackers) that traditionally used whips to herd wild Spanish cattle. These cowboys were distinct from the Spanish vaqueros of Florida. The crack of the herders' whips could be heard for great distances when they were used to round cattle in pens and to keep the cows on a given track. Also, "cracker" has historically been used to refer to those engaged in the low paying job of cracking pecans and other nuts in Georgia and throughout the southeast U.S.

One theory claims that the term dates back to slavery in the antebellum South. The popular folk etymology is based on slaver foremen using bullwhips to discipline African and Afro-American slaves, and the sound the whip being described as 'cracking the whip'. The foremen who cracked these whips were thus known as 'crackers'.

According to the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, "cracker" is a term of contempt for the "poor" or "mean whites," particularly of Georgia and Florida. Britannica notes that the term dates back to the American Revolution, and is derived from the "cracked corn" which formed their staple food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28word%29

Originally the white slave driver because he would "crack" the whip, hence the noun cracker.

Slang word used to refer to those of European ancestry. The word is thought to have either derived from the sound of a whip being cracked by slave owners, or because crackers are generally white in color.

opposite of nigger, an insult to whites... except white people aren't dumb enough to walk around calling each other that word because it's intended to be demeaning.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cracker

usually disparaging : a poor usually Southern white bcapitalized : a native or resident of Florida or Georgia — used as a nickname.

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=cracker

Usage of the term "cracker" generally differs from "hick" and "hillbilly" because crackers reject or resist assimilation into the dominant culture, while hicks and hillbillies theoretically are isolated from the dominant culture. In this way, cracker culture is similar to redneck culture.

The term "cracker" was in use during Elizabethan times to describe braggarts. The original root of this is the Middle English word crack1 meaning "entertaining conversation" (One may be said to "crack" a joke); this term and the alternate spelling "craic" are still in use in Ireland and Scotland. It is documented in Shakespeare's King John (1595): "What cracker is this ... that deafes our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath?"

By the 1760s, this term was in use by the English in the British North American colonies to refer to Scots-Irish settlers in the south. A letter to the Earl of Dartmouth reads: "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". A similar usage was that of Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species, to refer to "Virginia squatters" (illegal settlers) (p. 35).

Spaniards in Florida called them “Quáqueros,” a corruption of the English word “Quaker,” which the Spanish used to contemptuously refer to any protestant.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/699.html

A cracker is, as I understand it, a dry biscuit that is light brown on the outside and white on the inside. It was therefore meant to refer to poor whites who worked outside and got sun tanned (the brown outside) but were white inside. It contrasted with the rich whites who could keep covered up or indoors and were therefore white outside.

I heard that the word "cracker" referring to a white person came from the days of slavery when a slave owner would crack a whip.

Same as any other racial slur..ignorance. A cracker is something you eat with soup. ;-)

A cracker is a white man that supplies crack to his black customers.

AS A FLORIDA NATIVE I REMBER MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER TELLING ME STORIES OF HER GROING UP IN KISSIMEE.SHE SAID IT WAS FROM HRE UNCLE'S HEARDING CATTLE WITH BULLWHIPS,ONE STORY I REMBER THE MOST WAS OF UNCLE JACK,WHO CARRIED AN 18 FT. WHIP AND COULD TAKE A SNAKES HEAD OFF FROM HORSEBACK.SO WHEN SOMEONE CALL'S ME A CRACKER I TAKE THAT AS A TRIBUTE TO MY FAMILY

The term has nothing to do with the slaves. It simply refers to the poorest of the white that used to work the field in the old days. As a joke they'd call each other that, because after the day was over they were burnt like a cracker (light brown outside but still white in the inside). Other American groups like the Puerto Ricans and the Hawaiians can relate to this because when they live in the island most obtain a brownish color because of the exposure to the sun. Puerto Ricans being mostly white (69%w, 28%b, 3%b ), when they come to the mainland or remain indoors for extended periods, loose their "sun coloring" and become white once again (like the so called crackers). Another group that "changes color" when exposed are the Chinese; They turn into a yellowish brown, which is lost in winter. One must remember that these are natural reactions by the skin to protect humans and this is also the reason why blacks from the tropics also seem darker than the continentals. The term cracker denotes a racist connotation when used by the blacks because it is being used to show a degree of "reverse racism" (another racist term) and a "get even" attitude. However like the puertoricans (who often call themselves "trigueño" (brown), "negro" (Black), "rubio" (blond) or even "colorao" (red) as a reference to their skin color without prejudicial insinuation) most whites are not offended by the term and accept it as a cultural distinction. I wish we were more like those groups that see skin color only as a reference for distinction and not a a label. Puerto Ricans are not "latin americans or latinos" they are simply Americans that speak Spanish, Blacks are not african americans, they are black Americans, the natives were here before any of us and none of these groups are inmigrant: The blacks were brought by force, the puertoricans islands belong to the USA (since 1898) and they are (both groups) citizens at birth, unlike most of the USA population. So you see, our heritage has nothing to do with our present condition and labels only separate us from the fact that we are all for the most part Americans. Some try the label "system" to try to advance without a compromise to excel, which is simply a mediocre way to establish personal value.

who is the lord of the land in the one-room kitchenette?

white crackers

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I come from South Georgia and have never heard any of the definitions given except the one by Gideon. My great uncles all kept cattle that roamed free when there was still open range land in Georgia. When they had a roundup, they used whips to drive what they called piney woods scrub stock. My great, great grandfather use to drive cattle from Georgia to Florida on horseback using a stock whip. So that is the defintion I have always heard for the term "cracker", and they are proud to be called Georgia Crackers.

In the old slavery times when a white man would crack a wip on a black man.

who is the " lord of the land " ?

ITS A COMPLIMENT!
it means, tasty and an excellent lunch accompaniment.

right?

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