Slang word, Cracker?

topic posted Sat, May 30, 2009 - 10:40 AM by  Osteo
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Does this mean, "cool under fire", but un-cool in the real world. Is a cracker venerable or young? Do they have a hidden ultra-talent? Is it an insult? Whose feelings would it hurt worst, a mailman, or, a person who didn't wear adult diapers?
posted by:
Osteo
Washington
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    Re: Slang word, Cracker?

    Sat, May 30, 2009 - 12:58 PM
    The only use I have ever heard
    of this term in the slang form,
    is from the mouths of Yankees
    while bad mouthing those
    inhabitants of the state of
    Georgia.

    I being of, at least in part,
    Southern blood do not cotton
    to the term nor any of it's
    cousins.
    • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

      Sat, May 30, 2009 - 5:06 PM
      In England I believe "crackers" is underworld argot for crazy, as in "it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide" (It is crazy to pay a cop a bribe in counterfeit currency). The character played by Robbie Coltrane in the TV show "Cracker" is a psychologist who solves cases, making the term a double pun (he is a "cracker" (a man who plumbs the psyche of someone who is "crackers" and a "cracker" of difficult cases).

      In this country a "cracker" is sometimes used as criminal argot for somebody who opens safes, a shortened version of "safe cracker."

      Outside of the underworld meanings, however, I have never heard it used in the U.S. as anything but a slighting reference to a Southerner of the lower socio-economic class. An example would be this usage in the Randy Newman song, "The Kingfish:"

      Everybody gather 'round
      Loosen up your suspenders
      Hunker down on the ground.
      I'm a cracker
      And you are too
      But don't i take good care of you?

      lyrics.astraweb.com/displayp.cgi
    • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

      Sat, May 30, 2009 - 5:26 PM
      Interesting. I live up north and only remember hearing the word as derogatory to Caucasians in general, never a specific geographical reference.
      • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

        Sat, May 30, 2009 - 5:45 PM
        Heather, I think that is the way the term is sometimes used by young African-Americans -- as a general derogatory reference to caucasians. I don't think I have heard it used this way and I wasn't aware of the usage until I checked the entries in the urban dictionary. The majority of the ones I reviewed there seemed to mention that interpretation of the term.

        A caveat: I have not read all 25 pages of entries in the urban dictionary related to the term -- only about five or six of them. But among the ones I did review, the majority appeared to have been posted by white people who take offense at the expression and associate it with black racism.
        • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

          Sat, May 30, 2009 - 6:03 PM
          For an amusing side note, when I was in high school, my best friend was Puerto Rican. He referred to me as "the Anglo chick." He was also amazed that I could sit and eat spicy food with him. He couldn't believe an Anglo girl could stand the hot peppers.

          It is amazing how people can have such prejudiced ideas in this day and age. My friend was not what I would consider racist, but he definitely had certain expectation based on my appearance.

          • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

            Sat, May 30, 2009 - 7:22 PM
            To use the blanket term, "Anglo" for someone of Caucasian descent is to me, a bit annoying. I have no Anglo blood in me. I'm Sicilian. So, what P.C. term should be used for me? Mediterranean-American? Never mind. "White" will do, I suppose. (Although that's no description of the color of my skin in summertime.)
            • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

              Sat, May 30, 2009 - 9:27 PM
              I just have to say, I dislike any derogatory term used toward anyone in a race-related manner. Honestly, I've met some kick-ass people from all walks of life. If I'm gonna dis on someone it will be their own persona, in which the terms "asshole", "bitch", dickhead", or mother-f'er" are used appropriately. just because you are of a specific race doesn't make you "@#$%^"
              At least, that is the way I look at it
            • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

              Mon, June 1, 2009 - 6:51 AM
              >>>>To use the blanket term, "Anglo" for someone of Caucasian descent is to me, a bit annoying. <<<<<

              Yes, it annoys me also. My family history is Saxon, not Anglo at all. :-)
    • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

      Sun, May 31, 2009 - 11:45 PM
      Is there any connection between the country Georgia by the Caucasian mountains and the U.S. state, Georgia?
      • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

        Mon, June 1, 2009 - 12:40 AM
        Both have caucasians living there, but the caucasians in Georgia, the former SSR, get a capital letter, while those from the U.S. state do not. At least, that's according to the Associated Press stylebook.

        That is "capital," by the way, not "capitol." The capitol of Georgia in the Caucasus is Tbilisi, while the capitol of Georgia in the U.S. is Atlanta.

        In Tbilisi, incidentally, the "capital" is the lari, while in Altanta it is the dollar. The Caucasian Georgian currency used to be the ruble, but has been switched by the government since the disbandment of the USSR. While there may be "rubes" in parts of the U.S. Georgia, there are very few rubles. There are also no "laris" to speak of. There may be a few "lorries," but they are usually only called that by people who originally come from England.

        As a side note, "Georgian" in England not only refers to citizens of the Georgias in the Caucasus and the U.S., but also relates to a period of the English monarchy (specifically the first four monarchs of the house of Hanover) and a school of English architecture that flourished roughly between 1720 and 1840.

        Lord, I start getting silly after midnight....
        • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

          Mon, June 1, 2009 - 7:41 AM
          Georgia, Georgia
          The whole day through (the whole day through)
          Just an old sweet song
          Keeps Georgia on my mind (Georgia on my mind)


          THANK YOU, RAY CHARLES!!!


          Musician's logic:
          God is love
          Love is blind
          Ray Charles is blind
          Therefore Ray Charles is God.
        • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

          Mon, June 1, 2009 - 7:18 PM
          But what of the Caucus? Tight ties, strange throats, and smart speeches?
          • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

            Mon, June 1, 2009 - 9:51 PM
            We seem to have segued from the Georgian to the Carolingian -- the Lewis Carrollingian at any rate:

            'What I was going to say,' said the Dodo in an offended tone, `was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.'

            Which, I assume, would be a race through the Caucasus....probably involving either Caucasians or caucasians.

            Incidentally, the narrative of the caucus race from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," also involves a Lory -- though not a lari or a lorrie...

            (I can't believe it is only 9:47 p.m. I don't usually get this slap happy until closer to the witching hour...)
            • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

              Tue, June 2, 2009 - 5:35 AM
              But is race based on eye color, nipple shade, or paper-work?
              • Re: Slang word, Cracker?

                Tue, June 2, 2009 - 6:25 PM
                Please, please stay up. You must know about Wide-Boy. I conceived this to be Russian slang but Wide-boy is British slang. It is someone who likes it part hostile. A Wide-boy likes shady dealings and petty crimes. Maybe they are wide, get a lot of space, but want more space to get things closer to half-hostile. Must be a life-time of work.

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