MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
|
|
|
From the Readers
- barefooted 9 months ago
- PeraclesPlease 11 months ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- artappraiser 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- artappraiser 1 year ago
Creative corner
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- artappraiser 1 year ago
- artappraiser 1 year ago
From the Dagbloggers
- Michael Wolraich 1 year 1 week ago
- Danny Cardwell 3 years 3 months ago
- Doctor Cleveland 4 years 1 week ago
- PeraclesPlease 4 years 2 months ago
- PeraclesPlease 4 years 2 months ago
- William K. Wolfrum 4 years 2 months ago
- William K. Wolfrum 4 years 2 months ago
- Doctor Cleveland 4 years 3 months ago
- Doctor Cleveland 4 years 3 months ago
- William K. Wolfrum 4 years 3 months ago
Hits of the Day
The Secret History Of The Word 'Cracker'
By artappraiser on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 12:18am |By Gene Demby, Code Switch @ npr.org, July 1, 2012
[.....] But it turns out cracker's roots go back even further than the 17th century. All the way back to the age of Shakespeare, at least.
"The meaning of the word has changed a lot over the last four centuries," said Dana Ste. Claire, a Florida historian and anthropologist who studies, er, crackers. (He literally wrote the book on them.)
Ste. Claire pointed me to King John, published sometime in the 1590s. One character refers to another as a craker — a common insult for an obnoxious bloviator.
What craker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?
"It's a beautiful quote, but it was a character trait that was used to describe a group of Celtic immigrants — Scots-Irish people who came to the Americas who were running from political circumstances in the old world," Ste. Claire said. Those Scots-Irish folks started settling the Carolinas, and later moved deeper South and into Florida and Georgia.
But the disparaging term followed these immigrants, who were thought by local officials to be unruly and ill-mannered [....]
URL:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/07/01/197644761/word-watch-on-crackers
- Add new comment
- 2821 reads
Comments
Are there people who become legitimately offended when they get called a "cracker?" It doesn't sound anywhere near as aggressive and derogatory as the infamous "N-word" but then again that may be because of how we are socialized to regard these words.
by Orion on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 12:57pm
Yeah, if it was whites who had been enslaved, persecuted, or lynched by blacks, "cracker" would probably be as offensive as "nigger"(this white guy doesn't think the word should have become unprintable and unmentionable, but I am a white guy).
by Aaron Carine on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 1:18pm
Scottish-Irish "crackers" were enslaved, persecuted and starved by the millions by the English, along with other injustices in the Americas. See history of Cromwell for just 1 depressing chapter.
But fuck it, if we're going to get all teary eyed, I need a pint to wallow in, and I'll be goddamned if I'm going to let such a pathetic codswallop of an insult produce even a spit in response. Isn't all this wailing a bit unseemly?
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 4:07pm
Well, it isn't totally unmentionable - you do hear some black folks use it.
FYI there was white slavery by Africans.
by Orion on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 8:06pm
Florida and Georgia Crackers were cattlemen. They drove their cattle through narrow trails in palmetto thickets, cracking whips to keep the cattle moving north. These cowboys and ranchers in Florida and South Georgia used that name to distinguished them from the farmers and fruit growers because of the cracking sound that they made with their whips. Cattle ranching was big in Florida in the nineteenth century. Also the cracker cowboys were Spanish, German, and African American beside being Scott/Irish. Now it just means rural farmers in Georgia and Florida.
by trkingmomoe on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 1:07am
Dana Ste. Claire, the main source for the article, and a historian of Florida who wrote a book on "the crackers," doesn't appear to agree with your interpretation of it coming from them being cattlemen. He mentions the cracking of the whip thing in the article, but clearly thinks that was northerners' mis-interpretation that it referred to slave whips. And that that came long after the original "crackers" already had their label:
There's no real proof of right or wrong here, the difference is just interesting, that's all, that what you learned is different than what he did from studying many sources.
If you didn't read the whole thing, you really should, because he talks about their "distinctive cuisine," too, and I know that whether you find it accurate or not, that should interest you.
by artappraiser on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 1:47am
There was a hardcore video on CNN with Tim Wise about why "nigger" is obviously a much more offensive word than "Cracker." Worth watching.
by Orion on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 6:13pm
Here they trace the word back to King John.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 7:08pm
Your link points to the article artappraiser gave us. He also gives a link to King John.
by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 9:13pm
Oops, yes - however there is a right vs. wrong here - the later (mis) interpretation of cracker coming from the cracking of whips is ahistorical. Plus I've never heard the term used as sign of superiority - those cracking the whips over slaves or gauchos managing the cattle. It's always about dumb or naïve, penniless, hard labor, hayseeds.
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/04/2013 - 1:11am
Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster Unabridged both define the term whip- cracker as persons in authority.
Obama called Snowden a cracker.
by rmrd0000 on Thu, 07/04/2013 - 1:34am
A "whip-cracker" is a person of authority. A "cracker" is not a shortened version of "whip-cracker". Period. It's historical. (In "pollywannacracka" it's simply a white dude)
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/04/2013 - 3:14am
If you had read the original post you would not have posted the same links.If you read what I posted, you would know that I did not say whip-cracker = cracker. I used cracker = hacker to describe Snowden.
by rmrd0000 on Thu, 07/04/2013 - 9:37am
I won't get into a back and forth with you on this. I do note that a post below mentions the Florida Cracker Trail Association. The organization preserves the memory of cattlemen and uses an image of a horseman with a whip, a whip-cracker. The organization had no problem using "cracker" alone in the name. I noted that I did not equate whip- cracker with cracker, but it seems that others may equate the two. The point is not worth an argument.
by rmrd0000 on Thu, 07/04/2013 - 10:54am
I read the whole thing. I know who Dana Ste. Claire is. I have seen him enough times on PBS local stations in the past with his show. We have a local cracker home site in a historical village about 3 miles from where I live. He used to teach at USF in St. Pete where my grandson will go in Jan. I don't know if he is still in the History dept. there or not? I understand his books are a good read all 3 of them. I just never had the money to purchase any of them when I go to the Cracker Village. If I ever get to NYC, I will make all of you some corn pone, black eye peas, collards, palm hearts citrus salad and key lime pie. I will also bring you a gift of my ribbon winning scuppernong grape conserve jam. Lot of the original settlers here were small cattle ranchers that only broke even. This was flood plains and swamps with dry areas for ranching. There were some small plantations in this county. Other parts of the state had good land. One more point: Every year The Cracker Trail Association hosts a event to raise money. They ride horses across the state from the historical village near me. http://http://www.crackertrail.org/ride.htm
by trkingmomoe on Thu, 07/04/2013 - 7:30am
Ste. Claire works for St. Augustine as the director for their Historical City. I just looked it up.
by trkingmomoe on Thu, 07/04/2013 - 7:56am