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marions ghost

(19,841 posts)
39. that's my interpretation too
Fri Jul 19, 2013, 02:50 PM
Jul 2013

coming from the mid-Atlantic South, I always heard "cracker" as going with "Florida"--as in he's a Florida Cracker. A term for white Florida native from the rural areas or swamps. Certainly nothing to do with drugs, not whips either I don't think.

This is what WIKI has
& it's how I see it:

Florida cracker refers to original colonial-era English and American pioneer settlers of what is now the U.S. state of Florida, and their descendants. The first of these arrived in 1763 when Spain traded Florida to Great Britain.

Historical usage

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

By the 1760s the English, both at home and in the American colonies, applied the term “cracker” to Scots-Irish and English American settlers of the remote southern back country, as noted in a passage from a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth: "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 word was later associated with the cowboys of Georgia and Florida, many of them descendants of those early frontiersmen.
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The term is used as a proud or jocular self-description. Since the huge influx of new residents into Florida from the northern parts of the United States and from Mexico and Latin America in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the term "Florida Cracker" is used informally by some Floridians to indicate that their families have lived in the state for many generations. It is considered a source of pride to be descended from "frontier people who did not just live but flourished in a time before air conditioning, mosquito repellent, and screens."[3][4]
Notable Florida crackers

Doyle E. Carlton – 25th governor of Florida (1929–1933), U.S. Senator from Florida (1971–1989)
Kathy Castor – member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida's 11th congressional district (2007–2013) and 14th congressional district (2013–present)
Lawton Chiles – 41st governor of Florida (1991–1998)
LeRoy Collins – 33rd governor of Florida (1955–1961)
Fred P. Cone – 27th governor of Florida (1937–1941)
William Cooley – Florida pioneer
Bob Graham – 38th governor of Florida (1937–1941), U.S. Senator from Florida (1987–2005)
Ben Hill Griffin Jr. – "A Cracker millionaire from Frostproof, Fla."[5]
Spessard Holland – 28th governor of Florida (1941–1945), U.S. Senator (1946–1971)
Bill Nelson – member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1979–1991), NASA payload specialist (STS-61-C), U.S. Senator (2001–present)
Adam Putnam – member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida's 12th congressional district (2001–2011), Florida Agriculture Commissioner (2011–present)
Fuller Warren – 30th governor of Florida (1949–1953)
Janet Wood Reno- U.S. Attorney General (1993-2001)

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

She told Piers Morgan that it meant Duer 157099 Jul 2013 #1
Your second perception is mstinamotorcity2 Jul 2013 #25
Its not necessarily racist, alot of African American young people use it , just like whites say bro, darkangel218 Jul 2013 #2
I would disagree sarisataka Jul 2013 #8
I Could Not Agree More... ChiciB1 Jul 2013 #16
I Was Thinking The Same Myself... ChiciB1 Jul 2013 #9
Did black people call each other "cracker" or "cracka?" nt ZombieHorde Jul 2013 #26
No, ive heard black kids calling their white friends cracker in college (MDC) darkangel218 Jul 2013 #28
Doesn't matter. Wait Wut Jul 2013 #3
Thanks For The Link... n/t ChiciB1 Jul 2013 #17
Lots of meanings dipsydoodle Jul 2013 #4
She apparently believes that Jenoch Jul 2013 #5
The concept of reverse discrimination is stupid gollygee Jul 2013 #6
FOR SURE!! n/t ChiciB1 Jul 2013 #18
Growing up in Florida, the term was used for native Floridians... polichick Jul 2013 #7
Ironically, IIRC the term was originally used to describe a person from Georgia Blue_Tires Jul 2013 #10
That's interesting! Maybe that's why people often... polichick Jul 2013 #15
that's my interpretation too marions ghost Jul 2013 #39
even if they used cracker in the most racist, offensive manner Kali Jul 2013 #11
We should focus more on the "creepy" part. JaneyVee Jul 2013 #12
its a pejorative term for white people. nt galileoreloaded Jul 2013 #13
"Cracker" is often proudly used by people who were born in Florida. spin Jul 2013 #14
Thank You... Pretty Interesting... ChiciB1 Jul 2013 #21
In new England we call crackers, crackas. boston bean Jul 2013 #19
In England UK dipsydoodle Jul 2013 #20
Also "cream crackered" = "knackered" (nt) Nye Bevan Jul 2013 #29
Indeed dipsydoodle Jul 2013 #35
Words dont kill. darkangel218 Jul 2013 #22
If I'm not mistaken Just Saying Jul 2013 #23
In my experience it's a little like "ignorant redneck". Hick, rube, sometimes hillbilly. Classist. nolabear Jul 2013 #24
I think it once was a put-down of native Floridians marions ghost Jul 2013 #41
Here's how Jenteal described it Shrek Jul 2013 #27
I'm a 53-year-old black woman... CitizenLeft Jul 2013 #30
Thanks for the story. Love it. nt okaawhatever Jul 2013 #31
thank you CitizenLeft Jul 2013 #32
I Too Want To Thank You For Your Story ChiciB1 Jul 2013 #33
thank you ChiciB1 for your thoughtful reply CitizenLeft Jul 2013 #34
I'm Sure You've Heard It Before... ChiciB1 Jul 2013 #36
PC meaning: white, rural, southern, working class Avalux Jul 2013 #37
Wikipedia article on cracker meow2u3 Jul 2013 #38
Thank You For The Link... ChiciB1 Jul 2013 #42
I always think southern redneck. Blue_In_AK Jul 2013 #40
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