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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Obama fans, what say ye?
  • Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:13:57 EDT


> Btw, to save me from looking it up, what the heck is a cracker? See,
> you have exposed my ignorance.

The Gaelic word for casual conversation is 'craic' pronounced 'crack'. It
has crept into the English lagnuage wherever Gaelic speaking people made up
part
of the population. A very many of the people who settled the South were of
Celtic extraction and the word was in common use. So a person who was
always
engaging in 'craic' was a 'cracker'.

In the South the use of the term changed to mean not just conversation but
boasting. So a cracker meant a braggart.

The term has racist overtones, both that calling somone a 'cracker' implies
they are a biased white person and also the term is used as comeback to other
racially latent words.

But also like so many pejorative terms, used among family and close friends,
they can be terms of endearment, much like a spouse calling the other 'you
old
fool'. I've heard many blacks that would take instant umbrage at the use of
N, use the word among themselves much as above. Like that, a good ol' boy
might call another one a 'cracker' without offense, but used by someone else
it
might be very offensive.

I lived in Georgia for a while (East Point just outside of Atlanta, at least
'outside' back then) and 'cracker' was viewed as an insult. </HTML>




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