Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/02/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]hmmm, except for four years in Germany as a teen, I've lived in the South all my life, and only in the past few years have I heard the term cracker applied to anyone but a person from Georgia, and maybe Northern Georgia. Kim Pearson of TCNJ has this to say about it: Kim Pearson © 2003. All Rights Reserved CRACKER INTRODUCTION "Buddy, I'll tell you this and I'll tell the wo'l - all the crackers, all the poah white trash, all the nigger-hitting and nigger-breaking white folks - I loves life and I got to live and I'll scab to hell to live." Claude McKay's use of the word cracker in this passage from his novel Home to Harlem fiercely illustrates the potent and derogatory punch this epithet has when employed to describe whites. However, the word's etymology is slippery. It is also a designation used by and for Southerners many of whom self-identify proudly as crackers, especially whites from Georgia and sometimes from Florida. ( At the same time, much of the impact the word has on its recipients and their reactions depend on who's doing the calling and where the people doing the calling are from. Indeed, one study identifies 21 kinds of crackers , all but one identified with the South. (McDavid, 96) While the word cracker has varied and shifting definitions, and while "cracker culture" is a major field of study all by itself, the word cracker actually holds mostly negative connotations stemming back to its first usage. In fact, in Florida, the word cracker when used as a racial epithet is a violation under the Florida Hate Crimes Act. (Hendrickson, 52). Regards, Sonny - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Adam Bridge" <abridge@mac.com> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2003 5:05 PM Subject: RE: [Leica] LUG manners - Crackers? > On 2/16/03 Austin Franklin wrote: > > > > >I lived in Pascagoula from 1968-1973, and remember hearing it quite a bit. > > > > Really? We were there at the same time. Fancy that. I was in Pascagoula fr om > late November 72 until summer of 1974. When the aliens arrived. > > "Red neck" seems about right to me though. > > AB > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html