Florida - a bit of trivia

[Bluce Ree]

I was watching "How the States got Their Shapes" on the History Channel and learned a few interesting tidbits.

The first settlers to Florida were the Spanish in 1513. They brought the first cattle to the state. Florida, today, is home to the largest cattle ranch in the country as. My guess would have been Texas. It was also home to the first cowboys.

The cattle ranchers in central Florida are known as "crackers" because of their mastery of cracking whips to herd cattle. Spanish Florida in the 18th century was also a haven for runaway slaves, where they were welcomed and granted freedom. Both Spanish law and the Catholic Church treated slavery as an unnatural condition and recognized blacks and American Indians as human beings and equals.

Mose, north of St. Augustine, was established as the first legally sanctioned free black town of North America.

The show used an interesting phrase, calling central Florida home to "crackers and free slaves". I wonder if this is tied to the origin of the term "cracker"?

 

[YJ02]

here is something from one of the various online 'slang' dictionaries:


Etymology 2

Various theories exists regarding this term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers ("corncrackers"), who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (Florida crackers) who cracked loud whips to drive herds of cattle, or, alternatively, from the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers. Yet another theory maintains that the term cracker was in use in Elizabethan times to describe braggarts. An early reference that supports this sense is a letter dated June 27, 1766 from Gavin Cochrane 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.[1][2]​

[edit]​

Noun

​

Wikipedia has an article on:

Cracker (pejorative)​

cracker (plural crackers)

1. (US, pejorative, ethnic slur) An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida; by extension: any white person.

A long way back on an HBO show with the actor Robert Wuir (spelling?) a comic and professor of history-he did a couple of lecture type shows explaining how things got into our common speech and actions of today. His explanation of Cracker was similar to the Elizabethan age one above. It was associated with a Gaelic word that referred to poor ppl in the negative who would move from place to place to avoid rents and tenancy responsibilities.
Seems there are several explanations

 

[Tripler]

I'm in Florida right now

 

[Overmind One]

Breathtaking sunset and beach. *sigh*

 

[shavedape]

 

[Overmind One]

BAHAHAHAHA!

 

[Gatefan1976]

You DO know he is only cutting it off because he wants to keep that giant dick all to himself, right?

 

[Bluce Ree]

View attachment 30492 I'm in Florida right now

Where in Florida? I'm here, too.

 

[shavedape]

Where in Florida? I'm here, too.

I highly doubt you're gonna bump into him in cell block D, sweetie.

 

[Overmind One]

here is something from one of the various online 'slang' dictionaries:


Etymology 2

Various theories exists regarding this term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers ("corncrackers"), who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (Florida crackers) who cracked loud whips to drive herds of cattle, or, alternatively, from the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers. Yet another theory maintains that the term cracker was in use in Elizabethan times to describe braggarts. An early reference that supports this sense is a letter dated June 27, 1766 from Gavin Cochrane 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.[1][2]​

[edit]​

Noun

​

Wikipedia has an article on:

Cracker (pejorative)​

cracker (plural crackers)

1. (US, pejorative, ethnic slur) An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida; by extension: any white person.

A long way back on an HBO show with the actor Robert Wuir (spelling?) a comic and professor of history-he did a couple of lecture type shows explaining how things got into our common speech and actions of today. His explanation of Cracker was similar to the Elizabethan age one above. It was associated with a Gaelic word that referred to poor ppl in the negative who would move from place to place to avoid rents and tenancy responsibilities.
Seems there are several explanations

I dont know where any of this Wiki stuff came from, but the real story is that the term "cracker" is a pejorative term created by blacks to describe white male southerners who have a "massa" mentality (like Cliven Bundy of Nevada). The term "cracker" refers to the cracking of the slave whip. I dont know who this Robert Wuir is, but he is no authority on this subject. Blacks also created the term "white trash", not whites. Cracker rarely is used to describe an individual white southern female. But it can be used to describe a racist southern white family.

This:

"His explanation of Cracker was similar to the Elizabethan age one above. It was associated with a Gaelic word that referred to poor ppl in the negative who would move from place to place to avoid rents and tenancy responsibilities."

LOL, just no. If this was remotely true, then this term would have been in use in Europe before America existed. That is not the case. Just trust me on this. Historians are trying to claim that the term goes back further, but there is really no evidence of that. There is nothing Elizabethian, Gaelic or anything pre-American connected to the use of the perjorative term "cracker" in the United States.

 

[YJ02]

I dont know where any of this Wiki stuff came from, but the real story is that the term "cracker" is a pejorative term created by blacks to describe white male southerners who have a "massa" mentality (like Cliven Bundy of Nevada). The term "cracker" refers to the cracking of the slave whip. I dont know who this Robert Wuir is, but he is no authority on this subject. Blacks also created the term "white trash", not whites. Cracker rarely is used to describe an individual white southern female. But it can be used to describe a racist southern white family.

This:

"His explanation of Cracker was similar to the Elizabethan age one above. It was associated with a Gaelic word that referred to poor ppl in the negative who would move from place to place to avoid rents and tenancy responsibilities."

LOL, just no. If this was remotely true, then this term would have been in use in Europe before America existed. That is not the case. Just trust me on this. Historians are trying to claim that the term goes back further, but there is really no evidence of that. There is nothing Elizabethian, Gaelic or anything pre-American connected to the use of the perjorative term "cracker" in the United States.

wow! timely response !

i barely remember this

just posted what was "out there" again,didn't mean i believed it.....

words have different meanings in different parts of the US. especially slang

seems floridians-especially northern floridians-panhandlers-hold "cracker" as a negative for poor whites and those that act in a way that (supposedly) demeans white ppl as a whole

of course, it has also been picked up by southern blacks for the same usage

WTF does it matter anyhow!? Negative slang is of little use and for those of the uneducated and largely illiterate masses of the new American education system!

"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.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/07/01/197644761/word-watch-on-crackers

Wherever it truly comes from, it is pretty clear it was from English whites applying a pejorative to Scot-Irish whites in the south

The English used these ppl as little better then slaves themselves, the majority of them being indentured servants or debt prisoners from England

some of the only work they could find once freed, was as plantation foreman and taskmasters wielding the whip on slaves

-----------------------------------------------

you don't know Robert Wuhl? He is a comedian, actor and writer / show runner

he is also an autodidact in history and the social sciences-an interest he has attributed as a result of research in writing scripts and other projects

he is interesting in that he doesn't tune in the 'big picture' of history but the lesser known and little interesting "side shows" of history

like the norman english origination of the word "f$ck"

 

[Overmind One]

wow! timely response !

i barely remember this

just posted what was "out there" again,didn't mean i believed it.....

words have different meanings in different parts of the US. especially slang

seems floridians-especially northern floridians-panhandlers-hold "cracker" as a negative for poor whites and those that act in a way that (supposedly) demeans white ppl as a whole

of course, it has also been picked up by southern blacks for the same usage

WTF does it matter anyhow!? Negative slang is of little use and for those of the uneducated and largely illiterate masses of the new American education system!

"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.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/07/01/197644761/word-watch-on-crackers

Wherever it truly comes from, it is pretty clear it was from English whites applying a pejorative to Scot-Irish whites in the south

The English used these ppl as little better then slaves themselves, the majority of them being indentured servants or debt prisoners from England

some of the only work they could find once freed, was as plantation foreman and taskmasters wielding the whip on slaves

-----------------------------------------------

you don't know Robert Wuhl? He is a comedian, actor and writer / show runner

he is also an autodidact in history and the social sciences-an interest he has attributed as a result of research in writing scripts and other projects

he is interesting in that he doesn't tune in the 'big picture' of history but the lesser known and little interesting "side shows" of history

like the norman english origination of the word "f$ck"

Yeah, okay, but the word "fag" means something different in England than it does in the United States. The term "cracker" as it is used in the United States is as I said it was. Black slaves were the first to use it and mostly blacks (and some Latinos) are still the ones using it. The other "explanations" put forth in that Wiki do not even make sense, when you think of the standard context of when it is used in the United States. Always a black using it towards a white male or group of white males. Sometimes against a whole family. But never used between whites, not in Europe now or ever. Funny how he brings in the Gaelic and Elizabethan nonsense when in those times there were other words in use to describe people of ill repute.

This is pure revisionist stuff. You already know how it is used and who uses it. Why even waste time trying to question it's origins as it is used here in the US? Just LOL!

 

[Tripler]

Where in Florida? I'm here, too.

I'm on treasure Island . Right be side the Shake Shop
Leavin tomorrow morning .

 

[Tripler]

Well thats something . Here I thought I was a Bugs Bunny expert but I have never seen that saw off Florida episode or at least I can't remember it as I've been having a few drinks on a daily and evening and morning schedule .

 

[Bluce Ree]

I'm on treasure Island . Right be side the Shake Shop
Leavin tomorrow morning .

You're out on the west coast of Florida. I like the beaches there because the gulf waters are calm.

 

[Tripler]

You're out on the west coast of Florida. I like the beaches there because the gulf waters are calm.

Sorry your not in this area dude . It would be great to meet you .
Just havin another drink from our tiki shack plus a few beer . It's my last day so I'm making the beat of it . Not gonna weigh myself until 2 weeks after I'm back in the freezer .
I forgot to mentionI'm here with 2 beautiful women .

 

[Bluce Ree]

View attachment 30499


Sorry your not in this area dude . It would be great to meet you .
Just havin another drink from our tiki shack plus a few beer . It's my last day so I'm making the beat of it . Not gonna weigh myself until 2 weeks after I'm back in the freezer .
I forgot to mentionI'm here with 2 beautiful women .

I was much closer last Tuesday. I had gone up to Fort Meyers for a meeting. Had I known you were there I'd have dropped by.

 

[Tripler]

I was much closer last Tuesday. I had gone up to Fort Meyers for a meeting. Had I known you were there I'd have dropped by.

Next time bluce .
Are you in Florida lots ?

 

[Bluce Ree]

Next time bluce .
Are you in Florida lots ?

Yeah, most of the year.

 

[Tripler]

I was much closer last Tuesday. I had gone up to Fort Meyers for a meeting. Had I known you were there I'd have dropped by.

We got here last Wednesday