People associate cracker and redneck with the south but I believe a comedian said PA was Pittsburgh and Philly with Alabama in the middle. In NE there's a term cutterman. It also might be used in PA and NY [upstate]. N word is more insulting because they were slaves. Check out the Scots Irish:
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Fighting-Scots-Irish-Shaped-America/dp/0767916891

It was James Carville. Who may qualify as a comedian, come to think of it.

Anonymous wrote:I would find it hilarious if someone called me a cracker. Or a gringo. Or a shikse. Or a yankee. I'm a white non-hispanic, non-jewish chick from the North. People can call me whatever the hell they want.

I find plenty of words offensive. the n-word. spic. chink. wetback. towelhead. Cracker is weak compared to those.

I am a white, non-hispanic, non-jewish dude from the north, and I agree with all this. Although it would be strange if someone called me a shikse.

Now, if you asked "Is A cracker racist?" the answer likely would be yes. My own non-dictionary definition of cracker includes an assumption of racist tendencies.

Anonymous wrote:I find it amusing when white people pretend to get offended at being called "cracker". Most seem to think it's funny.

I also find it funny (white woman here) - partly because it reminds me of George Jefferson (even though his word was really 'honky') and partly because I had a friend who when we were younger, didn't make the connection of 'whip' being implied in the term, and once asking what that term was all about, said "is it because we're white like Saltines?"

Anonymous wrote:

thegeek20004 wrote:i'm black, never been called a nigger before... which I'm incredibly grateful for. if it did happen, I'd like to think at first I'd be confused and at the most bemused by it. then laugh it off and pity the person who said it. i think the historical use of nigger makes it far sharper and hurtful than cracker. however, how about we all just agree that racism is bad, and that you shouldn't be a racist.

Post back if it is ever said to you. Confused, I think not. Bemused, I doubt it.

+1000000

I am from Georgia. Cracker is the same as "white trash" or just " trash." It originated in North Georgia and, rather than racist, it is a perjorative used for a dirt poor, ignorant, uneducated and crude-manner white person from the mountains. And often, but not always, "crackers" were racists themselves against black folks, former slaves, with whom they were a pretty similarly situated in the old south (after Emancipaction).

It has certainly been appropriated by some groups to use as a slur against those they view as ignorant white folks. I don't know that I would be actually insulted if someone called a me a cracker but I would certainly be upset if they were using it to indicate I had behaved in a. Racist or ignorant manner.

The woman who called a white woman that on page one of the thread (in an anecdotal story) was clearly using it in a racist way however. She was using it as any other hate-filled term based solely on the other person's skin color. I would feel pity for her, though, for being so angry and feeling so ugly inside that she felt like lashing out at me solely because of my skin color.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pejorative doesn't equal racist.

I don't believe racial stereotypes against the majority are really racist. Unkind or inappopriate, maybe, but not the same as calling someone the N word.

Cracker = nigger. Period.

Do you think cracker is worse than redneck? Because I see them as about the same.

I think majority people (white people, men ...) who perceive things like "reverse" racism or sexism are revealing a lack of understanding of what racism and sexism really are, and may also feel marginalized within their own group.

Regardless of that uninformed viewpoint, cracker is certainly not the equivalent in any way of the N word.

People associate cracker and redneck with the south but I believe a comedian said PA was Pittsburgh and Philly with Alabama in the middle. In NE there's a term cutterman. It also might be used in PA and NY [upstate]. N word is more insulting because they were slaves. Check out the Scots Irish:
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Fighting-Scots-Irish-Shaped-America/dp/0767916891

Anonymous wrote:

thegeek20004 wrote:i'm black, never been called a nigger before... which I'm incredibly grateful for. if it did happen, I'd like to think at first I'd be confused and at the most bemused by it. then laugh it off and pity the person who said it.

i think the historical use of nigger makes it far sharper and hurtful than cracker. however, how about we all just agree that racism is bad, and that you shouldn't be a racist.

cracker = nigger poster here.

Yes, I think you just articulated better what I was trying to say.

Of course the history of the word "nigger" is dramatically more heinous than "cracker." No one was ever called a "cracker" as they were lynched, for example. But when someone is hatefully calling a white person a "cracker" the sentiment is still very much the equivalent to someone else hurling any other sort of epithet. The hostility is the same.

I do find the reluctance of people to even spell out the word "nigger" to be really funny. It's like they're afraid of the word or something. Referring to the "n-word" as if the word "nigger" will bite simply by being printed on the page (or screen) is ridiculous.

I think you just get thrills typing the word.