posted
Here is today's Overboard comic. Is it just me, or is the use of the word cracker really questionable? I don't think coon or spic would have made it to the page, so why cracker? From Dictionary.com, definitions 3 and 4:
quote:crack·er Offensive. -Used as a disparaging term for a poor white person of the rural, especially southeast United States. -Used as a disparaging term for a white person.
-------------------- You fail to consider, for such is the tyranny of fashion, that the swan is not a slim animal... -Jincy Kornhauser, Melinda Falling Posts: 1762 | From: Charleston, West Virginia | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
It's not on the Official List Of Unacceptable Racial Slurs Against Non-whites, of course. Or it's a case of it being ok to use racial slurs against your own race... like black comedians calling other black people the evil N word.
Wonko "can't even bring myself to type it" the Sane
-------------------- "It seemed to me that any civilization that had so far lost its head as to need to include detailed instructions for use in a package of toothpicks, was no longer a civilzation in which I could live and stay sane." Posts: 1462 | From: Outside the Asylum (Massachusetts) | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Bettie Page Turner: is the use of the word cracker really questionable? I don't think coon or spic would have made it to the page, so why cracker?
For me, it comes down to being in power vs. not. I found it funny, but I could be considered a cracker. My wife (who hails from Mexico) will, when noticing that someone is of Hispanic origion, will shout out, "Hey!, she/he's a spic!".
I think it does push the limits, but why not push them?
-------------------- And now for something completely different... Posts: 4164 | From: Alabama | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Limits should be pushed forward, not dragged backward. Satire or comedy meant to provoke you into thinking about an issue is pushing a limit. Making a bad pun using a word that is commonly perceived as offensive in an otherwise innocuous comic is not. This was the use of a word to make a contrived punchline, not social satire.
-------------------- You fail to consider, for such is the tyranny of fashion, that the swan is not a slim animal... -Jincy Kornhauser, Melinda Falling Posts: 1762 | From: Charleston, West Virginia | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote: Different areas of the state embrace different theories. For example, the corncracker theory prevails in the Panhandle and along the Georgia border. In those areas, Cracker is considered an insult.
Meanwhile, the [bull]whip cracker theory is popular in Central Florida. Cattle raisers in particular are proud to identify themselves as Crackers.
posted
If you are salty and crisp, with lots of little holes....
you just might be a cracker.
ETA: The first baseball game I ever saw was when my dad took me to an Atlanta Crackers game. Those were the days.
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Brad from Georgia: If you are salty and crisp, with lots of little holes....
you just might be a cracker.
Are you saying you can't be salt-free and still be a cracker? How rude.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Brad from Georgia: ETA: The first baseball game I ever saw was when my dad took me to an Atlanta Crackers game. Those were the days.
If everything goes according to the owners plan, you can see the Quebec City Jumping Frogs playing in the American Basketball Association.
-------------------- In politics, absurdity is not a handicap - Napoleon Bonaparte Posts: 1801 | From: The Forest City, Ontario | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
I think what's offensive here is how contrived the set up was for that pun.
Gibbie
-------------------- If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. Posts: 3993 | From: Indiana | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
What about "hillbilly"? And I can't believe anyone is still making jokes about moonshine-brewing.
-------------------- Si hoc comprehendere potes, gratias age magistro Latinae. Posts: 1720 | From: Charlottesville, VA | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Gibbie: I think what's offensive here is how contrived the set up was for that pun.
Gibbie
My favorite kind of jokes to tell are the ones where the setup for the pun is not only contrived, but is drawn out over a looooong time to make the punchline even less relevant. I have a joke known as "The Viking Story" that averages about fifteen minutes in length that fits the bill. I like to tell the joke before doing shows with the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company as part of the microphone test, but at this point the cast and crew are so vocal in opposition to the joke I rarely get a chance to do it. I'm gonna give it another try on Labor Day weekend though. . . .
quote:Originally posted by Gibbie: I think what's offensive here is how contrived the set up was for that pun.
Gibbie
My favorite kind of jokes to tell are the ones where the setup for the pun is not only contrived, but is drawn out over a looooong time to make the punchline even less relevant. I have a joke known as "The Viking Story" that averages about fifteen minutes in length that fits the bill. I like to tell the joke before doing shows with the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company as part of the microphone test, but at this point the cast and crew are so vocal in opposition to the joke I rarely get a chance to do it. I'm gonna give it another try on Labor Day weekend though. . . .
Mack da "run out on a rail" Knife
Allow me: A bear walks into a bar. He says "I'm a bear, give me a beer." The bartender says "I'm sorry, sir, but it is the practice of this bar not to serve beers to bears in this bar." The bear gets angry. He bangs the bar and says "I'm a bear, give me a beer." The bartender says "You can bang the bar, but it is the practice of this bar not to serve beers to bears in this bar." The bear bangs the bar and he beats his chest and says "I'm a bear, give me a beer." The bartender says "You can bang the bar, you can beat your chest, but it is the practice of this bar not to serve beers to bears in this bar." The bear says "Listen, I'm a bear give me a beer. If you don't, you see that blonde in the corner? I'm going to walk over there, knock her head off, and eat her brains in big bloody chunks." The bartender says "You can bang the bar, you can beat your chest, you can brag, you can boast, but it is the practice of this bar not to serve beers to bears in this bar." The bear lumbers over to the corner and says "excuse me, miss?" the blonde turns around and the bear knocks her head off and eats her brains in big bloody chunks. He walks back to the bar, licking his fingers and says "I'm a bear. Give me a beer." The bartender says "I'm sorry, sir, but it is the practice of this bar not to serve drug adicts in this bar." "Drug adict!" screams the bear, "I've never had a drug in my life!" "Oh, yeah? What about that bar bitch you ate?"
Posts: 4811 | From: Austin, TX | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Sometimes I think I'm the only white person who cannot conceive of "cracker" being offensive. Even when it's used as an insult, it has no more weight than "jerk". I'm mystified when people take offense to it. To me, using it as an insult sounds silly.
But I'm also a native Floridian and there is a subculture of native cow herding families here who proudly refer to themselves as crackers. Florida cracker heritage has nothing to do with racial epithets. The "cracker house" is a specific form of architecture and some cracker houses are historic landmarks.
But I would never call a hillbilly a cracker. We don't have hills in Florida and it's hard to drive cattle in the hills, so that doesn't make sense to me.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Cervus nippon: Sometimes I think I'm the only white person who cannot conceive of "cracker" being offensive.
You & me. See my post above.
Cervus, have you read A Land Remembered? It's the story of a cattle herding family in old Florida, through three generations. The descriptions of the people and the landscape are very detailed and beautiful.
posted
Florida Cracker here. My mama even lives in a cracker house.
-------------------- and it's 1 - 2 - 3, what are we fighting for? don't ask me, I don't give a damn Posts: 1319 | From: Florida | Registered: Dec 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Spam & Cookies-mmm: Cervus, have you read A Land Remembered? It's the story of a cattle herding family in old Florida, through three generations. The descriptions of the people and the landscape are very detailed and beautiful.
I think it is one of the best books ever written about Florida. I encourage everyone to read it, especially natives.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Cervus nippon: Sometimes I think I'm the only white person who cannot conceive of "cracker" being offensive.
You & me. See my post above.
Cervus, have you read A Land Remembered? It's the story of a cattle herding family in old Florida, through three generations. The descriptions of the people and the landscape are very detailed and beautiful.
I don't find it offensive either. As a matter of fact I use the term on friends and family.
posted
I seem to remember from my elementary school social studies book that "cracker" was a term applied to people from Georgia and Florida back in the 1800's or so. Kind of like a "sooner" is from Oklahoma.
(By the by, as we quickly approach the new football season, let me add that I'd consider "sooner" a much more offensive term than "cracker". 14 days 23 hours and 12 minutes to kick off.)
Posts: 4811 | From: Austin, TX | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Cervus nippon: Sometimes I think I'm the only white person who cannot conceive of "cracker" being offensive. Even when it's used as an insult, it has no more weight than "jerk". I'm mystified when people take offense to it. To me, using it as an insult sounds silly.
Yeah, I'm there Cervus. Not because I associate it with Floridians, ranchers, Georgians, or whatever else it might refer to. Just because I really can't be bothered to get offended by someone making fun of white people.
It's silly, really. What, exactly, do white people in America have to worry about? Are we on the verge of becoming a persecuted minority?
Cracker: a native or resident of Florida or Georgia -- used as a nickname www.m-w.com
Or the author could of misused the word Cracker which is usually applied to making heavey hydrocarbons into light ones by heat. But i do believe i've seen distills being called crackers before...
Posts: 201 | From: Toronto, ON | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
For what it's worth, I'm starving right now and could really go for some crackers.
Seriously.
In fact, I think I think I'll make a run down to the gas station and buy some Saltines.
Mmmmm...
-------------------- High on the wind, the Highland drums begin to roll, and something from the past just comes and stares into my soul... --Mark Knopfler Posts: 3402 | From: New Bern, NC | Registered: May 2004
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quote:Originally posted by DesertRat: For what it's worth, I'm starving right now and could really go for some crackers.
Seriously.
In fact, I think I think I'll make a run down to the gas station and buy some Saltines.
Mmmmm...
I'm an idiot. I bought fresh vegetables for a salad today, and forgot cucumbers, probably my favorite vegetables. If you find some cukes today, eat one and think of me, please.
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