# Derogatory terms for European-Americans **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2002, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096 "2002-11-10T04:17:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/1 "2002-11-10T04:17:28Z")
While reading about the offensiveness of the term [Mulatto](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=143486), I wondered about the various “offensive” terms for white people: cracker, honky, redneck, etc. As an **a** verage **w** hite **b** oy, I don’t find any of them offensive. What do these mean in terms of offensiveness anyways? (I get ‘redneck’, but the others elude me.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/2 "2002-11-10T04:49:14Z")
I think cracker comes from “white as a soda cracker.” I know honky refers to the nasal honking quality, supposedly, of the caucasian voice. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/3 "2002-11-10T05:08:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > \*\*While reading about the offensiveness of the term [Mulatto](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=143486), I wondered about the various “offensive” terms for white people: cracker, honky, redneck, etc. > \*\* I always heard that cracker referred to the condition of the necks of those who spent their lives working outdoors. After years of working out in the field the neck could take on a cracked appearance. Cracker and redneck both seem to be words applied to poor white people more then middle class or wealthy white people. Marc ---
**Author:** ![dec](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@dec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dec)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/4 "2002-11-10T05:32:40Z")
i think “cracker” refers to " Jimmy cracked corn and i don’t care" it has something to do with cracking corn…a man i met in North Florida was proud to be a " cracker" but couldnt explain where the expression came from…whaat doess it mean to “crack corn?” ---
**Author:** ![fishcrawford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85f322/32.png) [@fishcrawford](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishcrawford)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/5 "2002-11-10T05:51:47Z")
From [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) 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. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/6 "2002-11-10T06:52:44Z")
“To crack” meant to brag as far back as the sixteenth century, or so. A “cracker” came to mean a braggart and, later, a street tough (who would be prone to bragging). The term came to be associated with any loud or uncouth person of the lower classes and, for reasons that are not entirely clear, made its way across the Atlantic to be applied to the poorer people of Georgia and the Carolinas (and, later, Florida). It is possible (although I have not found supporting documentation) that, since Georgia was originally the site of a penal colony, the word was being applied to the men who had been transported and was later broadened to all the poorer inhabitants. The Random House [Word Maven: cracker](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980604) tends to support my general presentation, although I dug up rather more information out of the **OED** and posted it [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2479153#post2479153) and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2482224#post2482224). It does not come from the “cracking” of a whip (either by teamsters or by slave overseers). It does not come from “cracking” corn. ([Cecil has addressed the meaning of cracking corn.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981030.html)) Honky: [Cecil has also addressed: What’s the origin of “honky”?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_257b.html) and his etymology is supported by Random House’s [Word Maven column](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19961003). ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/7 "2002-11-10T14:01:09Z")
There are plenty of degrogatory terms for European Americans related to ethnicity, but most have lost their relevancy and thus their sting. Calling someone a Polack,Wop, Kraut, Frog, Mick etc, is unlikely to get a significant rise out a economically successful second or third generation American member of these ethnic groups. In fact, like African American attempts with the n word, in many cases they have sought to “own” the word(s) and I have seen them use it to describe themselves in relaxed social settings (and even political settings if they are informally addressing a male crowd of voters with similar ethnic descent to themselves) in a jocular and self deprecating fashion. In a way it almost seems to be a grasping for “authenticity” as they get further removed from their ethnic roots. The most powerful insults for Americans of European descent are non-ethnic insults about their personal ethics, mental capacity, socio-economic status or work ethic. ---
**Author:** ![Monkeypants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Monkeypants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkeypants)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/8 "2002-11-10T14:10:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\* > Calling someone a Polack,Wop, Kraut, Frog, Mick etc, is unlikely to get a significant rise out a economically successful second or third generation American member of these ethnic groups. > \*\* How is the above related to the below? > [@](#): > > \*\* > In fact, like African American attempts with the n word, in many cases they have sought to “own” the word(s) and I have seen them use it to describe themselves in relaxed social settings . . . > \*\* I don’t care how “economically successful” the richest guy in Bay Ridge is – I’m not calling him a Wop. Even if he calls his friends wops. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/9 "2002-11-10T15:38:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monkeypants \* > \*\* > > How is the above related to the below? > > I don’t care how “economically successful” the richest guy in Bay Ridge is – I’m not calling him a Wop. Even if he calls his friends wops. \*\* Ummm… that’s kind of the point and I realize I should have been more clear. It is OK for members of the same European ethnic groups(s) them to call _themselves_ this, but this privilege is reserved _for themselves_ and is typically seen in informal and primarily male social contexts with others of the same ethnic affiliation and socio-economic status. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/10 "2002-11-10T15:46:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monkeypants \* > \*\* > > How is the above related to the below? > > I don’t care how “economically successful” the richest guy in Bay Ridge is – I’m not calling him a Wop. Even if he calls his friends wops. \*\* Ummm… that’s kind of the point and I realize I should have been more clear. It is OK for members of the same European ethnic groups(s) them to call _themselves_ this, but this privilege is reserved _for themselves_ and is typically seen in informal and primarily male social contexts with others of the same ethnic affiliation and socio-economic status. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogatory-terms-for-european-americans/136096/11 "2002-11-10T15:57:32Z")
Bohunk = from Bohemia, iirc part of present-day Czech Republic.