Use of the word Cracker

So, if I say that I live in a very WASP-y building, have I just used a racist slur?

What group would that be?

I used to hear this way back when I was a child in the city (New York):

Haven’t heard it in a while though. Does anyone think it’s too offensive today? No idea.

By that standard, “white” and “Caucasian” are also racist.

It’s already been pointed out to you that this is wrong. Continuing to repeat it won’t make it correct.

Depends on context. After all, you just used them.

The word “nigger” is not equivalent to the word “cracker” in it’s usage or offensiveness, which fact you refuse to acknowledge.

Based on that logic, “white” and “black” are racist.

It is applied to only one racial group because it was applied to a specific group of people 400 years ago who happened to be white and their descendants share the sobriquet, today. It was not applied to people because they were white until it became a specific insult in a specific context referring to the people who were already given that title. Used in that context, it would be an insult that is prohibited on the SDMB.

Again, based on your logic, it would be racist to refer to the Gullah or Geechee by the name by which they identify themselves, simply because the people so identified are black. And there is no insult associated with the words Gullah or Geechee.

Not every indication of race is inherently insulting or racist.

But you allow some, and not others. Why is that?

Because some are not inherently… hey! Is this a trick question?

Try reading that again.

I guess we can go in circles like this for a while. Suit yourself.

Or, consider the word “Jew.” It can be used offensively, as in “He wanted fifty bucks for it, but I Jewed him down to $35.” Does that mean that all uses of the word “Jew” are offensive?

Obviously, the moderators disagree with my position, so I will drop it.

Some animals are more equal than others.

In general use the last 200 years, to call someone a “nigger” is to disparage them because they are black. Certainly a racist term, used to disparage someone because they happen to be of a “race,” whatever that means.

in general, to use the term “cracker” to refer to a subset of poor Southern whites isn’t the same as it doesn’t disparage the target for being White, rather it is used to describe a small subset of Southern Whites.

“He’s a Jew”
vs
“He’s a Jew”
if you heard me say those two phrases you’d have no doubt which one was expressing antisemitism. (In written form, context is everything!)

My two cents; if your not sure if you can use a word, what you’re saying is probably going to be offensive.

CMC fnord!
Who uses the word “nigger” . . . in the proper context!

Louis CK performs a bit exactly based on this point–that it’s the only circumstance where the polite word for a group and the insult for it are the same, just with a little ‘stank’ on it. It’s, um, hilarious. :smiley:

NSFW just in case. It’s from 5:46 - 6:42:

Especially animal crackers.

I hesitate to get into a language debate with you Sam, because you know your stuff, but in this case, I need to quibble.

For at least a few decades, (60s-80s, at least) a cracker would often say of a black man, “That Joe there, he’s a good fella, for a darkie*, not like those other niggers.”

The claim was that “nigger” referred to a subset of black people who were shiftless, thuggish and/or lazy.

Clearly this was a bullshit way of being racist, but at the same time, it’s exactly the argument being used. “Well, when I say “cracker”, I don’t mean to insult ALL white people, just poor, rural, shiftless, Southern ones.”

That said, I’m not arguing with your general point, just the specific argument. There’s clearly a problem with any argument that doesn’t acknowledge the huge…power? impact? that the word “nigger” has (and that cracker, plainly doesn’t). Both are insulting, in the same sense that caps for an old cap-gun and a nuclear bomb are both explosives…

*or whatever the somewhat less pejorative term of the day was

You have a funny definition of “dropping it.”

As a verb? Yes.

That’s racist! :eek:

I’ve always heard/read “cracker” as a term equal to “poor white Georgia trash” who would crack the whip over their one mule or slave as the wealthy plantation owner rode past - trying to make himself the equal of the rich. It was considered quite an insult - at least back in the 1800s.

I don’t know if it makes the word more offensive but that is the origin I was taught at Pitt.