[Russ Lewis Silver Member Posts: 2469]

Wabi Sabi

on: June 11, 2021 at 8:03 am

Another Cracker House

[John Hollenberg]

Re: Another Cracker House

Reply #1 on: June 11, 2021 at 2:18 pm

I had never heard of a “Cracker House” and had to look it up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_cracker_architecture

I especially enjoyed the description of a “Florida Cracker”:

By the 1760s, the ruling classes, both in Britain and in the American colonies, applied the term cracker to Scots-Irish, Scottish, and English American settlers of the remote southern back country, as noted in a letter 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.” The word was later associated with the cowboys of Georgia and Florida, many of them descendants of those early colonizers who had migrated south.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by John Hollenberg.

[Russ Lewis Silver Member Posts: 2469]

Re: Another Cracker House

Reply #2 on: June 11, 2021 at 8:09 pm

Hi, John,

You’re right. There also are other stories explaining the term “cracker.” One is that the term came from the sound of the Florida cowboys cracking their whips as they herded the cattle. In any case, it’s a common term. We even used to eat at a restaurant named “Cracker Cove.”

[Jeremy Roussak Gold Member Posts: 961]

Re: Another Cracker House

Reply #3 on: June 13, 2021 at 8:01 am

Interesting link, John. I’m amused that the author of the Wikipedia page felt it necessary to make it expressly clear that there was colonial-era settlers lacked air conditioning.

“Cracker” in the UK means a biscuit, usually eaten with cheese.

Jeremy

[Russ Lewis Silver Member Posts: 2469]

Re: Another Cracker House

Reply #4 on: June 13, 2021 at 9:57 am

It means the same thing in the U.S., Jeremy. Except in Florida.

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