Cracker

Having lived in California for most of my life I thought that the one way to insult a white person was to call them a "cracker."  I originally thought it was due to their being as pale as the little edibles you find in your pantry.  Then an old coworker told me it refers to the plantation foremen who would crack the whips on slaves who weren't working hard enough.

Now here I am in Florida and the word "cracker" is found everywhere - and blatantly so.   The recreation of a historic village in Tampa, Florida, is lovingly and officially called "Cracker County."  A local restaurant "Wimauma" boasts that they are "Where Cracker Meets Gourmet."    And now Michael has come home with this mass-produced beverage,  "Florida Cracker!"

There really isn't a word to make White people feel bad - not that I was trying to.  There I was in politically correct California thinking that cracker was the white folks' "N-word."  Naw ... the white folks now own it, love it, and broadcast it everywhere here in Florida that it feels more like a term of endearment than anything negative.