corn-cracker

American  

[kawrn-krak-er] / ˈkɔrnˌkræk ər /

noun

Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.

1. a contemptuous term used to refer to a member of a class of poor white people in the southern U.S.

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Sensitive Note

This term is used with disparaging intent and is perceived as insulting, being similar in connotation to redneck and hillbilly. Corn-cracker originally referred to a native of Kentucky or Georgia, but has come to apply broadly to any poor white person in the South. See also cracker.

Etymology

Origin of corn-cracker

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; corn ¹ + cracker

Example Sentences

"Don't beg any thing for me, Mr. K——," growled the Colonel through his barred teeth, "I'll fight the d——d corn-cracker, and his whole race, at once."

From Project Gutenberg

No," he replied, "he's a North Carolina 'corn-cracker,' one of the ugliest specimens of humanity extant.

From Project Gutenberg

We then left the cabin, and when out of hearing of the blacks, I said to the corn-cracker: "That may be Scripture doctrine, but I have not been taught so!"

From Project Gutenberg

"D——d ef I doant b'lieve 'twud make her love th' little nig like I do;" replied the corn-cracker, taking him up on his knee as tenderly as he would have taken up his own child.

From Project Gutenberg

For several days she was delirious, and her life despaired of; but throughout the whole the noble corn-cracker, neglecting every thing, remained beside her.

From Project Gutenberg