Friday, July 3, 2015

"Christian" Nation, Or Just
Cracker Country?

You decide.
You know who on a you know what.
Gallup reports that patriotic sentiment trends towards Republicans, senior citizens, and people from the South.

68 percent of Republicans polled said that they’re “extremely proud to be an American,” versus 47 percent of Democrats. By region, the South leads nationalist sentiment with 61 percent, compared with 55 percent in the Midwest, 50 percent in the East, and 46 percent in the West. In terms of age, two-thirds of people 65 and older told Gallup that they’re “extremely proud to be an American,” and that percentage grows progressively smaller among younger groups.
Now objectively true: The West is the best & the Coast is the most!

Hey, what's a cracker, one might ask? We like this potential origin:
Another whip-derived theory traces this term from the Middle English cnac, craic, or crak, which originally meant the sound of a cracking whip but came to refer to "loud conversation, bragging talk". In Elizabethan times this could refer to "entertaining conversation" (one may be said to "crack" a joke) and cracker could be used to describe loud braggarts; this term and the Gaelic spelling craic are still in use in Ireland, Scotland and Northern England. It is documented in Shakespeare's King John (1595): "What cracker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?" This usage is illustrated in a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth which reads:
"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."
Ah-yup.

No comments: