Dispelling myths about what Crackers are would be easier, if anybody knew for sure what the word really means and how it became applied to Florida settlers in the first place. It seems that the greatest mystery, though, lies in the origin of the word more is known about the lifestyles of Crackers through two and a half centuries than the historical development of the word cracker, Ste. Claire wrote in one of 11 panels used in the exhibit. There are three main theories about how the word developed. But none of the three conclusively show how and why the Cracker became applied to Floridians.
Cracker comes from a Celtic word meaning braggart or loudmouth.
Shakespeare used this sense of the word in King John. But the theory doesn t explain why the word in this sense would be applied to the usually taciturn folk of the Florida backwoods. When used in this sense, a Cracker is somebody who can t afford any other food. But this theory doesn t answer the question of how the word got applied almost exclusively to folks in rural areas of south Georgia and Florida. Florida cattlemen cracked whips to flush their stock out of the palmetto scrub while settlers used whips to spur on oxen that pulled their carts and wagons.