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Does anyone know what the correct meaning of the term "Oh Crackey!" would be in 1880? The sentence in my book doesn't help "Don't say Oh Crackey!" I'm thinking it means "Darn".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't know this crackey, but it makes me wonder about an ever-so-slightly (or more-than-slightly) tangent:
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care!
What was that cracking corn all about? The master's gone away--but what kind of corn is Jimmy cracking?
Best regards,
WordWonderer
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Pooh-Bah
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My guess, Ladym (and it is only a guess!) is that it is a corruption of the English term, "Crikey!" which is, of course, yet another eupemism for "Christ."
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think Rhubarb Commando has the right of it.
My Grandfather used "Oh Crikey' But haven't heard it for years. May take it up!
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Carpal Tunnel
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>My guess, Ladym (and it is only a guess!) is that it is a corruption of the English term, "Crikey!"
and a good guess it is, RC. but it's not just a corruption, it's a 19th C. US corruption.
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Carpal Tunnel
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tsuwm, didn't "crackers" become US slang for something good, first rate -- as in the candy Cracker Jack?. Did crackers evolve from cracky, or vice versa; and if so, how?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Crikey is an other euphemism for Christ. I didn't know that. Thanks Rhu.
Who said it? Was it mostly ladies and kiddies who didn't want to appear vulgar or was it said by the general population.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have heard (read? where?) that Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care! refers to making corn alcohol!
which makes perfect sense! the masters gone away, and someone has started to ferment some corn for a beer.. (unlikely there would be time or the ability to distill it into whiskey)
and that crackers also refers to small farmers who would crack or ferment their own corn.
crack is also use in processing petrolium.. and for processing pine tar into turpintine..(and some say it's for cracking turpintine that crackers are named-)
but i agree that oh crackey is likely to be a euphonism.
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but it's not just a corruption, it's a 19th C. US corruption.Ah well, I guess that's okay then!  And Helen, your list omitted the current most common use of the word "crack" ... cocaine! Or has Uncle Rudi managed to get rid of that off the streets of New York as well on his way to his honorary knighthood? 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have heard (read? where?) that Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care! refers to making corn alcohol! and that crackers also refers to small farmers who would crack or ferment their own corn. Helen, With a bit of googling I came up with a number of different interpretations. Jimmy crack corn is said to come from: --the practice of "corncracking" or grinding dried corn for use as grits and meal; --the old English term "crack," meaning gossip, and that "cracking corn" was a traditional Shenandoah expression for "sitting around chitchatting." --cracking open (not "brewing") a jug of corn liquor My own guess is the first. Rationale: even today, "cracked corn is the prime ration for commercial hogs in the United States", so I suspect that "cracking corn" was a routine and familiar job in earlier farm-life. BTW, it's thought that the author of the song (published in 1846) was Daniel Emmett, the fellow who later wrote Dixie.cracker as a derogatory US term for rural white southerner ("used for whites the way the N-word is used for African Americans") is suggested to have come from: --a Celtic word meaning braggart or loudmouth (Shakespeare; King John: What cracker is this same that deafe our eares with this abundance of superfluous breath?)--the practice of "corncracking"; thus, a cracker is somebody who can’t afford any other food. --the sound of whips used to drive cattle and oxen (as in crack the whip) http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~fcc/main/what's_a_cracker.htmhttp://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981030.htmlhttp://www.motherearthnews.com/askmother/jh.shtml
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