Laura Riding died (2/9/1991)

[Ross Clark]

American poet. Born NYC 1901. Cornell graduate.
Went to Europe in 1925 and hung out with Robert Graves and his wife,
then without his wife (see Wiki for "famous literary scandal") for 14
years. Big influence on his work. Back in USA, married someone named
Jackson and settled in Florida. "Lived quietly and simply" (Wiki) until
her death*.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Riding

Oh, and about language? Yes, Crystal: "a fascination with words was
always present [in her poetry]...Her writing is full of intriguing and
unconventional linguistic observations, such as: 'Language is a form of
laziness; the word is a compromise between what is possible to express
and what is not possible to express."

About 1941 she gave up writing poetry, and didn't start to explain why
until 20 years later. "Her later writings attest to what she regarded as
the truth-potential contained in language and in the human mind. She
might be regarded as a spiritual teacher whose unusually high valuation
of language, led her to choose literature as the locus of her work." (Wiki)


*Some of the quiet and simple living was done in what Wiki calls a
"vernacular cracker house" at Vero Beach FL. Wiki links us to an article
describing this type of architecture:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_cracker_architecture

I have always encountered "cracker" as a mildly offensive term, somewhat
like "redneck". It's interesting to see it being rehabilitated in this way.

[Aidan Kehoe]

[...] *Some of the quiet and simple living was done in what Wiki calls a
"vernacular cracker house" at Vero Beach FL. Wiki links us to an article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_cracker_architecture
I have always encountered "cracker" as a mildly offensive term, somewhat like
"redneck". It's interesting to see it being rehabilitated in this way.

Interesting NPR article on it here, but no convincing etymology:

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/01/197644761/word-watch-on-crackers

[Ross Clark]

Post by Aidan Kehoe

[...] *Some of the quiet and simple living was done in what Wiki calls a
"vernacular cracker house" at Vero Beach FL. Wiki links us to an article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_cracker_architecture
I have always encountered "cracker" as a mildly offensive term, somewhat like
"redneck". It's interesting to see it being rehabilitated in this way.

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/01/197644761/word-watch-on-crackers

Yes. I tend to prefer the etymology from cracker 'a boaster, a braggart,
hence a liar' (from 1509; OED includes the King John quote here), from
crack 'to boast, brag' (1470-).

There's a particularly valuable letter written by Gavin Cochrane, a
British officer, to his superior, in 1766:

"Repeated complaints came from the Cherokees that white people
came into their hunting grounds and destroyed their beavers
which they said was everything to them. I acquainted Mr. Bull
of this and told him I would send orders to have those Beaverers
made prisoners; as also to deliver them up to any Civil Officer
he should appoint to receive them....[T]he Officer at Fort
Prince George told the Indians the orders he had received and
bid them seize the Beaverers and bring them to him without hurting
them. They brought three of those lawless people called CRACKERS,
who behaved with the greatest insolence and told the Officer they
neither valued him nor the Lieut. Gov.r."

And further down:

"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."

(Mitford M.Mathews, 'Of matters lexicographical', American Speech
34(2):126-130 (1959).)

I remember even from childhood reading that the frontiersmen had
developed bragging to a high art.

Andrew Jackson's unwillingness, some decades later, to say "no" to
massed crackers demanding Cherokee land, was what led to the Trail of
Tears. Or so I've been told.