God, I hate these spurious "word origins"

The latest, in honor, I suppose, of the newfound discovery by white youngsters that they’re the product of a systemically racist society, is the “true origin” of the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain. Of course I know that’s not true, but I’m not a 21-year-old product of modern education. For those who are, Snopes explains:

What's True

The origins of the pejorative term "cracker" can be traced in part back to the shortening of the term "whip-cracker." 

What's False

However, the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain takes its name from the literal barrel of crackers — not whips — that were prevalent at storefronts in the late 1800s.

Origin

In February 2021, an interesting “fact” about the U.S. restaurant chain Cracker Barrel started to circulate on social media. The viral post claimed that “cracker” was a slang term for whip and that the phrase “cracker barrel” originally referred to a barrel of whips that were sold at country stores:

There is a grain of truth to the claims made in this meme. The pejorative term “cracker” can be traced back in part to a shortening of the term “whip-cracker.” However, “cracker barrel” does not refer to a barrel of whips. Rather, this is a very literal term that refers to actual barrels of crackers that were common at stores in the late 1800s. 

Here’s how Lexico.com explained the origins of “cracker barrel”:

“Late 19th century with reference to the barrels of soda crackers once found in country stores, around which informal discussions would take place between customers.”

We scanned old newspaper articles from the late 1800s and early 1900s and foundseveral references to stores selling or purchasing soda crackers by the barrel. Here’s an advertisement from 1913 for “Sunshine L-W Soda Crackers” that told customers to pass on by the “dusty, handled” crackers in the store’s barrel and purchase a box of fresh crackers:

In addition to holding crackers, these barrels also served as a place for casual conversation, somewhat akin to a modern water cooler. Merriam-Webster mentioned this in their discussion of the origins of the term “cracker barrel,” writing: “From the cracker barrel in country stores around which customers lounged for informal conversation.”

We found quite a few interesting old newspaper clippings that show the cracker barrel as a place for philosophical musings. In 1891, for instance, the Somerset Herald started to publish various opinions that had been expressed by people gathered “around the store stoves.”

And so on and so on; in fact, this is one of the longest Snopes debunking I’ve seen. I suppose the morons think the phrase, “cracker barrel philosopher”, if they’ve heard of it at all, refers to some hooded klansman whupping colored folks over the whip barrel — someone should have applied the lash to these idiots in their teen years, and forced them to learn something.

And on’t get me going on “rule of thumb” and its connection to wife beating.