Posted by Bob on April 30, 2006. The food is vaguely cracker-like, sharing more similarities with crackers than Grape Nuts® shares with either grapes or nuts. Q From James Agenbroad: I was of the impression that cracker jack was originally used to describe a squared-away US sailor, related to the early meaning of the term crack which you described in a recent article, and with jack tar for a sailor. But why does it have that name? Most people chose this as the best definition of crackerjack: Of excellent quality or a... See the dictionary meaning, pronunciation, and sentence examples. The name stuck. cracker-jack (n.) also crackerjack, "something excellent," 1893, U.S. colloquialism, apparently a fanciful construction, earliest use in reference to racing horses.The caramel-coated popcorn-and-peanuts confection was said to have been introduced at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893). It’s sort of like caramel corn, it comes in a box with a prize, and it was immortalized in “Take me out to the Ballgame”. I really doubt that "cracker" has even existed as a racial slur for that long. What exactly does that mean. Cracker Jack phrase. "Cracker" has also been used as a proud or jocular self-description in the past. Some food historians consider it the first junk food. This is more likely to have been the origin of the name. In Reply to: a real cracker jack posted by Pamela on April 30, 2006: : : When someone says WOw he/she is a real cracker jack! The Cracker Jack name and slogan, "The More You Eat The More You Want", were registered in 1896. Cracker Jack Character and Name . Cracker Jack is an American brand of snack food consisting of molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn, and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of trivial value inside. A slang term that describes a white person; utilized as an insult; some say it is the equivalent of the "n-word" while others disagree that it does not carry the same weight due to Black people's history of slavery in America; derives from slaveowners "cracking" the whip to drive their slaves; same as cracka and similar to honkey. Then it was appropriated for a brand of caramel corn. Cracker Jack has been around since 1896. a real cracker jack. Definition of Cracker Jack in the Idioms Dictionary. https://americacomesalive.com/cracker-jack-ever-popular-baseball-snack But it turns out cracker's roots go back even further than the 17th century. However, "crackerjack" was also a slang expression that meant "something pleasing or excellent." Heck, the whole concept of "white" as a race is relatively recent; up until the last century, white people were defined more by their national origin than by their skin color. Most people have heard of Cracker Jack®. 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