In an essay at the Washington Post, Damon Young recounts the many, many examples of «coded language» and euphemisms that have emerged over the years to refer to Black people like himself. Think «urban,» inner city,» «marginalized,» and on and on. A newer entry in his view is CRT, short for Critical Race Theory. «You have Black teachers, Black administrators or Black school board members? That’s CRT,» he writes. «Black authors in your curriculum? CRT.» His essay, however, focuses on a different modern entry: «woke.» Young traces how the word has morphed from the 1990s, through the Obama administration, and into our present vernacular.
«Today, ‘woke’ is mostly used by the right to signify the presence of Black people (or women) where they didn’t expect them to be,» writes Young. «To them, the world is one big birthday cake, with a surprise crouched inside of it, ready to burst, and they’re expecting Kenny Chesney but they get Pusha T.» Surely, «woke» will be replaced soon by another, and Young is curious about what it will be. He notes some words, such as «ghetto,» end up being retired from duty. And he floats a provocative suggestion from «the source material, where racists don’t have to twist themselves into bigoted little knots. Just say n—-r with your chest.» Think that’s too offensive? «Whatever. Who’s the snowflake now?» Read the full essay. (Read more language stories.)
*A TikToker who used to work as a hostess at Cracker Barrel has revealed the code name staffers use for Black patrons.
“Me, a hostess at Cracker Barrel, wondering how every employee knew a table was full of Canadians even though they didn’t have a telling accent,” the TikToker, @cinnamnhoney, said via text overlay, as reported by Daily Dot. “‘Canadian’ is a code word for Black people.”
“A waitress used to complain SO MUCH if i sat ‘canadians’ in her section & i was so confused bc i thought canadians were stereotyped as nice,” she added.
The TikToker’s video has been viewed over 235,000 times since it was posted on March 6, per the report. Watch the clip below.
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@cinnamnhoneya waitress used to complain SO MUCH if i sat “canadians” in her section & i was so confused bc i thought canadians were stereotyped as nice♬ original sound – kooze
“Servers will also use the code ‘the Mondays.’ The service industry is incredibly racist- I’ve been in 5 diff restaurants and saw the same thing at all,” one user commented to the clip, according to the report. “I had an old co-worker come and ask me if I saw the gang outside, it was a black family… ‘any group of 3 or more of them is a gang!’ he told me,” another wrote.
One commenter recalled being clueless about the term when using it on a Black family.
“I had no clue and cheerfully went up to a family and said ‘ I didn’t know you guys were Canadian’ the small frown the older woman gave me broke me,” the TikToker wrote.
A Cracker Barrel spokesperson has condemned the coded racism used by some staffers at the restaurants.
“We only recently learned about this video and have not had a chance to identify or speak with the relevant individuals. Obviously, racism has no place at Cracker Barrel and any actions like the ones described in the video would be against our policies, beliefs and who we are as a company,” the spokesperson said to Newsweek.
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The eccentric gift shop antique architecture crossover, home of amateur Southern cooking — Cracker Barrel.
Whether you frequented the nationwide chain or it’s solely a nightmare in your childhood fever dreams, you’ve surely seen their company come up in media outlets over the past couple of months.
Surely, they’re not being celebrated for their home-style recipes — rather, for their ignorant and distasteful employees who’ve been exposed on TikTok.
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One Cracker Barrel employee confirms they radio a specific code word when Black customers come in.
In a TikTok from January 30, a Cracker Barrel employee is revealed spilling her store’s code word — that they allegedly used to signal that Black customers have arrived at the restaurant.
“Cracker Barrel has a code word for Black people when they come in,” the employee says on camera, “The way we do it is we say ‘c—’ over the radio. Basically, we tell the back staff that there are Black people here.”
A disgusting and appalling revelation — the Cracker Barrel employee gives no more reasoning or explanation for their undercover use of a slur as code.
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One Black TikToker confronted a Cracker Barrel employee over her discomfort with the alleged code word.
While many Black TikTokers stitched the original video of the Cracker Barrel employee and shared their distaste, one TikToker took it upon themselves to go to the restaurant and confront someone directly.
In a video from January 31, TikToker @goviralgeyer_bae stitched the original video of the employee and then added footage of her showing up at her own local restaurant.
Walking into the store, she immediately received a dirty look from another white customer in the store — “Well, there’s the first look,” she whispers to her recording camera.
“I got a question, have you seen those TikTok videos?” she asks as she approaches an employee in the store.
Uncomfortably laughing, the employee immediately denies having heard anything about Cracker Barrel on TikTok.
“When Black people come in here they [Cracker Barrel employees] use a code word — ‘C—.’ Is that true?” she persistently asks.
Continuing to deny any involvement or knowledge, the TikToker continues to press, but seemingly politely — “Are you sure, sugar?” she adds.
“I came in here one time, and there was nobody but white people sitting in here,” she continues as the employee continues denying, “Everyone was staring at me and I haven’t come back since — I was uncomfortable. But, I just wanted to know if that was true.”
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Another ex-Cracker Barrel employee recalls her shock when she discovered managers were using ‘Canadians’ as code.
Amidst the rumors and a definite revelation by a Cracker Barrel employee, TikToker @cinnamnhoney added to the conversation about employees using code words for POC customers.
“Me, a hostess at Cracker Barrel, wondering how every employee knew a table was full of Canadians even though they didn’t have a telling accent,” she wrote in the subtitles of her now-deleted video shared last year.
Panning onto the next slide, a similar narrative was revealed — “Canadian was a code word for Black people,” the subtitles read.
Outside of just Cracker Barrel, comments reveal other restaurants that’ve used code words for customers.
“I worked at TGIFriday,” one comment wrote under one of the TikTok videos, “Code there was ‘Canadians’ because they don’t tip. I was appalled and made a formal complaint. Racism is rampant in the service industry.”
Not just in one comment, but in several more, ex-service industry employees agree that racism is not an isolated issue to just Cracker Barrel. Many share multiple instances where coworkers have used outrageous language to deliberately attack customers of color.
“Absolutely ridiculous,” another reads, “I remember this as a host. They used to use ‘NIMS’. N-words in my sections. Some people don’t deserve even basic and common decency.”
“I had a coworker tell me this when I worked at Olive Garden,” another person commented, ‘They were Canadian, I knew they wouldn’t tip.’ I was appalled when I learned what it meant.”
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Comments attack Cracker Barrel for allowing racist employees to continue to work — despite an apology from a spokesperson.
Although they weren’t the only company whose employees were using racist code names, they were the company that began outrage on media outlets — including TikTok.
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In a March 2022 statement made by a Cracker Barrel spokesperson, they attempt to separate themselves completely from this coworker’s racist narrative about their customers.
“We only recently learned about this video and have not had a chance to identify or speak with the relevant individuals. Obviously, racism has no place at Cracker Barrel and any actions like the ones described in the video would be against our policies, beliefs, and who we are as a company,” the Cracker Barrel spokesperson said.
While it might not be Cracker Barrel as a whole, it surely seems to be a problem at large when employees can get away with using a blatantly anti-POC slur amidst a whole staff of coworkers — and, with no consequences.
Cracker Barrel emailed YourTango with a statement condemning the alleged code word:
«Thank you for bringing this video to our attention. We are as disgusted as you are at its contents, posted anonymously and without anything that would help us identify this woman as a Cracker Barrel employee or allow us to investigate. We have multiple means of reporting and investigating allegations of discrimination, which are well publicized and well-known by our employees.
«Posting anonymous TikTok videos is not one of them. We would never tolerate something like what this woman alleges.
«The word referenced in the video is not a code. It is a horrible racial slur that has no place at Cracker Barrel or anywhere else in civilized society. That someone would anonymously claim otherwise on social media is deeply upsetting to us because it contrasts so sharply with our policies, training, values, and mission of Pleasing People – all people.
«We work hard every day to create a culture of care and hospitality that’s welcoming, respectful and inclusive to everyone who puts on our uniform or walks through our doors, and videos like this hurt us deeply and personally.»
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Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer who focuses on pop culture analysis and human interest stories. Catch up with them on Instagram or TikTok.
A TikTokker who used to work at a Cracker Barrel in Arizona has revealed a «code word» that some of her fellow employees allegedly used to refer to Black customers.
In a video viewed over 237,000 times, @cinnamnhoney shared her experience working as a hostess at the popular restaurant chain.
«a waitress used to complain SO MUCH if i sat ‘canadians’ in her section & i was so confused bc i thought canadians were stereotyped as nice,» she wrote in her caption.
In the video itself, she looks pensive, as the on-screen caption reads, «me, a hostess at cracker barrel, wondering how every employee knew a table was full of canadians even though they didn’t have a telling accent.»
After a few seconds, the video cuts to a new caption: «‘canadian was a code word for black people».
Cracker Barrel told Newsweek that while it was initially unaware of the video, it «will be looking into the matter further.»
«We only recently learned about this video and have not had a chance to identify or speak with the relevant individuals. Obviously, racism has no place at Cracker Barrel and any actions like the ones described in the video would be against our policies, beliefs and who we are as a company,» a Cracker Barrel spokesperson said.
Though @cinnamnhoney first allegedly experienced the disguised slur while working at Cracker Barrel, it’s not a new use of the word. In 2008, a newly-released internal memo from then-assistant district attorney Mike Trent of Harris County, Texas seemingly referred to Black jurors as «Canadians,» according to The Guardian.
In the memo, written in 2003 and surfaced five years later, Trent praises a prosecutor in a specific case.
«He overcame a subversively good defence by Matt Hennessey that had some Canadians on the jury feeling sorry for the defendant and forced them to do the right thing,» Trent wrote, according to The Toronto Star.
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Trent says that he actually thought people from Canada had been on the jury, the Star reports, and that Trent did not know about the racial element to the word.
The former claim appears unlikely, however, as to be a juror in Texas, not only does one need to be a U.S. citizen, but also reside in the county where they are serving. It is possible, though, for a former Canadian citizen to become naturalized in the U.S., and then serve on a jury. The Star reports there were no expat Canadians on this particular jury.
There are more concrete examples of using the word «Canadian» in this way. In a story originally published by Canada’s National Post looking into the Trent memo, a discussion on a linguistics-related electronic mailing list was cited. In the discussion, one poster cited a waitress friend who said «fellow workers used to use a name for inner-city families that were known to not leave a tip: Canadians. ‘Hey, we have a table of Canadians…. They’re all yours.'»
In the comments of @cinnamnhoney’s post, other people chimed in with their experiences with the word «Canadian.»
«This happened to me too but at a water park I was a lifeguarding! I had NO idea,» @demileigh1994 said. In a follow up, she added. «The other lifeguards were saying ‘yeah I had to jump in after a Canadian.’ ‘Canadians can’t swim.’ And I said how do you know they’re Canadian».
«Absolutely ridiculous I remember this as a host. As well as «NIMS». N words in my section. Some people don’t deserve even basic and common decency,» @yode_r wrote.
«I had a coworker tell me this when I worked at Olive Garden «they were Canadian I knew they wouldn’t tip» I was appalledwhen I learned what that meant,» @subdivisionsunrises said.
Another TikToker shared another word used as a euphemism for Black people.
«Canadians was already well known so at the place I used to work at so they used ‘executives’,» @beanzaza wrote.
April 2, 2022April 2, 202228289
A former employee at a Cracker Barrel in Arizona took to social media to reveal that the restaurant she worked at used a code word amongst coworkers when referring to Black customers.
A user by the name of @cinnamnhoney posted on her Tik Tok account last week that there is a code word being used by white people to speak about Black people without being obvious about it. In the viral clip, she wrote, “a waitress used to complain SO MUCH if i sat “canadians” in her section & i was so confused bc i thought canadians were stereotyped as nice”
As the short video clip continues to play, it reveals that “canadian” was code word for black people.
@cinnamnhoneya waitress used to complain SO MUCH if i sat “canadians” in her section & i was so confused bc i thought canadians were stereotyped as nice♬ original sound – kooze
According to Newsweek, Cracker Barrel released a written statement after getting wind of the Tik Tok entry. They stated that they were unaware of the video and that they “will be looking into the matter further.”
“We only recently learned about this video and have not had a chance to identify or speak with the relevant individuals. Obviously, racism has no place at Cracker Barrel and any actions like the ones described in the video would be against our policies, beliefs, and who we are as a company,” a Cracker Barrel spokesperson said.
Allegedly, this is not a new thing and has been used in this form for some time.
In 2008, an internal memo from the then-assistant district attorney Mike Trent of Harris County, Texas stated that Black jurors were seemingly referred to as “Canadians,” according to The Guardian. That memo was written in 2003 and emerged five years later as Trent praises a prosecutor in a particular case.