[Ads-l] Cackalacky

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

Thanks, Garson, for looking further at this.

Yes, I had queried the authors about the claim that “Cackalacky" had been
found in a 1937 song. Further, I've just consulted my copy of their
book, published in 2014. This information came to them via the website of
the Pittsboro (NC) company that produces Cackalacky-brand sauces, but the
company has never provided evidence for this assertion, and I believe that
Wolfram and Reaser might step back from this now. (I think it was just a
bit of marketing fun for the Skeltons at the time.)

Moreover, there's no solid data that "Cackalacky" was in use in the 1940s
as shorthand for the Carolinas. I suspect that their claim is built on the
anecdotal evidence I had alluded to earlier today. Paul Jones and Bland
Simpson, a couple of UNC notables and reliables, have both recalled hearing
its use in their early years among military types stationed in the
Carolinas in the '60s (during Vietnam). That it may have been embraced or
at least understood by military types is partly supported by Jon's 1974
example from Newport News, Virginia, which he posted earlier this morning.

Now, I think it's likely that Cackalacky = Carolina was in place within
military slang mid-century and perhaps earlier, but we have yet to find it
anywhere in print from that period. (I do have data for the U.S. Marines'
use of "Calinky" and "Carolinky" in the 1930s and the occasional use of the
latter in a New York newspaper after the war, but all that's a bit
tangential.)

I do need to point out, though, that I'm not sure whether "Cackalacky"
originated within the military.

-- Bonnie

On Sat, Oct 10, 2026 at 10:27 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

There is a discussion of Cackalacky in the following book. The book
> has footnotes, but I have not yet determined the specific details for
> the assertions in the two excerpts below. Maybe Bonnie is already
> familiar with this book.
>
> Date: 2014 Copyright
> Book Title: Talkin' Tar Heel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North
> Carolina
> Author: Walt Wolfram and Jeffrey Reaser
> Quote Page 6 and 8
> Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill. North Carolina
>
> [Begin excerpt page 6]
> While the origin of Cackalacky is still uncertain, its history began
> long before the sauce was created. At the very least, we can
> definitively trace the term to 1937, when it was used in a popular
> song. It is likely that Cackalacky's etymology runs much deeper than
> this song, however, and there remains much popular speculation and
> discussion about its possible origins.
> [End excerpt]
>
> [Begin excerpt page 8]
> While we cannot be certain of the origin, the development of
> Cackalacky demonstrates how terms of reference can change over their
> life spans. Evidence from the 1940s suggests the term was used in a
> somewhat derogatory way by outsiders; for example, servicemen assigned
> to one of the rural bases in the state in the 1940s referred to their
> environs as "Cackalacky," perhaps deriding the rural ways of native
> North Carolinians. Though it may have been intended as an insult by
> outsiders, it has now been embraced affectionately by native and
> adoptive residents.
> [End excerpt]
>
> On Sat, Oct 10, 2026 at 8:18 AM Bonnie Taylor-Blake
> <00001a89b77a7850-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I've been collecting forms from 1972 (the earliest I've spotted this)
> into
> > the early 2000s, when the use of "Cackalacky" blossomed in the popular
> > press, mostly with references to the hip-hop world and products for
> > condiment shelves.
> >
> > There's anecdotal evidence that it was used in the military post-war as a
> > designation for the Carolinas, but not used by Carolinians themselves.
> I've
> > found two pre-war nicknames for the Carolinas that bear some similarity
> to
> > "Cackalacky" in U.S. Marine publications, but they're not great matches.
> >
> > Lots of guesses about its origin, but for me nothing very satisfying. I
> > have a not-ready-for-primetime theory that it may have come from a bit of
> > now-lost American slang popular ca. 1900 that once signified "stranger"
> or
> > "foreign," but I'm not particularly satisfied with that one, either.
> >
> > -- Bonnie
> >
> > On Sat, Oct 10, 2026 at 7:41 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> > 00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > MSNOW: "South Carolina. South Cackalacky! "
> > >
> > > Many Google hits. Also "North Cackalacky." Both new to me.
> > >
> > > 1974 _Daily Press_ (Newport News, Va.) (March 6) 4 [N]: Cackalacky
> > > (translated Carolina).
> > >
> > > Fascinatingly, the next N ex. isn't till 2002, with the introduction
> > > of Skelton's Cackalacky Hot Sauce,
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> > >
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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