system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Where did racial slurs derive from, and how did they become offensive?

As the title states, I'm curious as to where these terms came from. Sometimes, they just don't make sense.

For example, where did the term "cracker" or "spic" come from? 
I'm just really curious, and I'm itching to know

I hope this post doesn't offend anyone!

Edit: Answered in a few minutes! Thanks a lot, guys!!
gpt
Nobody really knows where cracker comes from, but there's a couple possible explanations. One is from slave foremen cracking a whip. One is that they were poor whites who subsisted on a diet largely of cracked corn. One is from an old term for a braggart (based on "crack" at the time meaning an entertaining conversation, e.g. "wisecrack").

Honky seems to be a corruption of hunky, itself a corruption of Hungarian used to describe poor unskilled factory workers (and Hungarians are white of course).

Gringo is a corruption of the Spanish "griego" meaning Greek, probably the same way we say "it's Greek to me," referring to something unintelligible. or not understandable.

Dago and wop for mediterraneans generally and particularly Italians come from Diego (a Spanish name) and Guappo (an Italian word used like we say "dude" these days, from Spanish guapo "handsome"). 

Limey for English people is from their sailors using lime juice to prevent scurvy before vitamin C supplements were available. Mick for Irish comes from the common name prefix Mc- meaning "son of," and Paddy comes from the given name Padraig/Patrick.

Spic is thought to be a takeoff on a stereotypical Spanish pronunciation of the English word "speak," as in "no spic inglish."

Nigger is a corruption of negro, the Spanish/Portuguese word for black. Negro is obviously a direct use of that. Spade comes from the suite of cards' symbol being black. Can't find etymologies for coon and spook.

Kike probably comes from kikel, Yiddish for circle, because Jews migrating to America would allegedly sign immigration papers with an O instead of an X because they associated the latter with Christianity. Hebe comes from the word Hebrew, and Yid comes from the word Yiddish.

For Asians, chink and jap or nip are shortenings of China and Japan/Nippon. Gook comes from Korean "guk" meaning "country." Slope, slant, and squint all refer to the shape of their eyes. Can't find an etymology for zipperhead or zip.