Christian McCaffrey Says He Gets Called a ‘Cracker’ ‘Every Sunday’ After Confusing Encounter in Australia

Christian McCaffrey used some downtime in Australia to squeeze in a haircut — but he found himself encountering a cultural misunderstanding.

The 49ers running back, 30, recounted the moment at a press conference following San Francisco’s win over the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne on Thursday, September 10. According to McCaffrey, once his haircut was finished, one of the barbers turned to him and remarked, “Looks cracker.”

In Australian slang, “cracker” can mean something is excellent or great, a very different meaning from the insult McCaffrey was familiar with in the States. Other Australian terms can be equally confusing to Americans, including “cactus,” which can mean exhausted or broken, and “thongs,” which refer to flip flops, according to the podcast Aussie English.

Caught off guard, McCaffrey admitted he had no idea what the phrase meant.

“I was like, ‘Sorry, what’d you say?'” he recalled.

After the barber repeated himself, McCaffrey couldn’t resist referencing the very different — and far less flattering — meaning the word carries in American slang.

“I’m like, ‘Dude, I hear that every Sunday,'” he quipped.

Looking back on their conversation, McCaffrey said it made for a fun bit of cultural exchange.

“That was good, we had a good moment,” he said. “I enjoy all the slang.”

Slang aside, McCaffrey and his teammates have had nothing but praise for their time in Australia. At a press conference on September 6, he raved about one thing in particular: the coffee.

“It’s been great. The coffee’s unbelievable,” he said. “I don’t know why nobody talked about that as much as they should have beforehand.”