What are you supposed to do? When the vet uses the phrase “white trash”, tell him that you’re not familiar with that word and ask him what he means by it. You’d be surprised how some folks will shut up when asked to spell it out rather than hide behind a semi-acceptable catch phrase. Heh. That’ll make him think twice. Maybe.
I stopped using this term years ago because of chiding by a friend, and here’s what he told me. “White trash” subtly implies a special case of Whiteness, the relatively rare Trash variety. If a white person is trash, it’s worth pointing out the exception to the general rule of white non-trashiness.
By implication all other races are automatically trash, which is why you rarely hear “black trash” or “mexican trash” – the assumption is, they’re trash anyway, so it’s redundant. You expect them to be trash. But a white person who is trash, that’s an oddity worth pointing out with the phrase “white trash”.
I haven’t explained my friend’s reasoning very well, and I’m not sure if I buy it, but I avoid the phrase because it puts people in a nasty little box, all classified away. A mullet-wearing, Camaro-driving trailer park dweller might very well be a saint, but I’ll never know it if I dismiss them as “white trash”.
It’s also generally a slur on poor people, which I think is a pretty trashy thing to do.
Speaking of the term “trailer trash” I used it in front of my father once and that was a huge mistake. His mother had lived the last years of her life in a trailer.
I’m not saying it has the same connotations as “white trash” as living in a trailer isn’t a race. Just that I hadn’t thought how offensive it could be.
I wouldn’t be offended if somebody made a comment about me being white trash, because I know I’m not. Somebody called my husband a honky once, and he thought it was hilarious.
It’s like somebody else said, it’s not offensive if you don’t let it be.
I suppose it’s how you look at it, I’m guilty to using the term “white trash” though I mostly just apply to it to members of the K.K.K.
Then again, I guess using a name that is (according to this post) racist, I’m not any better than they are. I suppose I’ll just stick to calling them ignorant wastes of life, hm?
And no, I don’t consider you a “wiuss” 
you with the face:
I am one who objected in a recent thread to the use of the word “overweight” as an insult. But you are mistaken that I didn’t blink an eye when I saw that term “white trash.” I did not address it in my post, but I did notice and I did find it offensive.
I don’t think of human beings as being trash – not even the foulest criminal. And I am particularly offended by “trailer trash.” The most courageous woman that I know lives in a trailer.
Several years ago someone came out with a “White Trash Cookbook.” I do own that and it has the absolute best recipes in it for down home cooking. It probably sold more copies because of the name. But I’m not sure that it would be published under that title now that people are becoming more sensitive to other people’s feelings.
The Controvert:
I do recognize that we have choices on how we react to words and for some, the choice not to let it bother them is appropriate. But words do influence how people think and thinking can evolve into action. That’s why I try to make my negative thoughts about certain word choices known.
An excellent point. Thank you for pointing it out. What I should of said was MY standards or “generally accepted” standards instead of WHITE standards. My apologies to any that I may have offended.
Huh. And I didn’t even know the word kike (pronouced like kite?)
I find the phrase “trailer trash” to be more offensive than “white trash.”
I don’t buy the argument that the phrase is a backhanded insult to other races though because I’m sure other races have terms for their lower economic classes. White trash is simply the white man’s insult. If you accept that black people can use nigger freely than I say that white people can use white trash freely. I don’t accept double standards. Personally, they all make me uncomfortable but I generally ignore it.
I generally agree with the folks who say words only have the power you give them. It’s easier and probably more productive to change your own attitude than others’. The more people who adopt this position, the less effective those words will be and they’ll die out on their own.
It was never lost on me. In fact, when I first heard the term as a kid, I always took it to be more insulting to non-whites. You know, “this vile behavior from someone white clearly needs a special qualifier. Now, from a black, no need to make a distinction…”
Not a nice term.
by breaknrun
The term originated back in the day when it was taken for granted that anyone who wasn’t white fell in the “trash” category. Hence, “white” was used to specify what kind of trash was being talked about, to define it clearly lest a casual listener mistake the subject of the description as being regular, run-of-the-mill trash (read black).
I know most people who brandish the insult are unaware of its history and racist overtones, and so I really don’t judge them as strongly as some of my posts may suggest I do. Even as strictly a classist term, it bothers me, though. Okay, so somebody is poor and has a bad bleach job, maybe has a mullet and a couple missing teeth. Ha ha ha. “White trash” seems like a real mean thing to call them. I could imagine just by giving yourself permission to call these people trash, you also give yourself permission to treat them that way. At least partially. Raising your nose to them, talking down to them, not giving them the same amount of respect you’d give someone wearing pressed khakis and a polo shirt.
Not cool.