# Have you ever been called an ethnic slur in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2015, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594 "2015-10-05T09:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/21 "2015-10-05T13:06:47Z")
Yes, but what is kind of funny is the number of times the ethnic slur is not my actually my ethnicity.l ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/22 "2015-10-05T13:06:55Z")
Sure have. Here’s the complete list: [ul][li]Honky[/li][li]Redneck[/li][li]Kraut[/li][li]WASP (funny, since I’m not Anglo, Saxon, nor even Protestant)[/li][li]백세기 (‘Baek-se-gi’/“White Son of a Bitch”)[/ul][/li] I’m a bit disappointed that nobody called me a gweilo while I was living in Guangdong or during my visits to Hong Kong. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/23 "2015-10-05T13:18:02Z")
I was called a \*honky \*in high school. I laughed. That is the silliest racial epithet ever. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/24 "2015-10-05T13:28:11Z")
I’ve been called a Polack, but then I’ve called myself a Polack. My (Hispanic) wife’s called me a gringo enough times. I should note that both of those were in jest rather than spat at me in hatred or anything. Don’t think I’ve ever been called a honky or cracker. Ethnic/racial slurs for white dudes are pretty lame. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/25 "2015-10-05T13:32:39Z")
A girl with neo-Nazi beliefs once called me a Jew-boy. I am not Jewish, nor look remotely Jewish, but I think in her mind, it was the worst insult she could come up with. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/26 "2015-10-05T13:35:03Z")
I’ve been called “gaijin” a couple times in Japan and also had that word used in conversation to characterize foreigners. It is not a slur per se but it is not considered polite to use in conversation any more and can be used as a term of mild abuse or othering. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/27 "2015-10-05T13:35:48Z")
“Fucking Jew.” A customer at work angry that I was refusing his refund. Funny, I learned years later that I _am_ Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/28 "2015-10-05T13:39:10Z")
I’ve been a bitch and white bitch several times. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/29 "2015-10-05T13:45:51Z")
I’ve been called “n-----”. And I was like,😕. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/30 "2015-10-05T14:07:05Z")
A buddy of mine has called me whitey, a cracker, honky, etc. He is black and was trying to provoke me into calling him a nigger. I didn’t and he has pretty much given up. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/31 "2015-10-05T14:17:46Z")
When I was playing youth football many years ago our mostly white team walked by another team, mostly black. They called us “soda crackers”, we countered with “chocolate cake”. OK, so my neighborhood wasn’t so tough. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/32 "2015-10-05T14:26:47Z")
Yes I have. I took offence and asked the fella to repeat it. He backed down. Which is good because I’m sure he could easily have kicked my ass if it came to that… ETA: The word is a Swedish one, “tattare,” which was outdated even at the time. Had he really wanted to provoke me he would have called me either a “blatte” or a “svartskalle.” ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/33 "2015-10-05T14:55:50Z")
Not a first-hand experience of mine; but something I’ve heard tell of, which I feel to be irresistibly crazy in the realm of ethnic slurs. An Iranian guy who moved, long-term, to the UK; and whose work situation caused him to reside for a spell in Northern Ireland. (Quick pre-explanatory thing: in that part of the world, “Fenian” is a derogatory word applied by bigoted Protestants, to Catholics.) In the course of an evening in which much alcohol was consumed by all concerned, he and a local Protestant guy had a falling-out for some reason: leading to a bit of slight pushing-and-shoving, and then the Iranian’s inebriated collapsing on the floor. Upon which the Ulsterman shouted: “Will you bloody get up now, you bloody Fenian Turk?” (Where he got the “Fenian” bit from, is a matter for puzzlement.) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/34 "2015-10-05T14:58:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > A buddy of mine has called me whitey, a cracker, honky, etc. He is black and was trying to provoke me into calling him a nigger. I didn’t and he has pretty much given up. That reminds me of my mother growing up in Regina in the 1930s. She and her friends called the Holy Rosary School kids “cat lickers” and the the Holy Rosary kids called the Connaught School kids “pot lickers”. They were too young to do any better. It takes maturity and sophistication to produce really offensive sectarian jibes. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/35 "2015-10-05T15:14:06Z")
Never, I don’t think. I’m sure at some point some asshole in high school called me a faggot, but since I’m not gay it didn’t really mean anything to me. Overall it’s pretty nice being a straight white middle-class American dude. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/36 "2015-10-05T15:14:26Z")
I’m Heinz 57 varieties, so I don’t look like anything enough to raise an ethnic slur. As a kid, however, I had glasses fairly early, I had large ears I grew into around age 25 and I was rather husky, so you figure out your favorite slam and I was probably called that. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/37 "2015-10-05T15:18:44Z")
A few times. Been called “white motherfucker,” or “cracker,” or maybe other names I’ve forgotten, by black people a few times over the years here in NYC. Was called a bunch of stuff in Ireland, while crossing the border from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland. Apparently I tripped off some warning signals and ended up being detained by the RUC (or whatever agency polices that border – this was more than twenty years ago and I’ve forgotten some of the details). I ended up being held for the better part of a day. They called me a lot of names. Although I have an Irish surname and am of Irish descent, I’m not Irish. I don’t sound Irish. I had plenty of documentation proving that I was American. But apparently the cops were suspicious of my papers, and me. I never did find out why, was just sent on my way without apology or explanation. My reaction? In every instance, I was pretty sure I was never going to see the name-caller again as long as I live, so I pretty much didn’t get all that excited about it. I’m solidly in the majority in my (this) country. I’m a middle-class white male. I’m never going to experience much, if anything, in the way of racism or discrimination. So I don’t get that worked up about name-calling. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/38 "2015-10-05T15:19:59Z")
I’m not calling anyone a liar when I say this, just expressing my surprise, but: I am 42 years old, I’ve lived the majority of my life in extremely ethnically diverse areas of the Mid-Atlantic and South, and I have never in my life heard someone use the words _honky_ or _cracker_ unironically. (At my inner city junior high school, where I was one of the nerdy Asian/White kids bussed in for the Magnet program, the epithet of choice for menacing me was _white boy_, or simply _boy_.) I’m just shocked because this board seems to have quite a few people who have been called those things (they’ve cropped up in many more threads than this one). Is it that I’m just way too young for these old-timey insults? Or have I just been living in the wrong (or right, depending on your POV) places? ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/39 "2015-10-05T15:25:39Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I’ve been called honky, cracker, white boy, white (any number of profane nouns). There were some situations where this felt threatening, but mostly it just seemed like verbal harassment that wasn’t going any farther. It was usually a consequence of being “out of place” in a racially segregated city. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594/40 "2015-10-05T15:34:57Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > I’m not calling anyone a liar when I say this, just expressing my surprise, but: I am 42 years old, I’ve lived the majority of my life in extremely ethnically diverse areas of the Mid-Atlantic and South, and I have never in my life heard someone use the words _honky_ or _cracker_ unironically. (At my inner city junior high school, where I was one of the nerdy Asian/White kids bussed in for the Magnet program, the epithet of choice for menacing me was _white boy_, or simply _boy_.) > > I’m just shocked because this board seems to have quite a few people who have been called those things (they’ve cropped up in many more threads than this one). Is it that I’m just way too young for these old-timey insults? Or have I just been living in the wrong (or right, depending on your POV) places? It isn’t what you are called that matters. It is the emotion behind it. For example, my wife is a native of western Ukraine. There is no great love on the part of many Ukrainians and Russians for each other. The preferred Russian slur for Ukrainians is “khokol” and the preferred Ukarainian slur for Russians is “Moskal”. The khokol was a type of haircut worn by cossacks. A Moskal was somebody from Moscow. The words are not inherently pejorative; it is the feeling behind them that makes them so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-called-an-ethnic-slur-in-real-life/733594.md?page=3)