I see stupid people

That’s just because rich people of all races and backgrounds get their own set of unflattering epithets, as one of the privileges. But you can bet that there’s some genteel Old Money family down Charleston way who privately and discreetly whisper the t-word about the loud folks next door who made their bundle by selling grandpa’s farm to a shopping mall developer after the old coot (who held out selling for 30 years on what became prime land) finally kicked.

Roseane Barr and Tom Arnold, at the time of their peak visibility, were quoted as referring to themselves as “Hollywood’s nightmare: White Trash with money.” It IS associated with a certain social and economic standing, but it is used as a reference to a way of being – sometimes, yes, a bit unfairly in the sense that it’s often really the fault of their upbringing – strongly associated with an unwillingness to “improve” themselves to make themselves more presentable to polite society. The term has also been used to describe Tonya Harding, Anna Nicole Smith and others.

Actually, in Texas we do have an applicable variation that I first heard used to describe some one that had made a heap of money quickly in the oil field:
“He’s poor white trash gone bad with money.”

Tonic? Isn’t it all just soda? :slight_smile:

People who smoke are stupid.

People who smoke are unwise. Not necessarily stupid.

Here we call the newly oil rich ‘jumped-up white trash’. Has a nice ring to it.