# Is "Toe-rag" Racist/Ethnicist? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2015, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423 "2015-06-25T04:30:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/41 "2015-06-26T16:00:25Z")
> [@jimbuff314](#): > > I’d have to hear something about how he has struggled all his life against his apeishness. Does he sport a fake tail of some sort? If he doesn’t even care enough to tie a friggin’ rope around his waist with the end dragging behind, I’m going to look askance at his purported claim of monkeytudeness. So he has to prove himself/herself to you/y’all? :dubious: You sound like the kind of [being] who’d volunteer to police the bathrooms (and zoo cages). ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/42 "2015-06-26T17:41:30Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Our culture has “evolved” to the point where all insults are racist. Not it has not. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/43 "2015-06-26T23:12:27Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > That’s downright silly. ‘Toe-rag’ has absolutely no connotations of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, ability or disability, or anything else except toeraghood. > > What on earth did your correspondent think it alluded to? And how on earth did he think it made sense to call something ‘racist’ without even having an idea of what race might be in question, or how the term might be an allusion to that race? My companion admitted not knowing for sure – that’s why I came here to ask! She had it in her mind that it was like “towelhead,” and that it referred to some regional ethnicity where the people were too stupid to have shoes. It isn’t an intrinsically incorrect idea. Again, “towelhead” exists as a significant nasty ethnic slur, and so “toerag” might have. Now, in fact, it doesn’t, but I’d rather be safe, and that’s why I asked. (Also note that “towelhead” doesn’t allude to any specific race or ethnicity, but to a clothing/headwear tradition.) ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/44 "2015-06-26T23:57:46Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > So he has to prove himself/herself to you/y’all? :dubious: > > You sound like the kind of [being] who’d volunteer to police the bathrooms (and zoo cages). I’m just talking about a minimum level of sustainable believability. It doesn’t have to be a tail, although see the first sentence in the Wiki on [monkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Monkey). Does he tend to have a lot of fun when associating with monkeys (more fun than a barrel of _**)? Does he engage in mimicry at all (**_ see, \_\_\_\_\_ do)? Anything along these lines would help to make his case. And let’s face it, if he is going to make a claim of this sort, he does have a case to make. Transpeciesism is _really_ pushing the envelope. As far as policing bathrooms, I’m not going down that road to the county lockup quite so quickly again. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/45 "2015-06-28T04:23:03Z")
Many moons ago, I heard the term used at mills and grain silos in Southern Georgia. I can’t find an example of that on line, but [here’s something close,](http://www.newhamstory.com/node/1281) and they are being used in the same way. Wrapping the boots in rags kept street dirt out of the grain, and spread the weight to keep the legs from sinking in. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/46 "2015-06-28T04:29:46Z")
[This is a site I’ve found reliable in the past.](http://www.word-detective.com/2008/11/toerag/) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/47 "2015-06-28T04:53:00Z")
**TruCelt** : From the site you linked… “I have to point out that properly folded toerag is much more easing for the foot in long treks than a sock.” Now I’m wondering how to fold one, as I’m fond of walking for exercise, and this whole affair started with a toe-blister! ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/48 "2015-06-28T05:22:36Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/49 "2015-06-28T06:50:19Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Am I misremembering or is there a car called Taureg? If so, why the heck would you name an automobile after a people that are so poor they have to wear rags on their feet 😕 There are fashions in car-naming. Back in the 80s and 90s, it was all about naming your cars after mysterious desert/ocean winds (Mistral, Scirocco), then we went through a phase where the names would sound like two halves of different words jammed together. Lately, we’re getting cars named after rugged, noble, little-known tribes (Tuareg, Qashqai). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423/50 "2015-06-29T03:08:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Ah, right. Despite being trained in French, I never saw the word spelled any other way. Why the Germans would use a French name is a bit of mystery. They hate to admit it, but Germans have always felt jealous of the natural superiority of the French. That’s why they keep invading. > [@cochrane](#): > > Why can’t they be both? Like the late Earl Warren? > [@jimbuff314](#): > > I’m just talking about a minimum level of sustainable believability. It doesn’t have to be a tail, although see the first sentence in the Wiki on [monkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Monkey). Does he tend to have a lot of fun when associating with monkeys (more fun than a barrel of _**)? Does he engage in mimicry at all (**_ see, \_\_\_\_\_ do)? Does he fling shit at people he doesn’t like? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-toe-rag-racist-ethnicist/723423.md?page=2)