# Sanewashing -- Originator? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 2024, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411 "2024-10-03T14:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411/21 "2024-10-04T14:00:52Z")
Korea was involved. According to the [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwashing#China_and_the_Korean_War) it was based on a Chinese concept then carried into English after the Chinese practice used on American POWs during the Korean war. ---
**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:** [October 4, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411/22 "2024-10-04T20:20:22Z")
Whitewash, as a simile, appears in the Bible. URL: [Matthew 23:27-28 NIV - “Woe to you, teachers of the law and - Bible Gateway](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2023:27-28&version=NIV) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411/23 "2024-10-04T20:26:06Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Whitewash, as a simile, appears in the Bible. Note that that was the New International Version, which was published in 1978. The KJV doesn’t use the word. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411/24 "2024-10-04T20:44:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I understand “pinkwashing” to be when corporations attempt to pander to LGBT consumers by putting rainbows in their logos during June or paying lip service to gay rights when they have a history or internal culture of treating gay employees badly. Along the same lines, corporations that hypocritically pander to the elderly have been accused of “graywashing.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411/25 "2024-10-04T21:10:56Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > > [@Mangetout](#): > > > > Whitewash, as a simile, appears in the Bible. > > Note that that was the New International Version, which was published in 1978. The KJV doesn’t use the word. True, but it does say “whited.” The term “whitewashing” apparently just predates the KJV, but many subsequent versions use the term. So I think it is still plausible that the use in the Bible is the origin of the metaphorical usage. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411/26 "2024-10-04T21:57:12Z")
The earliest use of sanewashing, spelled just like that, I am finding with google, is December 7, 2020: [Matthew Yglesias](https://www.slowboring.com/p/defund-police-is-a-bad-idea-not-a) Prior to that, it was spelled with a hyphen, as in sane-wash. I read somewhere that new English words often start out with a hyphen that is later dropped. So what is the oldest use with the hyphen? I surely have have not found it, but here is Twitter example from November 2020: [Tom Chivers](https://x.com/TomChivers/status/1329771110443966465) ---
**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:** [October 4, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411/27 "2024-10-04T22:21:48Z")
It’s also in some other versions a bit earlier than the NIV - for example the RSV (c1950). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sanewashing-originator/1008411.md?page=1)