# Usage of the phrase "white trash" **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231 **Category:** In My Humble Opinion **Created:** [July 6, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231 "2005-07-06T02:14:01Z") **Posts on this page:** 20 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/1 "2005-07-06T02:14:01Z")
This is strictly a poll. Please, no debate or discussion; just answer the poll question. On a scale of 0-10, 0 being “completely innapropriate” and 10 being “completely appropriate,” rate how well the term “white trash” describes each of the following persons: [ol] [li]A single white mother on welfare living in a trailer with 3 children, each from different fathers. Typical meals in the household are McDonald’s, sugar cereals, and Kool-Aid. The most prominent object in the trailer is a television, conspicuously hooked up to a digital satellite dish. The family lives in squalor. The front yard is littered with trash. There isn’t a book in the house, and the only periodical is “TV Guide.” All the children need dental work that the mother can not afford.[/li][li]A single black mother living in the same situation as (1).[/li][li]A single white woman with no children. She works as an elementary school janitor, and owns her own double-wide, which she keeps reasonably well maintained. She splurged on season tickets to the local semi-professional orchestra, and spends her spare time reading philosophy and contemporary physics journals. She doesn’t own a television, is a vegan, and recently taught herself Attic Greek using books checked out from her local library.[/li][li]A single black mother, living in a roach-infested inner-city housing project with her two children. The mother is an alcoholic and the father is in prison. The oldest child already has a juvenile arrest record for shoplifting at the age of 13. There are no books or periodicals in the house. The mother is constantly drifting in and out of menial minimum-wage jobs, and has no health care for her or her family. [/li][li]A single white mother, in the same situation as (4).[/li][li]A white, childless woman of great inheritted wealth who periodically works as an actress and model, and spends the rest of her time living a debonair lifestyle and spreading her legs/opening her mouth/bending over and grabbing her ankles for anything with a pulse. [/li]A black woman, otherwise similiar to (6).[/ol] ---
### Author: ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/2 "2005-07-06T02:17:01Z")
[ol] [li] 10[/li][li] 0[/li][li] 0[/li][li] 0 [/li][li] 8 [/li][li] 3 [/li] 0 [/ol] ---
### Author: ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/3 "2005-07-06T04:54:39Z")
[QUOTE=Metacom] This is strictly a poll. Please, no debate or discussion; just answer the poll question. On a scale of 0-10, 0 being “completely innapropriate” and 10 being “completely appropriate,” rate how well the term “white trash” describes each of the following persons: [ol] [li]A single white mother on welfare living in a trailer with 3 children, each from different fathers. Typical meals in the household are McDonald’s, sugar cereals, and Kool-Aid. The most prominent object in the trailer is a television, conspicuously hooked up to a digital satellite dish. The family lives in squalor. The front yard is littered with trash. There isn’t a book in the house, and the only periodical is “TV Guide.” All the children need dental work that the mother can not afford.[/li][li]A single black mother living in the same situation as (1).[/li][li]A single white woman with no children. She works as an elementary school janitor, and owns her own double-wide, which she keeps reasonably well maintained. She splurged on season tickets to the local semi-professional orchestra, and spends her spare time reading philosophy and contemporary physics journals. She doesn’t own a television, is a vegan, and recently taught herself Attic Greek using books checked out from her local library.[/li][li]A single black mother, living in a roach-infested inner-city housing project with her two children. The mother is an alcoholic and the father is in prison. The oldest child already has a juvenile arrest record for shoplifting at the age of 13. There are no books or periodicals in the house. The mother is constantly drifting in and out of menial minimum-wage jobs, and has no health care for her or her family. [/li][li]A single white mother, in the same situation as (4).[/li][li]A white, childless woman of great inheritted wealth who periodically works as an actress and model, and spends the rest of her time living a debonair lifestyle and spreading her legs/opening her mouth/bending over and grabbing her ankles for anything with a pulse. [/li][li]A black woman, otherwise similiar to (6).[/ol][/li][/QUOTE] See, there are lots of different flavors of trash- white trash, black trash, \ trash, \ trash, trailer trash, neuvou (sp) riche trash, Mayflower trash, Ricki Lake trash, Internet trash, etc etc etc. Trashiness is a quality of character, wholly unrelated to class. I know where the term came from, but I believe in the popular culture it has moved far beyond that to now describe a certain type of person. Mainly someone of low character, crass, likely to appear on a Springer or Ricki Lake show, drama-infused, mannerless, gawdy, and in general the type of person one goes out of their way to avoid. Truly, one is not necessarily born into trashiness, and anyone can become trashy. With the exception of #1 above, none of the other people are necessarily trashy- just poor or beset with unfortunate circumstance. To be trashy is to be like my neighborwoman next door- regularly hungover, child-abusing, missing some teeth, screeching constantly, having a wardrobe consisting entirely of lyrca, hair teased out but somehow distinctly unwashed, throws trash around and doesn’t care, picks fights with random passerby and neighbors, and in general causes a great unpleasant scene wherever she goes, to the point even the local police wish to avoid her. Obnoxious and without a shred of taste and no embarassment or shame about their fightin’ drinkin’ litterin’ and often-in-court ways. Them’s trash. ---
### Author: ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/4 "2005-07-06T05:07:19Z")
I’ll play. 1=10 5=10 All the rest =0 I might call 6 or 7 a skank-ho, but not white trash. ---
### Author: ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/5 "2005-07-06T05:49:02Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > See, there are lots of different flavors of trash- white trash, black trash, \ trash, \ trash, trailer trash, neuvou (sp) riche trash, Mayflower trash, Ricki Lake trash, Internet trash, etc etc etc. > > Trashiness is a quality of character, wholly unrelated to class. I know where the term came from, but I believe in the popular culture it has moved far beyond that to now describe a certain type of person. Mainly someone of low character, crass, likely to appear on a Springer or Ricki Lake show, drama-infused, mannerless, gawdy, and in general the type of person one goes out of their way to avoid. Truly, one is not necessarily born into trashiness, and anyone can become trashy. > > With the exception of #1 above, none of the other people are necessarily trashy- just poor or beset with unfortunate circumstance. To be trashy is to be like my neighborwoman next door- regularly hungover, child-abusing, missing some teeth, screeching constantly, having a wardrobe consisting entirely of lyrca, hair teased out but somehow distinctly unwashed, throws trash around and doesn’t care, picks fights with random passerby and neighbors, and in general causes a great unpleasant scene wherever she goes, to the point even the local police wish to avoid her. Obnoxious and without a shred of taste and no embarassment or shame about their fightin’ drinkin’ litterin’ and often-in-court ways. Them’s trash. BUZZ! Wrong answer! Please reread the first sentence of the first post and play again. ---
### Author: ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/6 "2005-07-06T05:52:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > BUZZ! Wrong answer! > Please reread the first sentence of the first post and play again. Your poll makes little sense, if you asked just for a 1-10 on trashiness, that’d be fine. But the “White” qualifier nullifies it for most of those people. You are setting up a poll that violates itself. ---
### Author: ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/7 "2005-07-06T06:01:06Z")
[ol] [li]A single white mother on welfare living in a trailer with 3 children, each from different fathers…[/li] **10** [li]A single black mother living in the same situation as (1).[/li] **0** [li]A single white woman with no children. She works as an elementary school janitor, and owns her own double-wide, which she keeps reasonably well maintained. She splurged on season tickets to the local semi-professional orchestra, and spends her spare time reading philosophy and contemporary physics journals. She doesn’t own a television, is a vegan, and recently taught herself Attic Greek using books checked out from her local library.[/li] **1** [li]A single black mother, living in a roach-infested inner-city housing project… [/li] **0** [li]A single white mother, in the same situation as (4).[/li] **10** [li]A white, childless woman of great inheritted wealth who periodically works as an actress and model, and spends the rest of her time living a debonair lifestyle and spreading her legs/opening her mouth/bending over and grabbing her ankles for anything with a pulse. [/li] **0** [li]A black woman, otherwise similiar to (6).[/li] **0** [/ol] In short, no. Black people can’t be “white trash”. They can IMHO be “trailer trash”, however. ---
### Author: ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/8 "2005-07-06T06:24:11Z")
Personally, I pretty much consider the term “white trash” inherently inappropriate. First of all, it’s pretty nasty to ever call anyone ‘trash’; second of all, it strikes me as somewhat racist that _white_ trash has to be delineated as such. What, like they’re so bad that even their whiteness can’t save them from being trashy? Or if it they weren’t explicitly referred to as white, we’d have to assume that they’re, you know, the normal black trash? I know most people who use the term aren’t consciously aware of the undertones, but that’s what the subtext is to me anyhow. ---
### Author: ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/9 "2005-07-06T06:40:08Z")
> [@Lama Pacos](#): > > Personally, I pretty much consider the term “white trash” inherently inappropriate. But haven’t you heard? There is no such thing as “reverse racism”. :rolleyes: :mad: I think it would much more offensive to the PC masses if it were “black trash”, “chocolate trash”, or “yellow trash”. Whites, being, uh, \, have to take it with a smile. We _earned_ it. ---
### Author: ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/10 "2005-07-06T06:44:54Z")
Oh yeah. We aren’t allowed to debate or discuss here. Scratch that. ---
### Author: ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/11 "2005-07-06T09:09:36Z")
1. 10 2. Other than not being white, 10 3. 0 4. Same as #2, but 7 5. 7 6. 0 7. 0 ---
### Author: ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/12 "2005-07-06T09:27:19Z")
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White\_trash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_trash) has a nice overview. [li]A single white mother on welfare living in a trailer with 3 children, each from different fathers. Typical meals in the household are McDonald’s, sugar cereals, and Kool-Aid. The most prominent object in the trailer is a television, conspicuously hooked up to a digital satellite dish. The family lives in squalor. The front yard is littered with trash. There isn’t a book in the house, and the only periodical is “TV Guide.” All the children need dental work that the mother can not afford.[/li] 10. [li]A single black mother living in the same situation as (1).[/li] Well, she ain’t white. Other than that though, if you look at shared characteristics, she scores pretty high. 1. [li]A single white woman with no children. She works as an elementary school janitor, and owns her own double-wide, which she keeps reasonably well maintained. She splurged on season tickets to the local semi-professional orchestra, and spends her spare time reading philosophy and contemporary physics journals. She doesn’t own a television, is a vegan, and recently taught herself Attic Greek using books checked out from her local library.[/li] 3. (she’s still white :D) [li]A single black mother, living in a roach-infested inner-city housing project with her two children. The mother is an alcoholic and the father is in prison. The oldest child already has a juvenile arrest record for shoplifting at the age of 13. There are no books or periodicals in the house. The mother is constantly drifting in and out of menial minimum-wage jobs, and has no health care for her or her family. [/li] 7. [li]A single white mother, in the same situation as (4).[/li] 10. [li]A white, childless woman of great inheritted wealth who periodically works as an actress and model, and spends the rest of her time living a debonair lifestyle and spreading her legs/opening her mouth/bending over and grabbing her ankles for anything with a pulse. [/li] Debonair? Ah, ok, from the french. Anyway, being sexually prolific but having no kids just means you like sex, but aren’t stupid enough to have children that don’t fit your lifestyle and/or you aren’t ready for. 1. (mostly for still being white) [li]A black woman, otherwise similiar to (6).[/li] 0. ---
### Author: ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/13 "2005-07-06T12:05:04Z")
1. 0 2. 0 3. 0 4. 0 5. 0 6. 0 7. 0 ---
### Author: ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/14 "2005-07-06T12:12:12Z")
One and five are classic white trash, scoring 10. Six could be called white trash, but there are more fitting names…score 3. All others score zero. ---
### Author: ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/15 "2005-07-06T12:15:27Z")
I never use the term white trash, so I’ll give everything a 0. ---
### Author: ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/16 "2005-07-06T17:17:41Z")
1 and 5 each rate a 10, the others get a zero. ---
### Author: ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/17 "2005-07-06T17:45:55Z")
No human being is trash, a point my mother–who grew up without running water–would make while she was reaming me out for using this ignorant term. so 0 to all. ---
### Author: ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/18 "2005-07-06T18:22:20Z")
Please note: “White trash” and its alternate form “trailer trash” are terms of abuse no matter how you look at it. If you wouldn’t use a word like "nigger, " “spic,” “kike,” or “faggot” in the same context, don’t use terms like “white trash” or “trailer trash.” It marks you as ill-mannered and bigoted. ---
### Author: ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/19 "2005-07-06T18:33:42Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#): > > No human being is trash, a point my mother–who grew up without running water–would make while she was reaming me out for using this ignorant term. > > so 0 to all. **Metacom** asked us not to discuss anything in here, but if we were going to, I’d disagree with you. I’ve known at least one piece of pure “human” garbage. ---
### Author: ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger) #### Post date: [July 6, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231/20 "2005-07-06T18:56:31Z")
Calling people white trash isn’t “reverse racist” (and no, there IS no such thing), it’s plain old racist. It takes as its assumption that all non-whites are automatically trash (hence why there is no phrase “black trash”), so white “failures” have to be specially demarcated. It’s far more insulting a phrase to non-whites. Also, the people who are saying #3 is any flavor of “trash”… why? Is it just the fact that she works as a janitor and lives in a trailer? This is the most classist messageboard I’ve ever been to. Also, I am wondering why there wasn’t a black counterpart to that part of the OP. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-the-phrase-white-trash/311231.md?page=2)