# What derogatory names do other races use for white people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053 "2004-02-08T00:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/21 "2004-02-08T04:10:13Z")
Crap, forgot to delete a sentence; “laoguei” and “lao wai” are the same. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/22 "2004-02-08T04:12:37Z")
> [@toque](#): > > Mr. Charlie, Ofay, Peckerhead, Peckerwood… > > I’m blanking on the Xicano term for white people- it’s more jovial than offensive- please remind me. Maybe you are thinking of “bolillo” (literally a white breadroll). In Mexico it is often used against light skinned Mexicans too, people who are “güeros”. Or “gabacho”, which is a somewhat harsher version of “gringo”. Interestingly that word is a slur for “French” in Spain; the Mexicans simply appropriated the word for their own northern neighbors. It is usually a little angrier than “gringo”, and usually limited to Anglos. “Gringo” means American, English speaking, or simply non-Latin American foreigner depending on the area. In Mexico I have heard it directed at African-Americans or even “Hispanic” Americans at times. It’s not necessarily a racial slur, or even mean spirited; the word usually conjures up images of sunburned tourists with sandals and cameras, warning each other not to drink the water. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/23 "2004-02-08T04:39:11Z")
Is there any explanation/origin/etymology of “ofay”? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/24 "2004-02-08T04:39:17Z")
> [@Ringo](#): > > Or could that possibly trace its origin to the common slang for occupation era U.S. Army infantry soldiers? You’d think so, but it’s apparently older than WWII. I saw an old group of paintings of white naval officers (English or American, can’t remember which) from the mid-late 1800’s, shortly after the Meiji restoration, where their faces are portrayed in almost a caraciture, really long and snoutlike. It was being used to demonstarte the way that Japanese people viewed us at the time; uncultured barbarians with doglike faces. [aside]How’s Houston, anyway? I’m back in my old hometown now. Say hi to 'em at the next dopefest for me.[/aside] ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/25 "2004-02-08T04:50:40Z")
Since you mentioned “kike”, there’s “goy” or “shiksa” (the female equivalent) for gentiles, but I don’t think it’s a big insult. At least I hope not; I often refer to myself as a shiksa gringa. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/26 "2004-02-08T05:00:12Z")
> [@don't mind me](#): > > there’s “goy” or “shiksa” (the female equivalent) for gentiles, The male version of “shiksa” is “shegetz”. They’re Yiddish for “detestible”, and “shegetz” and “shiksa” are offensive terms. “Goy” means “nation”, with the implication “foreigner” or “non-Jew”, and isn’t particularly derogatory. ---
**Author:** ![robo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@robo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo99)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/27 "2004-02-08T05:46:21Z")
I’d be offended if the term “Bushman” was used against me. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/28 "2004-02-08T07:03:54Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Is there any explanation/origin/etymology of “ofay”? It’s Pig Latin for “foe.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/29 "2004-02-08T07:08:36Z")
In Lakota, whites are called _wasichu_ (pronounced wah-SHE-choo). Sometimes it is written as “_wasichun_”. I’ve seen two definition offered, one deriving from a term related to “ghosts”, indicating white skin, and a second meaning “one who takes too much”. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/30 "2004-02-08T07:13:43Z")
Native Hawaiians use the term “haole” (pronounced “howly”). I have no idea what that means. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/31 "2004-02-08T07:35:04Z")
When I lived in New Mexico, many Hispanics used the term _huedo_ (sp?, pronounced like hway-doh or weh-doh) to describe Anglos. I also heard _penche huedo_ (sp?, pronounced like "peen-chay-weh-doh), which roughly translated to “foolish whitey.” Add “the devil” and “neck” to another anti-white slur used by blacks. I also found that whenever blacks spoke of “the white man,” it usually wasn’t a very good thing, compared to just saying “whites.” ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Sarang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jack\_Sarang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Sarang)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/32 "2004-02-08T07:44:38Z")
Koreans says “yang nom” or “waygook nom”. The suffix “nom” in Korean can be applied to almost anything, denoting it as something that is negative or bad. In these two examples, yang is west or westerner. waygook simply means foreign. “Nom” in these two instances is probably best translated as “bastard” or “fucker”. So “Western bastard” or “Foreign fucker”. However, waygook can be applied to any non-Korean whereas they can get specific by country for instance: wei nom (japanese bastard) chung-gook nom (chinese bastard) mee-gook nom (american bastard) And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/33 "2004-02-08T07:57:45Z")
To a proud Irish (or other) American, “Anglo” might be taken as an insult. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/34 "2004-02-08T08:36:46Z")
Not enough folks hatin whitey now? Let’s see how many slurs we can come up with. That’s cool 😃 How about… “needle dick” or I’ve heard it said…ya fuckin noodle My dad said “limey” used to put some folks into a rage. Of course you could just call him a redneck or better yet try calling a redneck a fuckin Yankee. Them is fightin words. I just hang the name “Bubba” on his ignorant pastey ass and that says just about everything. Yeah, whatever you say BUBBA. or Dubya…now that’s even worse. 😉 You said white, right? Not necessarily American. So do micks, wops, Hebes, pollocks and cannucks count. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/35 "2004-02-08T08:56:06Z")
I either heard it or imagined it, but perhaps “spook” (as in little white ghosty-thing). ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Jenkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Brown\_Jenkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Jenkin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/36 "2004-02-08T09:24:58Z")
Indonesian: \*bule \* (pr. boo-lay). If you are one, bank on hearing it at least a dozen times in your first 10 minutes in the country. My Indonesian-English dictionary has \*bulai \* (almost the same pronunciation) meaning _albino_, but no Indonesian I’ve met has heard that meaning before! Thai, as \*\*satu largi \*\* mentioned above, is _farang_. \*Farang \* also means guava, but I had never heard the BO theory \*\*satu largi \*\* mentioned. Is that a private theory **sl** , or did you hear it from someone? I’ve tried to work this out before, but most Thai language authorities I’ve read are a bit confused about the etymology of _farang_-honky. Some think that it comes from the Thai word for French - \*Farangset \* (a Thai-ism for Francais), but others simply admit they have no idea. [This page](http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/4/4-573.html#2) links it to the much older words \*frank \* and _ferenji_. Cambodia has adapted this word as _barang_, which means thing or object in Indonesian – not sure if there’s a connection there! Quick hijack – **satu largi** : are you in Indonesia? (his/her user name is phonetic Indonesian for ‘one more’ - every drinker’s first phrase in a foreign language. I made sure I knew that one, and _where’s the toilet_?, in Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese). ---
**Author:** ![OM\_Waterfall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@OM\_Waterfall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OM_Waterfall)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/37 "2004-02-08T11:15:41Z")
I was passing the time with a bunch of asians one day, when one of them said something in Chinese which made them all gasp and stop talking. Of course it made no sense to me, until one of them explained that he had referred to me as a ghost. This still didn’t really compute until he said, “as in pale” . Now I understood, but the only trouble was, that when these guys were all studying or posting on a message board like sad losers, I was generally down at the beach or working on some hare-brained scheme OUTdoors, so when we compared arms I was actually darker than the guy who said it! ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/38 "2004-02-08T11:17:32Z")
In Singapore “Ang Moh” is used for whites and is Hokkien Chinese meaning “Red Hair”. Ang Moh on it’s own is not meant to be insulting, or should I say, is more commonly used as slang to mean whites. But occasionally you hear the term “Ang Moh Kwee” meaning “Red Haired Devil” and that does have a more insulting connotation. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/39 "2004-02-08T12:03:50Z")
My favorite comes from the [Delany sisters](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440220424/), referring rather specifically to the meanspirited, bigoted southern white men they encountered in their lifetimes: rebby boys. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/40 "2004-02-08T14:43:49Z")
I think “spook” is more generally understood as a slur against African Americans. I believe George Clinton made reference to whites as “Caspers” on the cover of an album, R&B Skeletons from the Closet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053.md?page=3)