# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/61 "2004-02-09T07:45:31Z")
“Foocracka” and “Fruit Booty” spring to mind, though they may be limited to [the little-known cult of Stevie Ray.](http://www.ddtdigest.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/62 "2004-02-09T07:49:25Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > My stepmom is Greek, and the term for “non-Greek” is something like “ouflo”…I don’t know how to spell it exactly. I also don’t know what the translation is, but from what I understand, calling someone a “piece of shit” is about on par. The Greek term for “foreign” is _xeno_ (from which we get xenophobia). I believe the father in _My Big Fat Greek Wedding_ uses it liberally. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/63 "2004-02-09T08:01:36Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Thanks for the clarification. Maybe it’s just the New Mexico accent … I always heard it as “huedo.” Actually, you heard it correctly - a single “r” between vowels is tapped behind the teeth almost like an English ‘d’ or ‘t’ is…and the güe or hue usually sounds nearly the same, I have seen it spelled “weto” too. There is big a difference between the Mexican (i.e. from Mexico itself) and the “American” or border use of these words. In Mexico “gringo” means primarily and American citizen and “güero/a” means “blonde” but in the USA or border both words usually means “white” as opposed to “mexican” (since a “white Mexican” is an oxymoron here) I am Mexican and light skinned but not blonde by most standards (I’m Spanish, Irish, and at most 1/16th Indian), and I remember being confused when I started school in Texas when the local Hispanic kids asked me confrontationally if I was a “güero” or a “Mexican”. My dad would just tell me to pay the dumb “gringo” kids (who were self described “Mexicans”) no mind. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/64 "2004-02-09T13:31:38Z")
… but I’d also venture a guess that white people living in predominantly non-white countries feel the sting of anti-white racial insults much more than we do. Actually, you do not have to go out of the country to experience this. I have some white friends that grew up in predominantly non-white neighborhoods who say they encountered quite a bit of hostility and even physical intimidation from people in their neighborhood and schools. I experienced this myself when I went to graduate school at a predominantly black college. Sorry if I am veering off-topic! ---
**Author:** ![psychotropic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@psychotropic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychotropic)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/65 "2004-02-09T15:54:01Z")
In Australia, whites are sometimes referred to as “skip” or “skippy” as in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. I have also heard us referred to as “colonials” or “convicts”. I don’t take offence to any of these, especially when I think of some of the terms used to describe Aborigines. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/66 "2004-02-09T19:34:49Z")
> [@Jervoise](#): > > Crap, forgot to delete a sentence; “laoguei” and “lao wai” are the same. ‘gweilo’ is literally cantonese for “ghost man”; ‘lao guei’ is literally mandarin for “old ghost”; and ‘lao wai’ is literally mandarin for “old outside”. > [@Loopydude](#): > > … I seem to remember one Chinese word for “foreigner” translates to something likes “foreign devil”. … how about mandarin for ‘yang2gui3zi’? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/67 "2004-02-09T21:26:24Z")
John von Neumann is said to have begun a mathematics lecture once; “The goys have proven the following theorem.” > [@mangeorge](#): > > Some Canadians would be a little uncomfortable with the idea of being lumped in with Americans. Those unclefuckers from Canuckistan? Their problem. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/68 "2004-02-09T21:45:38Z")
In Dutch: “bleekscheet” (translated literally, it means pale-fart). My half-Moroccan nephew once informed me of an Arabic sentence that meant: “less then dogs and pigs” and that was supposed to be used by Moroccan youngsters amongst themselves when talking derogatively about the Dutch. ---
**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 9, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/69 "2004-02-09T21:48:06Z")
[Ferengi](http://home.netvigator.com/~cyw/image/ferengi.jpg) as an insult? Yeah, I can see that. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/70 "2004-02-09T22:47:29Z")
Well, since you asked: [http://www.rsdb.org/](http://www.rsdb.org/) ---
**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 10, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/71 "2004-02-10T00:48:57Z")
> [@Sofa King](#): > > Well, since you asked: [http://www.rsdb.org/](http://www.rsdb.org/) Not much love for French Canadians, is there? You know, a former friend of mine might have invented a word on that list. I remember a conversation we had about ten years ago, regarding a co-worker of his. He kept talking about the follies of a gentleman with the last name of Spoda, and usually referred to the name in a nagative way, like “Damn Spoda.” I said “you know, that sounds like a racial slur,” and from that point on he used the word “spoda” as a substitute for the n-word. Great … I probably scored an assist in that linguistic creation. ☹ Remember … _former_ friend. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/72 "2004-02-10T06:35:17Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > Native Hawaiians use the term “haole” (pronounced “howly”). I have no idea what that means. _Haole_ means foreigner but its modern meaning is “Caucasian”. It _can_ be used as a slur, but isn’t always. People conversationally refer to Caucasians as _haole_ (though not to their faces if they’re unsure if the term will offend), and local Caucasians may call themselves _haole_. When they do, it’s dissimilar to black folks calling themselves _niggers_. When a Caucasian calls himself _haole_, he’s conveying he’s local-born or has adopted the local culture as his own; there’s no defiant political sentiment involved. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/73 "2004-02-10T21:41:14Z")
“Mangia cake” was mentioned above; I think it may be unique to Canada. Apparently it’s a term used by people of Italian origin to mean Canadians of British descent. Still in the Canadian context, I’ll mention qaallunaaq (probably misspelled – another spelling is “kabloona”). This is the Inuktitut word for “white person”; the Inuinnaqtun word for the English language is “kablunatun.” I don’t know whether it’s derogatory or not, but the Inuinaqtun section of the Government of Nunavut website uses “kablunatun” to refer to English. This country has a depressing history of barbs slung between British- and French-Canadians; when simply ‘the French’ and ‘les Anglais’ didn’t suffice as insults, one side supplemented the usual anti-France varieties with ‘pea soup’ and ‘pepper’, and the other had ‘rosbif’ (roast beef) and ‘tête carrée’ (square head). Another is that, for a long time, should a French-Canadian dare to express himself in French, he might be greeted by a brusque “Speak white!” There are probably others which, mercifully, I do not know. ---
**Author:** ![Finite\_Elephant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Finite\_Elephant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finite_Elephant)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/74 "2004-02-10T22:56:06Z")
> [@AudreyK](#): > > _Haole_ means foreigner but its modern meaning is “Caucasian”. It _can_ be used as a slur, but isn’t always. People conversationally refer to Caucasians as _haole_ (though not to their faces if they’re unsure if the term will offend), and local Caucasians may call themselves _haole_. When they do, it’s dissimilar to black folks calling themselves _niggers_. When a Caucasian calls himself _haole_, he’s conveying he’s local-born or has adopted the local culture as his own; there’s no defiant political sentiment involved. I concur that the degree of offense meant by “haole” depends on the context. A sufficiently “local” white is referred to as “hana haole.” I can also report from first-hand experience that the use of “haole” to denote “caucasian” has spread to Guam (not a surprise given the number of Guamanians that go to UH or vacation in Hawai’i). I’ve also heard that it has spread to Saipan. ---
**Author:** ![snafiasco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@snafiasco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snafiasco)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/75 "2004-02-11T05:42:55Z")
On Saturday Night Live, the comedian Chris Rock once tried to come up with a term to insult white people. After discarding “white nigger,” he suggested “Yaku.” A black kid actually used this on a bunch of us when we wouldn’t give in to his pan-handling on a Chicago subway car. \ ---
**Author:** ![Arturius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Arturius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arturius)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/76 "2004-02-11T06:23:47Z")
Heres some ones from the street: Gook Wigga (white nigger, usually a white guy pretending to be ‘black’) Wigga’s more used by white people to describe white people though. ---
**Author:** ![RobertP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e8cbc/32.png) [@RobertP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobertP)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/77 "2004-02-11T08:51:22Z")
> [@notquitekarpov](#): > > Yup, roger that - it’s Ferengi in Malaysia. There is even a Batu Ferengi (beach) on the island of Penang, which now appropriately is filled with terrible beach hotels for package tourists. > > As to its roots, well according to Linguist List ([http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/issues/](http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/issues/)) it was probably due to the Arabs. That’s awesome **notquitekarpov**. I knew that the term was widespread, but hadn’t realized quite how far. In the North Indian languages (Hindi, etc), it is _firang_ also, which I assume came from the persian, as many Hindi words do. What I love best is the implication that the whole thing is probably dervied from a term for the **French** 🙂 Other Hindi slur words for white people would include gora (white skin) angrez (Hindiized word for ‘English’) amrici (Hindiized word for ‘American’) gora behenchod (white sisterfucker – my favorite!) ---
**Author:** ![EhhMon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@EhhMon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EhhMon)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/78 "2004-02-11T11:06:26Z")
I always use “Trailer Trash”, “Inbreeders” or “Ya bunch of Inbreds” on my friends, but it never insults them, they just laugh and reply, “I ain’t from the South”. ---
**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:** [February 11, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/79 "2004-02-11T15:12:15Z")
In Stephen King’s The Stand, the Rat Man refers to someone (Larry?) as “graymeat” and “Wonder Bread”. ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053/80 "2004-02-11T19:49:53Z")
> [@RobertP](#): > > gora (white skin) Actually, it should _Gori Chamdi_ for ‘white skin’ Gora just means ‘White’ angrez (ung-rays) can be used as a racial slur as in ‘angrez ki aulaad’ (ung-rays ki awe-laa-the) meaing, ‘son of an englishman’ amrici (um-ri-ki) is not a racial slur. At least not yet 🙂 > [@RobertP](#): > > gora behenchod (white sisterfucker – my favorite!) The funny thing is, whenever we use this, the ‘gora’ (whitey) just smiles warmly and says “oh really?” 😃 An interesting story: A few years ago, I met a swiss student on a bus in Gujarat, and he told me that the Gujarati people referred to him as Micheal Jackson, all in good humor, which he didn’t like. And this was before the first lawsuit against him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-derogatory-names-do-other-races-use-for-white-people/228053.md?page=5)