# Where did "That's Mighty White of You" come from, and what does it mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-thats-mighty-white-of-you-come-from-and-what-does-it-mean/145841>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 31, 2002, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-thats-mighty-white-of-you-come-from-and-what-does-it-mean/145841 "2002-12-31T07:15:27Z")\
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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-thats-mighty-white-of-you-come-from-and-what-does-it-mean/145841/3 "2002-12-31T07:57:46Z")

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In my experience, it has always been sarcastic. As Partridge notes, it means that one has all the “good” qualities of a white person. (Much as Huck Finn described Jim as “white inside.”) However, the whole notion that white people have inherent qualities or virtues superior to blacks (or other non-whites) is so silly that it is generally used as a parody of some stereotypical racist who would think that it actually was a compliment.

YMMV, I suppose.

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