# "White" as a dirty word **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887 "2014-08-05T18:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/21 "2014-08-06T03:12:52Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > You mean like the blog “[Stuff White People Like](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/)”, which is dedicated to dismissing every aspect of white middle class culture as pretentious and idiotic, by default, one topic at a time? > > I haven’t looked through it much, as it makes me feel nauseous after about half a minute. Still, I’m pretty sure that it’s actually written by a white, middle-class person. It is in fact written by a [white, middle-class person](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuff_White_People_Like): > [@](#): > > The blog was created in January 2008 by a white Canadian, Christian Lander, a Los Angeles copywriter who grew up in Toronto and graduated from McGill University in Montreal. Lander co-authored the site with his Filipino Canadian friend Myles Valentin,after Valentin teased Lander for watching the HBO television series The Wire. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/22 "2014-08-06T03:42:23Z")
Some of my best friends are white. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/23 "2014-08-06T06:40:14Z")
> [@dofe](#): > > It is in fact written by a [white, middle-class person](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuff_White_People_Like): That’s because white is _our_ word. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/24 "2014-08-06T07:13:33Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > And, this may surprise you, but it’s all Obama’s fault. Well no wonder, the damn guy’s mother was white! I was shocked when I found out but it explains everything. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/25 "2014-08-06T07:20:47Z")
> [@carlotta](#): > > I am white. I was recently talking to a white guy in his 30s that was in my circle of friends but a pretty new acquaintance. He was telling me about a performance he and some of our mutual friends had gone to, choreographed by someone we all know. With clear disdain he described the dance as typical of “white girls”. > > Even though I asked several follow up questions I really couldn’t tell what he meant to convey by that except dismissiveness. > > I don’t think he meant “white girls can’t dance” or “white girls don’t have rhythm”. > > I guess I was mildly offended. It certainly didn’t enhance my opinion of him. White girls with their Uggs, pumpkin spice lattes, and yoga pants. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/26 "2014-08-06T08:22:16Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Well no wonder, the damn guy’s mother was white! I was shocked when I found out but it explains everything. You might be surprised to learn that many of our Presidents have had some degree of white ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/27 "2014-08-06T12:34:30Z")
Don’t call me white. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kkrHYHqChlI/hqdefault.jpg "Don't call me white - Nofx") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkrHYHqChlI) Just ask NoFX. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/28 "2014-08-06T12:45:52Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Usually it just means that something is disproportionately white (like if someone complained that management at their company is all old white men), meaning maybe other people don’t have a fair shot at it. That’s not disparaging white people or saying none of the managers should be white. Correct. I expect this is what the OP had in mind, but it’s not the same thing. It’s crudely stereotyped and calls a lot of things “white” that are more likely white upper-middle class, or just white upper-middle class, but there’s no white = bad here. And of course it’s for and by the amusement of other white/white upper-middle class people. > [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > You mean like the blog “[Stuff White People Like](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/)”, which is dedicated to dismissing every aspect of white middle class culture as pretentious and idiotic, by default, one topic at a time? > > I haven’t looked through it much, as it makes me feel nauseous after about half a minute. The oversensitivity here is almost physically painful. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/29 "2014-08-06T13:57:56Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > I haven’t looked through it much > [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Sooner or later, I’ll notice Radiolab mentioned there you people. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/30 "2014-08-06T14:49:25Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The oversensitivity here is almost physically painful. I read one writer who said that if any person who ever complained about the difficulty of being white in America ever had to experience the difficulty of not being white in America their head would explode within an hour. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/31 "2014-08-06T14:50:40Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve been in trouble since I don’t know when > I’m in trouble now and I know somehow I’ll find trouble again > I’m a loner, but I’m never alone > Every night I get one step closer to the danger zone > > 'Cause I’m a dirty white boy 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/32 "2014-08-06T15:25:18Z")
I tried to further explain what I meant several times, but always ended up giving up. My rule of thumb is that if I can’t explain an idea in a way that makes sense to other people, it’s probably bollocks. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find examples as the only key word is “white” and that one gets used a lot. I know I have seen “white” used in a dismissive way by serious writers and speakers, usually someone on the left who is trying to be provocative when writing about racial equality or representation. But on reflection, it’s not that often, and not that bothersome. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/33 "2014-08-06T15:32:03Z")
How white bread. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/34 "2014-08-06T15:32:29Z")
To help the OP a little, I’ll throw out this experience. I have never heard white being used as a dirty word. But I have heard it used to imply lameness. Once I made the mistake of dancing with my sister and neice in front of a woman who didn’t know us. “You dance like a white girl!” she cackled at me. The first two times, we ignored her. The third time, my sister was ready to knock her out (with me throwing in a few jabs once she was down). “You dance like a white girl” shouldn’t be insulting. White girls can dance–as Madonna and Britney demonstrate. But it was clear that the woman was intending to denigrate my creative, rhythmless style of dancing. But I’m guilty of joking around like this too. I have a coworker who is a sweet woman, but she is so, well, white. I had to teach her how to fist bump the “proper” way because her way was rather…unconventional. She cracked me up once because I overheard her singing “Call my name, call my name”, like a white Beyounce, instead of “say my name, say my name”. Then there’s the whole clapping thing. As rhythmless as I am, even I know clapping on 1 and 3 is not right. But for my friend, that’s the way it should be. Because she’s very white. And she’s also very sweet and lovely and funny. But she’s also white, and I remind her of this when she goes “astray”. But it’s fair. She makes fun of me for not being a “real” woman. She ribs me. I rib her back. Race and gender are both superficial descriptors IMHO. If you can’t laugh at them at least a little bit, then you’re not going to do well in this world. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/35 "2014-08-06T15:40:54Z")
I’ve seen the kind of behavior the OP discusses. It’s usually displayed by well-heeled white liberals, trying to assuage their “white guilt” by putting down all of “those other whites” who aren’t as enlightened as they are. In other words, it’s a way of claiming to be “as good as” the non-white people that they have more respect for. And yes, it’s racist. ---
**Author:** ![Lonnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lonnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lonnie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/36 "2014-08-06T16:03:31Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Well no wonder, the damn guy’s mother was white! I was shocked when I found out but it explains everything. :):)🙂 (I assume you said this with tongue firmly in cheek?) ‘White’ is probably just a new way of saying ‘WASP’. (I am proud to be of Viking origin. 🙂 ) Strangers at the beach have asked me why my skin is so white. I used to explain that it is called sunblock. But one day a strange woman caught me at the wrong moment and I told her I just got out of jail. 🙂 Another related term is ‘Old Boys’ Club’ that usually refers to white men with power. It is human nature to feel affiliated with our own group no matter the criterion used, so we are all racists. But it is how we act and talk that counts. And I would think it would depend upon the circumstances and motivation and to whom you are speaking that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/37 "2014-08-06T16:51:44Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I’ve seen the kind of behavior the OP discusses. It’s usually displayed by well-heeled white liberals, trying to assuage their “white guilt” by putting down all of “those other whites” who aren’t as enlightened as they are. In other words, it’s a way of claiming to be “as good as” the non-white people that they have more respect for. And yes, it’s racist. Except for that stuff about being as good as non-whites, which you put in quotes despite nobody ever in the history of the world saying it, what you’re describing could also just be a straightforward acknowledgment of the way the world actually is. If I criticize the Klan, that’s me trying to assuage my white guilt by putting down other whites who aren’t as enlightened as me. Is that a problem? ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/38 "2014-08-06T17:05:19Z")
In my circle of friends and relatives (many different races) we use the term jokingly to refer to someone who is clueless or un-cool. For example if someone complains that their food is too spicy at least one of us will roll our eyes and say “White people. Don’t know what good food tastes like,” or something to that effect. When I was growing up we moved to the Hood and my peers would make fun of my speech and tell me I talked White. (well, I am white and until I was 11 I grew up in a white neighborhood, so there’s that.) ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/39 "2014-08-06T17:14:16Z")
Could it be something like “suffering legitimizes experience”? Seems to me that (for example) black culture has been in the vanguard of aspects of American popular culture for a really long time now, from jazz to Motown, hip hop, etc. No American alive today has been a slave but it is a part of the cultural identity that this was so, with the multitude of attendant horrors that entailed. I am neither white nor black so perhaps I stand a little apart from it or perhaps I’m just not quite getting it. I cannot offhand think of categorical suffering white people have experienced that other ethnicities have not experienced right along with them (things like the Great Depression, the World Wars, etc.) I can definitely think of many examples of the reverse, as can anyone. So no one is going to look at white people (as a group) as a people who have persevered through suffering and oppression and come out stronger on the other side, even though that may true for subsets of white people ( i.e. - Jewish people for example). My point is that perhaps it is this background of suffering that contributes to an ethnicity’s being regarded as hmmm, what to say here, not as _lame_ as another or even the “dominant” one. Anyway, my thoughts, IMHO in IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887/40 "2014-08-06T18:39:09Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > Except for that stuff about being as good as non-whites, which you put in quotes despite nobody ever in the history of the world saying it, what you’re describing could also just be a straightforward acknowledgment of the way the world actually is. If I criticize the Klan, that’s me trying to assuage my white guilt by putting down other whites who aren’t as enlightened as me. Is that a problem? What I was referring to is not criticizing the Ku Klux Klan or any specific group that shares an ideology or culture, but whites in general, with the implication that all white people other than the speaker are conservative/boring/ignorant/rich/privileged/racist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-as-a-dirty-word/694887.md?page=1)