# Why do British people make fun of people with red "ginger" hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063 "2010-10-13T23:48:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/1 "2010-10-13T23:48:19Z")
Saw this yet again on **Top Gear** last night, (Rupert Grint was the star in the resaonably priced car on the episode that just aired on BBC America), and it reminded me that I’d been meaning to ask this before. What’s up with all the ginger jokes? I’ve seen this countless times, and honestly, I don’t recall ever seeing or hearing someone from the US make fun of someone for being a redhead. I’m sure there’s a logical reason for it that I’m just not getting… ---
**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:** [October 13, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/2 "2010-10-13T23:51:17Z")
A WAG: could it be a masked, politically correct way to make fun of the Irish? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/3 "2010-10-14T00:04:39Z")
Redheads are in significant numbers in the UK + sexist/racist/national jokes are liable to offend + Britons like taking the piss out of people. That and gingers don’t feel pain. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/4 "2010-10-14T00:15:12Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > A WAG: could it be a masked, politically correct way to make fun of the Irish? Red-headedness is more prevalent amongst Scots people. It might be related to some lingering anti-“Celtic” sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/5 "2010-10-14T00:32:40Z")
I’ve noticed this with my 7th Graders in America. For them, it started back when that Ginger episode of South Park aired(2005). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/6 "2010-10-14T00:37:28Z")
Rhyming slang. As in nine-bob note. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/7 "2010-10-14T00:58:16Z")
Because they’re assholes. The limeys who do it, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/8 "2010-10-14T02:19:09Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > Because they’re assholes. The limeys who do it, that is. Arseholes then. It’s the last acceptable face of racism (though not against any nationality or culture), and it’s still fairly common in the UK despite living in relatively enlightened times. I’m not convinced it’s an anti-Scottish/Irish thing as English and Welsh redheads get just as much grief. It’s more of a case of bonding through persecution of an Other, and begins at an early age, as soon as children can start taunting their peers essentially. Ginger kids are easy to spot from a distance, and at closer range can be teased for their freckly skin and tendency towards skin cancer; it’s like shooting fish in a barrel, and bullys like easy targets. I’m surprised (and somewhat ashamed) to hear this seems to be a solely British prejudice, though South Park seem to have picked up on it ( **Mahaloth** , below) as I recall from the original SP movie that the luckless Kenny is ginger. I wonder if a general population require a minority to be a certain size before the prejudice begins? Do albinos get the same grief? For the record, my hair is brown, though I’ve long held a sneaking suspicion that I carry the ‘tragic ginger gene’, and indeed this was confirmed when I grew a beard a few years ago that was made up of all sorts of colours, including a few ginger whiskers here and there. It seems I’m a tabby. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/9 "2010-10-14T02:26:25Z")
Red hair used to be considered ugly, on this side of the pond as well. Remember Anne Shirley’s agonies over her red hair? My great-grandmother cut her own braids off when she was a little girl rather than be seen in town with red hair. I suppose the prejudice has hung on longer in the UK and turned into the weird ginger-tormenting thing. My own little ginger girl has hair of a [beautiful and unusual shade.](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vBMG0kK63HI/SHw61DptlmI/AAAAAAAABRY/zX5-cHyiiCY/s640/200605250179.JPG) She is self-conscious about it because _everyone_ comments on it and she doesn’t like that, but she knows that everyone thinks it’s beautiful. Red hair is pretty much universally admired these days in the US/Canada. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/10 "2010-10-14T02:29:58Z")
> [@Fridgemagnet](#): > > as I recall from the original SP movie that the luckless Kenny is ginger. Kenny is blonde. IIRC, Kyle is the redhead. FWIW, so am I. Rob ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/11 "2010-10-14T03:35:24Z")
Rangas rock! Yeah I think it is a carry over from when redheads were thought to be scottish. But as we know the readheads origanlly were vikings. ---
**Author:** ![falcotron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@falcotron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcotron)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/12 "2010-10-14T04:20:02Z")
> [@Fridgemagnet](#): > > I’m surprised (and somewhat ashamed) to hear this seems to be a solely British prejudice The word “ginger” itself seems to have been confined to the UK and recent colonies\* until that South Park episode. But, even without the word, the prejudice used to be common in the US, or at least the parts of it with large Irish populations. My grandfather, growing up in Baltimore in the 1930s, got picked on more for being a redhead than for being a Jew. (I wonder if that explains why he married a redheaded gentile?) And, if it makes you feel any better about your fellow Brits, I think the eastern US anti-redhead prejudice was much more closely linked to anti-Irish racism than in the UK. - When I was in Pune, India, a few years ago, there was a redheaded American girl in the same hotel. People used the word “ginger” to describe her. But it didn’t seem to have any pejorative connotations, and the overall reaction seemed to be more that everyone wanted to sleep with her than anything negative. Which was still annoying for her, of course. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/13 "2010-10-14T04:26:53Z")
Because we redheads are smart, beautiful perverts. ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/14 "2010-10-14T04:29:28Z")
Ginger is (Cockney) rhyming slang for a gay man. Ginger Beer = Queer. Geddit? So while I didn’t hear the particular Top Gear episode, a person from the other side of the pond, calling someone else ‘Ginger’ may not be in reference to other person’s hair. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/15 "2010-10-14T04:51:09Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Redheads are in significant numbers in the UK + sexist/racist/national jokes are liable to offend + Britons like taking the piss out of people. > That and gingers don’t feel pain. Actually, redheads feel more pain. Cite: [The Pain of Being a Redhead - The New York Times](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/the-pain-of-being-a-redhead/) ---
**Author:** ![falcotron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@falcotron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcotron)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/16 "2010-10-14T04:52:20Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > Ginger is (Cockney) rhyming slang for a gay man. > > Ginger Beer = Queer. Geddit? > > So while I didn’t hear the particular Top Gear episode, a person from the other side of the pond, calling someone else ‘Ginger’ may not be in reference to other person’s hair. Which side of Amy Pond now? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/17 "2010-10-14T05:10:56Z")
In the Antipodes the term of choice is “ranga”, as derived from orangutan. Two of my kids are rangas. More chiacking than taking the piss, though IMO the poms make more of a national sport of that than we do. In days gone by the monicker was “Bluey” for guys and “Ginger” for girls. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/18 "2010-10-14T05:20:34Z")
I guess you have never heard of blonde jokes? ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/19 "2010-10-14T05:22:24Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > What’s up with all the ginger jokes? I’ve seen this countless times, and honestly, I don’t recall ever seeing or hearing someone from the US make fun of someone for being a redhead. So what, you’ve never heard the phrase “beat like a red-headed step-child”? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063/20 "2010-10-14T05:28:10Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > My own little ginger girl has hair of a [beautiful and unusual shade.](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vBMG0kK63HI/SHw61DptlmI/AAAAAAAABRY/zX5-cHyiiCY/s640/200605250179.JPG) I just had to say - ADORABLE. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-british-people-make-fun-of-people-with-red-ginger-hair/557063.md?page=2)