# y'all wypipo need to grow some skin **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 6, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434 "2018-07-06T21:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Bullet_Traffic_Control)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/161 "2018-07-08T18:23:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It’s a thread, people can read what you actually wrote - you know, the part where you call for eugenic murder for people who don’t like a racist word. Teasing out the uncomfortable implications of your words in context “is twisting them beyond recognition”? Sure, buddy. Next, I expect it was all “hyperbole”, yeah? > > You backpedal as hard as you can. Like I said, not as entertaining as one might hope - more like a sad clown on a unicycle. > > A whiteface clown, of course. > > You are a pathetic racist troll and have been from your very first post to this board. No wonder you sink to stalking and a pathetic attempt at doxing me. I must have \*really \*chapped your hide. [Spin-off Pit thread, just for you, you lying motherfucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21071644#post21071644). ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/162 "2018-07-08T19:03:57Z")
> [@Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](#): > > I can accept all of that tomndebb, but that wasn’t really the sort of rule I was talking about. I could have been clearer. What I meant was I don’t think it’s a good idea to say group X can throw racist insults at group Y _while at the same time_ saying group Y can’t ever throw racist insults at group X. Ideally, we don’t want anyone throwing racist insults at anyone, but that becomes impossible if we entertain double standards about racist insults. OK. That was not in any way clear from your post to which I responded, but I agree that hurling insults does nothing to improve society or its members. > [@Jake\_Bullet\_Traffic\_Control](#): > > What I mean is, if you have lying fucks like Dibble using words like wypipo, it becomes harder to argue that whites shouldn’t call black people thugs or coloureds or whatever, and that’s a state of affairs that’s bad for everyone. You just lost it. Wypipo is hardly a racist slur. I suspect that the overwhelming number of people in the U.S. have never encountered it and it means nothing more than “white people.” It does not even have the low grade contempt that was (a long time ago) connected to honky. It is more along the lines of Mick for an Irishman or (a few years ago) Polack for a person of Polish descent. People can choose to be insulted for all manner of things, and if you specifically asked that you not be regarded as a member of wypipo, it would be insulting for someone to continue to use the word in regards to you. However, it is not slur. It does seem to be moving in that direction, of course, but I would not agree that it has made the transition, yet. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/163 "2018-07-08T19:19:54Z")
I’m offended by wypipo, because it kinda sounds like a cool word, and I’m too much of a wypipo myself to be able to use it. Not having been called such in real life, I can only hope the opportunity comes up, as my rebuttal to such an accusation would be, “No, very wypipo.” And sure, context matters. If I am out with friends, and someone remarks upon my non-rythmic gyrations with, “You wypipo can’t dance,” then I’d agree, “Me wypipo can’t dance, not at all.” If the race riots have boiled over to my neighborhood, and I am being dragged out of my house and put up against a wall, then being called a wypipo may be a bit more hostile. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/164 "2018-07-08T19:59:05Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > … You just lost it. > Wypipo is hardly a racist slur. I suspect that the overwhelming number of people in the U.S. have never encountered it and it means nothing more than “white people.” It does not even have the low grade contempt that was (a long time ago) connected to honky. It is more along the lines of Mick for an Irishman or (a few years ago) Polack for a person of Polish descent. … Here you’ve lost it. Yes, it is along the lines of “Polack” and “Mick” … (and throw in “wetback” and “kike” and “Dago” … the list goes on). You don’t think those are slurs? You crazy boy. (Quibbles over the qualifier “racist” aside.) It does not mean “nothing more than ‘white people’” any more than Polack or Mick used by a WASP back in their days were just another fine way to refer to those of Polish or Irish descent. They were put downs, slurs, and functioned to shove the individual other in the room into a stereotype image that could be dismissed and disregarded. This word too is an attempt shove another person into a cardboard cut out. Because of societal power structures and history … and the generic default nature of the racial category “white” in America … it is a slur with not much force (at least to someone who is educated and/or not feeling themselves to be a socioeconomic downward spiral), no more and no less then calling someone a privileged and clueless racist. But not a slur? You are nuts sir. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/165 "2018-07-08T20:10:57Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Here you’ve lost it. > > Yes, it is along the lines of “Polack” and “Mick” … (and throw in “wetback” and “kike” and “Dago” … the list goes on). You don’t think those are slurs? You crazy boy. (Quibbles over the qualifier “racist” aside.) > > It does not mean “nothing more than ‘white people’” any more than Polack or Mick used by a WASP back in their days were just another fine way to refer to those of Polish or Irish descent. They were put downs, slurs, and functioned to shove the individual other in the room into a stereotype image that could be dismissed and disregarded. This word too is an attempt shove another person into a cardboard cut out. > > Because of societal power structures and history … and the generic default nature of the racial category “white” in America … it is a slur with not much force (at least to someone who is educated and/or not feeling themselves to be a socioeconomic downward spiral), no more and no less then calling someone a privileged and clueless racist. But not a slur? > > You are nuts sir. It’s a slur, but it seems to based on behavior and not on biology. In that sense, it’s more like Dick than Mick. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/166 "2018-07-08T20:35:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s a slur, but it seems to based on behavior and not on biology. In that sense, it’s more like Dick than Mick. “Mick” was based on biology? Huh. Who knew? With rare exceptions (in the same context that a Black individual might be slurred as an “Oreo”) it is based on membership in the sociocultural construct of “white” and attempting to attribute a negative set of stereotyped attributes, behaviors, and motivation by labelling an individual, no matter what their actual life is like and character is, with the slur. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/167 "2018-07-08T23:41:25Z")
Haha, this guy has the answer to all the OMG REVERSE RACISMZ!!1! nonsense. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dw_mRaIHb-M/maxresdefault.jpg "Aamer Rahman (Fear of a Brown Planet) - Reverse Racism") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M) ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/168 "2018-07-09T00:35:57Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > It is more along the lines of Mick for an Irishman or (a few years ago) Polack for a person of Polish descent. So its a slur? I’m an Irish-American; that’s my dominant heritage. I qualify for Irish citizenship based on my family history if I ever choose to pursue it. In the early to mid 70s, as a young kid, I remember my older relatives still talking about the election of Kennedy in the same terms African-Americans used when talking about Obama’s election. It was a “how far we’d come as a nation” moment. We celebrated St Patrick’s Day as a holiday that included kids; it wasn’t just an excuse for adults to get drunk. We were an Irish Catholic household. Context and intent matters. I’m fine with humor about just about anything. I’m from the windmill punch school of appropriate humor targeting - punch all around. That includes me being the target. I make plenty of jokes based on the stereotypes, myself. I don’t advocate for people without significant Irish ancestry to say euphemisms like the “M word” in the context of something like your post. If mick is used with any kind of intent to actually insult or denigrate, though, it’s different. It’s among the more insulting things someone could say to me. That passed down sense of the Irish being a group that was ridiculed and oppressed is one of the stronger pieces of my inherited identity. It’s how I was raised. For me, mick is very much a slur. I’m aware of the dark humor in my irrational urge to lash out in response to a slur about a group that’s stereotypically drunk, stupid, and violent. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/169 "2018-07-09T00:54:44Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > You just lost it. > Wypipo is hardly a racist slur. I suspect that the overwhelming number of people in the U.S. have never encountered it and it means nothing more than “white people.” It does not even have the low grade contempt that was (a long time ago) connected to honky. It is more along the lines of Mick for an Irishman or (a few years ago) Polack for a person of Polish descent. People can choose to be insulted for all manner of things, and if you specifically asked that you not be regarded as a member of wypipo, it would be insulting for someone to continue to use the word in regards to you. However, it is not slur. It does seem to be moving in that direction, of course, but I would not agree that it has made the transition, yet. I am baffled why you bothered to reply to this thread with such confidence while being so clueless. It does not simply mean “white people”. In this very thread you have a few helpful white people saying “it only means bad white people”. The word’s champion in this thread has fully acknowledged that it’s only used in a negative fashion. You have links to Afro-American centric websites that expand that definition to include white people who like to dance or wear BLM t-shirts. You definitely should rtft and stfu in the mean time. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/170 "2018-07-09T01:04:46Z")
> [@](#): > > White people don’t season their food, but wypipo like theirs organic, free range and gluten free. > Wypipo are deathly worried about radical Islamic terroristm, but won’t acknowledge that the vast majority of terrorism in America comes from white people. > White people can’t dance, but wypipo love to dance and will dance anywhere. > Wypipo are pro-life when it comes to abortion, but cool with the death penalty and police brutality. Those wypipo will tell you that “pro-life” is just a term to describe the anti-abortion movement, that it has nothing to do with issues of police violence and capital punishment. But if you mention the movement that focuses on State violence against black bodies, they will quickly say, “but what about black on black crime?” > Wypipo have the intestinal fortitude to wear shorts and flip flops all year round. When it is absolutely too cold to wear them, yoga pants will suffice. > There are some white people who believe in social justice causes, but wypipo need special names for themselves, like “allies” or “social justice warriors.” > There are white people who treat human beings like human beings and don’t need special recognition for it. Wypipo will point out their safety pins and wear Black Lives Matter t-shirts. > Wypipo believe kneeling during the national anthem is unpatriotic and disrespectful to the men and women who lost their lives defending this country. Yet they are cool with the Confederate flag, which actually represents an act of treason that killed almost as many Americans as all the other wars combined. > White people have all kinds of friends and associates. Wypipo know exactly how many black friends they have and can remember that one time in 1998 they spent an entire day with their Dominican co-worker. That seems like a kind of schizophrenic list. Most of the entries seem to apply to the stereotypical Trump voter (pro life, confederate flag). On the other hand, safety pins and BLM T-shirts seem instead to refer to a kind of hipster self-proclaimed liberal who talks a good game about being all progressive but it’s just talk. But those two groups don’t overlap much. In any case, as a white person I am in no way offended by the term Wypipo. It’s possible that at some point someone will insult me using the term… ie, I say something, and someone says “what a stupid wypipo thing to say” or whatever. And if, over time, I hear the term used exclusively in an insulting and hateful fashion, well, then I might conclude that the term is generally a hateful one. But its current status as basically a meme in no way makes it even as offensive as something like “cracker”, much less one of the really powerful racial slurs. (Disclaimer: I skimmed over a fair bit of this thread, hope I’m not too much repeating what others have already said.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/171 "2018-07-09T01:22:08Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Here you’ve lost it. > > Yes, it is along the lines of “Polack” and “Mick” … (and throw in “wetback” and “kike” and “Dago” … the list goes on). You don’t think those are slurs? You crazy boy. (Quibbles over the qualifier “racist” aside.) > > It does not mean “nothing more than ‘white people’” any more than Polack or Mick used by a WASP back in their days were just another fine way to refer to those of Polish or Irish descent. They were put downs, slurs, and functioned to shove the individual other in the room into a stereotype image that could be dismissed and disregarded. This word too is an attempt shove another person into a cardboard cut out. > > Because of societal power structures and history … and the generic default nature of the racial category “white” in America … it is a slur with not much force (at least to someone who is educated and/or not feeling themselves to be a socioeconomic downward spiral), no more and no less then calling someone a privileged and clueless racist. But not a slur? > > You are nuts sir. That a word was historically a slur does not keep it a slur forever. Try insulting someone North of Maryland by calling them yankee. Aside from a few Boston baseball fans, not only will they not feel insulted, they will wonder why you think it should have been insulting. Wetback, kike, and da go are slurs, but you had to throw in words I never used to try to make your point. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/172 "2018-07-09T01:49:29Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > That a word was historically a slur does not keep it a slur forever. Try insulting someone North of Maryland by calling them yankee. Aside from a few Boston baseball fans, not only will they not feel insulted, they will wonder why you think it should have been insulting. Wetback, kike, and da go are slurs, but you had to throw in words I never used to try to make your point. “Mick” and “Polack” make it well enough. Just because slurs are used infrequently now does not make them any less of slurs. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/173 "2018-07-09T02:13:59Z")
Yeah I gotta agree - if I threw out “Mick” around someone Irish or “Polack” around someone Polish I’d make damn sure it was either a friend who knew I was teasing them or I’d be sure to be ready to duck. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/174 "2018-07-09T02:15:40Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > “Mick” was based on biology? Huh. Who knew? More like. Not exactly like. But Mick is about ethnicity, and if you prefer that term to biology, that’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/175 "2018-07-09T03:13:40Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > “Mick” and “Polack” make it well enough. > > Just because slurs are used infrequently now does not make them any less of slurs. > [@zoid](#): > > Yeah I gotta agree - if I threw out “Mick” around someone Irish or “Polack” around someone Polish I’d make damn sure it was either a friend who knew I was teasing them or I’d be sure to be ready to duck. You guys must live in some really nasty neighborhoods where people keep 4x4s on their shoulders as chips. I have not encountered that sort of reaction in decades. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/176 "2018-07-09T03:16:36Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > I am baffled why you bothered to reply to this thread with such confidence while being so clueless. It does not simply mean “white people”. In this very thread you have a few helpful white people saying “it only means bad white people”. The word’s champion in this thread has fully acknowledged that it’s only used in a negative fashion. You have links to Afro-American centric websites that expand that definition to include white people who like to dance or wear BLM t-shirts. You definitely should rtft and stfu in the mean time. The word’s champion in this thread is one of those people who does carry around 4x4s to use as chips on their shoulder. As I already noted, it appears to be trending toward a slur, but that was not how it started and it has not yet reached the level of being universally regarded as a slur. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/177 "2018-07-09T05:58:17Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I first read this as “Schrödinger’s Whites”, which I guess would mean that they’re only white or not when you actually look. But as to the greater question, I just lump it in with all the other racial terminology used by folks who feel the need to regard themselves as superior to others based on their paint job. That’s what I meant it to be! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/178 "2018-07-09T06:16:57Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > You guys must live in some really nasty neighborhoods where people keep 4x4s on their shoulders as chips. Really? I must live in a bad neighborhood because I recognize a slur for what it is? Your not coming of well here. > [@tomndebb](#): > > I have not encountered that sort of reaction in decades. You seem to be in the minority, at least in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/179 "2018-07-09T06:47:01Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > The word’s champion in this thread is one of those people who does carry around 4x4s to use as chips on their shoulder. Gosh, I _wonder_ why the overall moderation on race issues round these parts seems so pants… ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434/180 "2018-07-09T06:50:21Z")
I’m willing to admit I could be off base so I started a poll in IMHO - I tried not to poison the well by linking here - curious to see what responses, if any it gets… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yall-wypipo-need-to-grow-some-skin/817434.md?page=10)