# You might be white trash if.... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 11, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492 "2003-08-11T22:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/81 "2003-08-12T22:50:00Z")
> [@](#): > > **ccwaterback** : SDMB unofficial user’s guide: You left off the most important one for SDMB – one that I see the “humorless” Dopers doing here: 1. fight ignorance > [@](#): > > **Jaade** : (And we, of the preservation of Southern gentality, are highly offended you would deem us all white trash.) Well, I’m trying not to be, but it’s hard! Jaade, as many already know, I am an 11th generation Southerner. That’s 350 years worth. My grandfather was a Confederate soldier. I’ve never lived anywhere else but the South. With that in mind, please go back and read my original post. I am among those who object to this stereotype which is most frequently used to put Southerners down. But even more so, I object to the idea of throw-a-way people. Isn’t that what people do with trash? Pax ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/82 "2003-08-12T22:55:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Angel Heart \* > \*\*…We’re not black trash–eveyone owns their own home or trailer and has a job. \*\* One of the successes in our Outreach Program. Any damn fool can be born in Texas, many are, but it takes determination to achieve peckerwood. Which ain’t _nothing_ like “cracker”. The more black people understand these subtle distinctions, the closer to true racial harmony we will be. Or would be, if any of us could sing. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/83 "2003-08-12T23:02:24Z")
**Zoe** , as far as I know, the therm “white trash” isn’t just reserved for people from the south. Red necks are usually from the south, but I’ve heard the term “white trash” used to describe many people right here in California. Heard it a lot in Arizona and Colorado as well. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/84 "2003-08-12T23:05:12Z")
There’s no better term than “white trash” to describe what one finds in Seaside Heights, NJ. ---
**Author:** ![Read\_Neck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Read\_Neck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Read_Neck)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/85 "2003-08-12T23:09:56Z")
monstro > [@](#): > > I for one would love to live in a trailer. I’d put some rims and hydraulics on that bad boy and make it ghettofabulous! LMAO,A 14x72 going down the road flopping up and down. May have cracked a rib on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/86 "2003-08-12T23:26:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bump \* > \*\*No, no, no! It’s the other way around. Rednecks are just country people- the term comes from people who worked in the fields and got their necks sunburned, hence the “red neck” description. > > (Snip) > > White trash on the other hand, are usually, but not always a subset of rednecks. \*\* Perhaps not necessarily. Perhaps I read too much into the term, but I thought that, in the days when long hair was especially fashionable for men, part of the meaning of “redneck” was the implication that the person’s hair was too short to cover the back of his neck, hence he was conservative and a reactionary. Of course, this was years before mullets came along, pretty much turning the whole hair situation around. Nowadays, I’d bet that long hair is more common among rural conservatives than big city liberals. ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/87 "2003-08-12T23:34:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\*You left off the most important one for SDMB – one that I see the “humorless” Dopers doing here: > > 1. fight ignorance > > Jaade, as many already know, I am an 11th generation Southerner. That’s 350 years worth. My grandfather was a Confederate soldier. I’ve never lived anywhere else but the South. With that in mind, please go back and read my original post. I am among those who object to this stereotype which is most frequently used to put Southerners down. But even more so, I object to the idea of throw-a-way people. Isn’t that what people do with trash? > > Pax \*\* I think you were missing my point, I was kidding a bit. I would guess that my own family has been in the South nearly as long as your own. We can’t figure out the generation previous to my great-great-great grandfather, but my family is from Arkansas, Louisana, Tennessee and Georgia. I have not personally seen many people calling all Southerners white trash. No, actually, _I_ haven’t seen any people saying that. YMMV. What bothers ME is when people say that all Southerners are bigots, racists, illiterate, inbred, ignorant booger pickers. With the exception of booger picker, I have heard every single label attached to Southerners by a bunch of fine people in Washington State. I have met people I would consider white trash. Mostly I see them on Jerry Springer these days (and hell, half of them are probably actors…we can hope anyway.) When I think of the word “trash” in the context of people, I don’t think of “throw-away” people. I looked at the Merriam-Webster dictionary to see what their definition of trash was. The third definition of trash was : worthless persons, riffraff. I was actually surprised at that. ~J ---
**Author:** ![Dev\_Null](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@Dev\_Null](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dev_Null)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/88 "2003-08-12T23:36:20Z")
Uh-huh. Getting back to the OP: > [@](#): > > \*\*You’ve ever hit a deer […] with your car, _deliberately_. \*\* I’ve never hit one…yet. They move too damn fast, and my truck moves too damn slow. But I’ll keep trying. The sooner those marauding vermin are exterminated, the better. > [@](#): > > **You might be a redneck if you start your pickup with a screwdriver.** For months I turned _off_ my pickup by opening the hood and jamming a screwdriver on the fuel shutoff solenoid. I hope that counts for something! Best, Dev ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/89 "2003-08-12T23:55:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Read\_Neck \* > \*\*LMAO,A 14x72 going down the road flopping up and down. May have cracked a rib on that one. \*\* I’d make mine a low-rider with neon lights underneath it. Yeeeee doggies!!! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/90 "2003-08-13T01:31:03Z")
> [@](#): > > **Jaade** : What bothers ME is when people say that all Southerners are bigots, racists, illiterate, inbred, ignorant booger pickers. I’m with you on the labels when they are inaccurately applied to large groups of people. I also don’t believe that _anyone_ is worthless. I saw the humor in your posts. Just thought that you might have misunderstood my post. I wish that everyone could emphasize individuality. One of my friends is an absolute rock – a woman of enormous courage. She lives in a trailer in rural Tennessee and is illiterate. We make a strange pair. Judging from some of the descriptions here, she would probably be considered by many who didn’t know her to be “white trash.” But she’s the strongest woman I know. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/91 "2003-08-13T02:12:48Z")
Hell’s Bells, I wish I could have gotten to this thread earlier. ASTRO… Don’t take life too seriously, you’ll never get out of it alive. We laugh only at the things we can see, but when the chips are down, by Goddess, we’re there for one another (read: 9/11). It’s funny when black comics rip on white people, it’s funny when white comics rip on black people, it’s funny when yanks poke the rednecks, it’s funny when the rednecks chide the yanks, fuck, it’s just funny, free speech is a right, not being offended is NOT. If you’re offended, disappear! You don’t HAVE to read the thread. That said, those ‘redneck’ jokes are SO 1998. I’d like to hijack this thread with another line of stereotyping… “you might be a young urban professional if…” You’ve ever spent as much on a single piece of art as you did on your import SUV. ---
**Author:** ![LauraLittlePony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LauraLittlePony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LauraLittlePony)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/92 "2003-08-13T06:01:22Z")
::applauds **buttonjockey** :: Good, now I don’t have to think up a similar post. I’m not only white trash, I’m also lazy! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/93 "2003-08-13T06:11:57Z")
Hear hear **buttonjockey**! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/94 "2003-08-13T06:18:49Z")
> [@](#): > > …free speech is a right, not being offended is NOT. I guess being incoherent is your right. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/95 "2003-08-13T06:21:03Z")
I think she was saying that not everyone must tailor their speech as to not offend everyone on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/96 "2003-08-13T06:50:10Z")
_That_ I can agree with. But we do have the right to be offended or not offended – whichever is the case. And we do have the right to speak up about it just as buttonjockey does. Send wine and I’ll be quiet. ---
**Author:** ![Mearl\_Dox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/97 "2003-08-13T06:51:04Z")
But that still doesn’t mean that people don’t have the right to be offended in reaction to the offensive thing said… You have the right to say things that offend others. Others have the right to be offended and say so. It just goes in a circle. I’m a Southerner who finds ‘white trash’ jokes to be, well… if I said lower-class, somebody would smack me, wouldn’t they? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mearl\_Dox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/98 "2003-08-13T06:52:30Z")
Well, heck. That’s what I get for previewing. What Zoe said, then. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/99 "2003-08-13T07:32:28Z")
I can’t help myself… First off, good man UncleBeer! A lesser man would have closed this sucker as soon as the OP’er asked for it (And in my humble opinion, his disdain wasn’t directed towards you, or the other moderators around here, it was directed towards those that DEMANDED this thread be closed. He’s a little ticked off about the negative, superior attitude of those that chimmed in. Not you). And again, that’s only in my opinion and how I read it. You may not agree with the thread, but it’s cool to see you letting it live to see what others have to say on the matter. And in that regard, I’d be curious to see, or read, why you feel there’s a “an object lesson for some here to learn”. In a way, that’s kind of a cop-out on your part. You obviously feel one way or the other about it, so why not say what it is? This, ‘I know how I feel about this, but I ain’t gonna say it’ is kinda lame. Go ahead, say what you think. I know I’d be curious to hear what it is (And no, it isn’t in a baiting kind of way) You feel strongly about this, how so? Moving on, and into more murky waters, waters that I can’t believe others haven’t brought up already. Diane. Ahhh, Diane. Where to start. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Diane_ > **…know the difference between laughing to myself at the large representation of mullets and wife beaters at the drag races compared to making hateful comments on a message board about an entire class of people** Diane. That smacks of such… such… hypocracy, I can’t belive Lezlers let you off the hook so easily! Astounding! I mean, honestly, is that what you think, what you posted-- ‘Think whatever it is you want to about these people, just don’t say it’. If that’s so, than I can completely understand why other races think we’re completely fucked up… we are!! You explained, in one concise sentence, everything that is wrong with political correctness… it’s complete and utter bullshit. You say whatever gets that other person off your back why continuing to hold whatever fuck-uped opinion it is you already hold agaisnt them. It’s no wonder they hate us… we’re condescending and two-faced as hell! Amazing Diane. In one sense you try to bring us up, and in another, you completely bring us down… lower than we ever started. Kudos!!! ---
**Author:** ![Aries28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Aries28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aries28)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492/100 "2003-08-13T13:10:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > **And in that regard, I’d be curious to see, or read, why you feel there’s a “an object lesson for some here to learn”.** IANAMod and good heavens I couldn’t be…but I think maybe the point is that the Mods are tired of having to come in an clean up poster’s messes once they turn into a trainwreck. I have seen one too many threads where a poster starts something, people have a very bad reaction to it and then a request is made for a Mod to close it. Maybe instead we, as posters, should consider WHAT we are posting first and not have to ask a Mod to clean up after us when it turns out badly? Just MHO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-might-be-white-trash-if/194492.md?page=6)