Am I the only one bothered by the term "white trash"?

msufan78

This term was mentioned in a previous post and it just totally rubs me the wrong way. Does it bother anyone else? I just do not think it is "lol" worthy that I am offended by the term.

Janimal

I don't think I understand what is offending you? 

Miss.Modular

i only use the acronym w.t. 

 

lol

MegGary

yeah it was my post. I do not understand what is so annoying about it?

102503Natalie

No, it doesn't bother me at all. I say it often.

carolinag

102503Natalie:

No, it doesn't bother me at all. I say it often.

ditto. 

*Bre*

there is kind of an inuendo behind it, I'm not good enough to explain it. I just say "trash" or more commonly "tweakers" as it applies to my neighborhood's brand of special trash.

*Bre*

Is it annoying because it implies that other races are just "trash" but white people are "white trash?" idk. Brahim had an explanation for it years ago.

I live in redneck holler. anything is game.

JARbaby

Not offended but I hate that everything has to be PC these days.

goodtobethelarkster

Janimal:

I don't think I understand what is offending you? 

I've always wondered this too... Is it a "why bring race into it at all" thing?

A friend of mine refers to people as Future Springer Guests.  Their mating call is "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"

inbetweendreams

I don't find it offensive.

kipper1128

I can appreciate that the double standard for derogatory names among the races is VERY annoying, but you should try not to let it bother you.

Life is too short.

msufan78

Knowing that if someone posted on here that someone was "black trash" or that they were in the "ghetto" y'all would be all over them for generalizations. I have seen it on the nest millions of times. Someone will say, I was driving through the ghetto and was scared and everyone will jump on them for talking about "ghetto" people. I also do not agree with the way that everyone has to be PC about everything but, this term is very derogatory to me for some reason.

I use the term "trash" just not "white trash".  

Destiny0304

Doesnt offend me. Why does it offend you?

~CoCo~

Ugh. It shouldn't be offensive unless it hits too close to home, IMO. It's not that other 'races' don't have trash. It's that "white trash" has specific connotations, and we all know what they are. This place it too hyper-PC to enumerate them, b/c invariably, someone will pipe up, "Well, I (insert w.t. stereotype her), does that make me white trash?"

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood today.

Destiny0304

msufan78:

Knowing that if someone posted on here that someone was "black trash" or that they were in the "ghetto" y'all would be all over them for generalizations. I have seen it on the nest millions of times. Someone will say, I was driving through the ghetto and was scared and everyone will jump on them for talking about "ghetto" people. I also do not agree with the way that everyone has to be PC about everything but, this term is very derogatory to me for some reason.

I use the term "trash" just not "white trash".  

 

Nah, I've used the term "ghetto" on here a few times...nothing was ever said. Not something I get my panies all in a knot over. Got bigger things to complain about...

radylady

The Washington Post's humor columnist/armchair ethicist Gene Weingarten once made the argument that term "white trash" implies that "trash" would connote someone of darker skin. I think the phrase isn't very classy, but I get the sense it's generally meant to invoke a certain image, not to slander other races.

Janimal

One thing has nothing to do with another.  Using the term ghetto in a derogatory way can be offensive.  Ghetto is a real term to describe an impoverished/neglected/disadvantaged area of a city.  It was a term used to describe the area Jews were quarantined in WWII.  But when used to describe a black person in a derogatory way it becomes offensive.  When it is used as an insulting adjective it is also offensive.  Used correctly, the word itself is not offensive.

The term "white trash" - well, the "white" part is superfluous.  But the term "white" is not offensive".  I am a white woman.  You probably are too.  We're not offended by being told we are white.

"Trash" is an insult.  But there is nothing racially offensive about the term.  It could apply to any number of people for a number of different reasons.  The term "white trash" together is not a racially offensive term - at least not as far as I understand it.

So I just don't get how this term alone offends you.

The "N" word, on the other hand, IS offensive.  Yet there are even some cultural situations where it is ok. 

You say you are not PC but this term offends you - and that just doesn't make sense to me.  Be offended by someone who is ignorant, and displays their ignorance with their offensive speech and inappropriate ideas.  But being offended just at words?  Bah - a waste of energy.

Momma.Brown

it was breezy that had a definition for it. i cant remember exactly how it went but let me give it a shot.

basically it implies that even if you are white trash, you are still a step up from regular trash (ie black trash, mexican trash, etc).

she phrased it in a much more eloquent way - but it was ages ago and i cant remember what she said.

Mrs.Beans

Momma.Brown:

basically it implies that even if you are white trash, you are still a step up from regular trash (ie black trash, mexican trash, etc).

I've never thought about it like this ... to me, "white trash" signifies a certain type of redneck, rebel flag waving trash - as opposed to all the other kinds.  No worse, no better, just different.  Doesn't offend me, but I don't typically use it to refer to anyone.

~CoCo~

Momma.Brown:

basically it implies that even if you are white trash, you are still a step up from regular trash (ie black trash, mexican trash, etc).

she phrased it in a much more eloquent way - but it was ages ago and i cant remember what she said.

I have never heard of this, and this would have never crossed my mind.

Momma.Brown

~CoCo~:

Momma.Brown:

basically it implies that even if you are white trash, you are still a step up from regular trash (ie black trash, mexican trash, etc).

she phrased it in a much more eloquent way - but it was ages ago and i cant remember what she said.

I have never heard of this, and this would have never crossed my mind.

like i said, not my definition - it was breezy. i could see how it implies that but for me it brings up images of Joe Dirt types.

CFO

Yea, I would never come to that conclusion, either.  Trash is trash.  White trash just comes with a funny visual of trailerparks and confederate flags....

LoriFalce

Momma.Brown:

it was breezy that had a definition for it. i cant remember exactly how it went but let me give it a shot.

basically it implies that even if you are white trash, you are still a step up from regular trash (ie black trash, mexican trash, etc).

she phrased it in a much more eloquent way - but it was ages ago and i cant remember what she said.

DISCLAIMER - HISTORICAL NARRATIVE AND INTERPRETATION - NOT PERSONAL OPINION

In reality, it's the other way around, in a backhanded way. It was originally a term used in the South to disparage white sharecroppers who the Society people thought lived like slaves or worse. The idea was that white trash was actually on a lower rung than a freed black or a slave, because there was no reason for a white person to live like that. Now, some people meant that as "You're white so you have advantages and opportunities they don't." Others, of course, meant "You're white, so you're better than this."

If you're (like me) a Gone with the Wind enthusiast, Emmy Slattery and her family were the most disparaged people in the book because the were poor white trash.