Racist words for White People

[Salmoneus]

A famous one that has at least been used derogatively in the past is 'pakeha', 'non-maori', specifically 'white'. I don't know to what extent it's used in a racist way today, though - you'd have to ask a new zealander.

[Astraios]

I forgot to ask the New Zealandese woman in my class about that this morning, otherwise I'd have found out for you about pakeha.

[Io]

If we count Jews for white people (and I don't see reasons why we shouldn't) there are plenty of racist words for that

inb4 a typical zbb nitwit posting an img of beta israelis

apparently you can be a "dirty white shite" http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... andan.html

yeah yeah, it's the daily fail and so on

[kanejam]

A famous one that has at least been used derogatively in the past is 'pakeha', 'non-maori', specifically 'white'. I don't know to what extent it's used in a racist way today, though - you'd have to ask a new zealander.

Pākehā has never really been used pejoratively; some people don't like the term and I'm sure it has been used pejoratively but it essentially just means New Zealander of European (generally British or Irish but can be others) descent. I certainly don't mind being called pākehā and it's very common in the media and in some legislation. There is a folk etymology that it means 'white devil' but it is unfounded.

[Radagast revived]

Many Nahuatl speakers use "Coyotl" meaning "coyote" for outsiders. I was once referred to as "ixpitzonaca" meaning "pigskinfaced" referring to my skin color.

[sirdanilot]

Obviously Dutch doesn't have a pejorative for white people in general as they are the standard, but words for very pale people are obviously present, such as bleekscheet 'white fart'. Very white legs would be melkflessen 'milk bottles'. A tongue-in-cheek """"pejorative""" for a Dutch person would be kaaskop 'cheese head'.

Most native languages of the americas, and probably elsewhere, have words for white people and for native people. White people are often considered almost of a different species. One could find that offensive to some degree...

[KathTheDragon]

Most native languages of the americas, and probably elsewhere, have words for white people and for native people. White people are often considered almost of a different species. One could find that offensive to some degree...

Pitjantjatjara has anangu for an Aboriginal person, and walypala and piran for a white person.

[Chargone]

A famous one that has at least been used derogatively in the past is 'pakeha', 'non-maori', specifically 'white'. I don't know to what extent it's used in a racist way today, though - you'd have to ask a new zealander.

Pākehā has never really been used pejoratively; some people don't like the term and I'm sure it has been used pejoratively but it essentially just means New Zealander of European (generally British or Irish but can be others) descent. I certainly don't mind being called pākehā and it's very common in the media and in some legislation. There is a folk etymology that it means 'white devil' but it is unfounded.

How offensive/racist it is seems to depend a bit on who's using it, how, about who. But negative reactions to it are usually 'annoyed you felt the need to make a racial distinction at all' rather than 'offended by racist term', in my experience (limited as that may be).

Etymology wise there's a few others for it, refering to various creatures one wouldn't much like to be compaired to (i forget which... fleas maybe? It's been a long time since i had reason to care), but at this point most people of sense have concluded "We don't know, we don't care, there's no way to find out, it's not helpful anyway, and the current meaning is this."

Someone trying to be offensive/racist may well use "whitey". Either as a sort of generalised abstract "Whitey'll take it all, we'll never see a cent" or as a taunting form of address "you like that, Whitey?" Not sure how common it is, but it exists, and is quite offensive (if one choses to be offended by such things).

Hope i explained that well enough.

[kanejam]

A famous one that has at least been used derogatively in the past is 'pakeha', 'non-maori', specifically 'white'. I don't know to what extent it's used in a racist way today, though - you'd have to ask a new zealander.

Pākehā has never really been used pejoratively; some people don't like the term and I'm sure it has been used pejoratively but it essentially just means New Zealander of European (generally British or Irish but can be others) descent. I certainly don't mind being called pākehā and it's very common in the media and in some legislation. There is a folk etymology that it means 'white devil' but it is unfounded.

How offensive/racist it is seems to depend a bit on who's using it, how, about who. But negative reactions to it are usually 'annoyed you felt the need to make a racial distinction at all' rather than 'offended by racist term', in my experience (limited as that may be).

Etymology wise there's a few others for it, refering to various creatures one wouldn't much like to be compaired to (i forget which... fleas maybe? It's been a long time since i had reason to care), but at this point most people of sense have concluded "We don't know, we don't care, there's no way to find out, it's not helpful anyway, and the current meaning is this."

Someone trying to be offensive/racist may well use "whitey". Either as a sort of generalised abstract "Whitey'll take it all, we'll never see a cent" or as a taunting form of address "you like that, Whitey?" Not sure how common it is, but it exists, and is quite offensive (if one choses to be offended by such things).

Hope i explained that well enough.

Yes I agree with what you've said. I think the main thing is that most terms in English are racial terms used pejoratively (think 'f***ing African-American bastards!') as opposed to actually racist terms (think 'f****ing n***ers!'). The only term I can think of other than just Whitey (which is sort of the equivalent of 'the Man' for Māori and Pasifika people) is honky and I certainly don't find that racist, any more than calling black people 'black' is racist anymore. Would you agree?

[clawgrip]

Most of the time racist Japanese people get by by not even bothering to distinguish between the non-Japanese rabble. However, like several other potentially offensive words in Japanese, gaijin can be used offensively or not depending on context and intent, though I guess a lot of people who are not Japanese seem to dislike the term.

[Ars Lande]

Presumably gaulois (Gaul/gaulish, that is) has a pejorative meaning among the (sub)urban youth in France; pretty much exactly what you're looking for. The main issue is, most of the quotes I can find are from nationalist websites, so I'm not entirely confident about this.
Français isn't really insulting, but it can be said with a fair amount of disdain in the right context. (I heard it used as an insult by a very white, very French, white-trash guy. Go figure.)

(From what I hear, these days, the consecrated term for 'white person' is babtou, from Wolof tubaap, but it's rather innocuous.)

[Ser]

Français isn't really insulting, but it can be said with a fair amount of disdain in the right context. (I heard it used as an insult by a very white, very French, white-trash guy. Go figure.)

How does/did that even make sense?

[Ars Lande]

No idea. But I think it didn't really make any sense - that guy wasn't the sharpest person I met.

[Hallow XIII]

This is like the infamous use of "go back to your own country" by immigrants in Switzerland (i.e., its exact opposite). Whether it is irony or has simply drifted to become an insult through a filter of people who do not know German I don't know.

[Richard W]

A few languages used variations of Fereng, originally just used for the French.

No, it's original meaning is 'Frank', with widening generalisations as one moves further afield. If I thought it meant 'French', I'd find its usage in Thai insulting.

The corresponding word in Thai (faràng) doesn't seem to really be 'racist', at least in my experience. I've heard it used completely neutrally more often than not, but I suppose if you wanted to you certainly *could* use it in an insulting way.

The Thai word has a cultural element to it as well as a racial element. The blacks of the USA are _farànɡ dam_ 'black farang'. The Thai word _faràng_ is derogatory in so far as it implies non-Thai, but I think that's as far as it goes.

[richard1631978]

Has anyone mentioned the Hindi "Gora"?

The Japanese term "bata-kusai" "stinking of butter" is almost one, but normally used for Japanese people who are considered too westernised.

[Copperknickers]

Of course, any language spoken by white people is not going to have a racist word for other white people, they will only have nationality based insults, like 'Paddy' for Irish people, or 'Limies' for Brits, or 'Yanks' for Americans (and the latter vary hugely depending on context as to how offensive they are. You'd probably start a fight, calling Irish people Paddies in a pub in Dublin, but most Brits don't even know what Limies means).

The only way they would, is if it is a dialect of a European language spoken by black people, for example Jamaican English has the word 'Duppy' which means literally 'ghost', for white people. Although it now more commonly refers to beating someone up very badly, i.e. turning them into a ghost. There are also the words 'pinky' and 'bakra', which originally referred to white slavers.

[ol bofosh]

Ah yes, "limie". Mildly offensive. Don't mind Australian "pom". Britisher, now that's offensive; makes my skin crawl.

[Copperknickers]

Ah yes, "limie". Mildly offensive. Don't mind Australian "pom". Britisher, now that's offensive; makes my skin crawl.

And nor forgetting the most deadly and vicious insult in the Anglophone world: calling a Scottish person 'English'.

[Drydic]

Ah yes, "limie". Mildly offensive. Don't mind Australian "pom". Britisher, now that's offensive; makes my skin crawl.

And nor forgetting the most deadly and vicious insult in the Anglophone world: calling a Scottish person 'English'.

Quite. The first instance of this eventually resulted in The Battle of Bannockburn.

[Nortaneous]

'white' has a negative connotation for a lot of people (most of whom are white, but blacks do it too) that no other words are really necessary

[ol bofosh]

Ah yes, "limie". Mildly offensive. Don't mind Australian "pom". Britisher, now that's offensive; makes my skin crawl.

And nor forgetting the most deadly and vicious insult in the Anglophone world: calling a Scottish person 'English'.

Everyone in Spain seems to think Scotland is part of England (anyone from the British Isles is "English"), and no one seems to know about Wales.
I get a Scottish newspaper (Sunday Post), and still my girlfriend says it's "English". Next time she does it I'll say Geneva is part of France, and the rest of Switzerland, along with Austria, belongs to Germany.

That reminds me, I met a person with a perfect RP accent a few weeks ago. I asked "Are you English?" and he said "Yes. Well, I come from North Wales." If I hear an RP accent I will not assume ever again that they're English. Actually, I don't know if any English toff has actually been English since 1066, have they?

[Torco]

'white' has a negative connotation for a lot of people (most of whom are white, but blacks do it too) that no other words are really necessary

Really ? I don't think that's true outside such fine films as Undercover Brother and the imagination of people who think the white race is now discriminated against.

[Drydic]

'white' has a negative connotation for a lot of people (most of whom are white, but blacks do it too) that no other words are really necessary

Really ? I don't think that's true outside such fine films as Undercover Brother and the imagination of people who think the white race is now discriminated against.

Note: Nort is of the latter grouping.

[Torco]

Nort is a Dan Cardamon? 0_o