poor white trash
Impoverished rural lowlifes
Poor white trash is a derogatory term for low-income white people, especially in the rural American South, implying ignorance, crudeness, and lack of ambition.
The phrase carries class contempt from both white and Black speakers: They treated us like poor white trash.
Often shortened to white trash.
The "poor" is somewhat redundant—the phrase implies poverty already—but intensifies the dismissiveness.
- have-notPerson without resources
- CaucasianPerson of European ancestry
- redneckRural Southern laborer stereotype
- hillbillyRural mountain dweller stereotype
- wrong side of the tracksSocially undesirable neighborhood
derogation · Southern Gothic · exploitation films · Jerry Springer · tenant farming · classism · Reconstruction · disparagement · trailer park · slang · Dust Bowl · disenfranchisement · Appalachian culture · poverty · slur · caricature · stereotype · welfare queen
poor white trashupper class
Wealthiest societal stratum
old money · the rich · the elite · the one percent · high society
poor white trasharistocracy
Rule by hereditary elite
gentry · high society · country club set · well-bred · refined
poor white trashsalt of the earth
Fundamentally decent, reliable people
cream of the crop · working class · working poor · humble origins · blue-collar workers
poor, poorly, poorer, poorest, poorness, white, whiten, whiteness, whites