I never understood this, as my grandparents were always grandma/grandpa, or granny (in my paternal granmothers case she preferred it).
Then I moved to the south, and met my husband’s family and friends. Every single one of them had weird names for at least one of their grandparents. A lot of them called grandmother “meemaw” and my father in law is papaw to my neices and nephews.
I took it as a cultural thing, but it still feels a bit strange to me.
I fucking hate meemaw/mamaw and papaw with a passion. Partly because me ex’s white-trash family uses them, but also they just sound stupid and I hate saying/hearing them
It’s actually kind of a fucked up term but a lot of people don’t consider it, it’s both super racist and classist. I don’t really think less of anyone for saying it because it’s such a common term but I personally don’t like using it.
The original implication is that poor white folks are “trash”, comparing them to enslaved African Americans.
I also find it to be a derogatory, distasteful, and bigoted term. I definetly think less of people I hear who use it, & hope eventually it will be dropped from the cultural conciousness like other bigoted terms.
It’s a way to police what “whiteness” should be, and is a term I’ve only ever heard from well off and judgemental people.
I’ve heard a lot of poor folk use it too, it’s basically just a derogatory term for a redneck in the Midwest where I live. I don’t think a lot of people really understand it’s implications.
That’s fair. It’s definetly one of those offensive terms people use without necessarily thinking about, like “getting gyped” or “pot calling the kettle black”.
Knowing is half the battle & raising awareness is half of activism lol
I never understood this, as my grandparents were always grandma/grandpa, or granny (in my paternal granmothers case she preferred it).
Then I moved to the south, and met my husband’s family and friends. Every single one of them had weird names for at least one of their grandparents. A lot of them called grandmother “meemaw” and my father in law is papaw to my neices and nephews.
I took it as a cultural thing, but it still feels a bit strange to me.
I fucking hate meemaw/mamaw and papaw with a passion. Partly because me ex’s white-trash family uses them, but also they just sound stupid and I hate saying/hearing them
White trash?
Do people really not know this term anymore?
I’ve heard the term, but the only meaning for it I can think of is that they’re trash because they’re white.
The historical usage is that they’re trash despite their whiteness. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_trash
It’s actually kind of a fucked up term but a lot of people don’t consider it, it’s both super racist and classist. I don’t really think less of anyone for saying it because it’s such a common term but I personally don’t like using it. The original implication is that poor white folks are “trash”, comparing them to enslaved African Americans.
I also find it to be a derogatory, distasteful, and bigoted term. I definetly think less of people I hear who use it, & hope eventually it will be dropped from the cultural conciousness like other bigoted terms.
It’s a way to police what “whiteness” should be, and is a term I’ve only ever heard from well off and judgemental people.
I’ve heard a lot of poor folk use it too, it’s basically just a derogatory term for a redneck in the Midwest where I live. I don’t think a lot of people really understand it’s implications.
That’s fair. It’s definetly one of those offensive terms people use without necessarily thinking about, like “getting gyped” or “pot calling the kettle black”.
Knowing is half the battle & raising awareness is half of activism lol