List of phrases using ethnic or place names as derisive adjectives explained
Ethnic and place names are often used as derisive adjectives.[1] [2]
Most of these derisive adjectives reflect stereotypes about the ethnicity or the place. Most are pejorative and some are offensive.
- African dominoes:Dice.[1]
African golf:Craps.[1]
Arizona cloudburst:A sandstorm.[2]
Arizona paint job:An unpainted, weathered pine building.[1]
Arkansas asphalt:A road made of logs.[2]
Arkansas fire extinguisher:A chamberpot.[1]
Arkansas toothpick:A knife with an extra-legal blade.[1]
Aztec hop:Dysentary or diarrhea.[1]
Baltimore beef steak:Liver.[1]
Boston strawberries:Beans.[1]
Bronx cheer.[1]
California Bible:= California prayer book.[1]
California bank notes:Silver and hides used as money.[2]
California breakfast:A cigarette and an orange.[1]
California prayer book:A deck of cards.[1]
California toothpick:= Arkansas toothpick.[1]
Cape Ann turkey:= Cape Cod turkey[1]
Cape Cod turkey:Codfish.[1]
Chicago overcoat:cement shoes or a coffin.[1]
Chicago piano:A Thompson submachine gun.[1]
Chinaman's chance:No chance at all.[2]
Chinese fire drill[1]
Chinese B:A grade inflated to compensate for a student's disadvantage.[2]
Cincinnati quail:= Confederate beef.[1]
Colored peoples'/folks' time
Late.[1] [2]
- Confederate beef/mule:Fatty salt pork.[1]
Connecticut mile:The distance traveled in one minute.[1]
Curse of Montezuma:= Aztec hop.[1]
Dago red:Cheap red wine.[1]
Dallas special:= Arkansas toothpick.[1]
Detroit iron:An American car.[1]
Detroit sled:= Detroit iron.[1]
Dutch act:Suicide.[2]
Dutch courage
Courage from drunkenness.[2]
- Dutch leave:= French leave.[1]
Dutch rub:A kind of torture between children.[2]
Dutch treat[1]
Dutch uncle
An affectionate, older friend, remotely related person, or someone who reprimands severely.[1]
- Ethiopian paradise:= Nigger heaven[1]
French inhale:Exhaling smoke from the mouth and then inhaling it through the nose.[1]
French kiss[1]
French leave[1]
Haight Street breakfast:Muscatel and Wheaties.[1]
Indian giver[1]
Indian haircut:A scalping.[1]
Irish banjo:A shovel.[1]
Irish confetti:Bricks and cobblestones thrown during street fights.[1]
Irish pendants/pennants:Rags or laundry hung up to dry on board ship.[1] [2]
Irish shift/switch:Describes a politician talking to one person with his arm around another, smiling all the while at a third.[1]
Irish twins:Siblings born within the same calendar year, or within twelve months of each other.
Irishman's buggy:A wheelbarrow.[2]
Irishman's turkey:Corned beef and cabbage.[2]
Jew flag:A dollar bill.[2]
Jew shave:An unshaven face covered with talcum powder.[2]
Jewish lightning: Arson for the point of insurance fraud.
Jewish overdrive:= Mexican overdrive.[1]
Jewish side-walls:= Mexican side-walls[1]
Jewish time:Late.[1]
Jewish windbreaker:A mink coat.[2]
Jigaboo joy shop:A store which sells chrome accessories for automobiles.[1]
Kansas nigger:An African-American who does not defer to whites.[2]
Kentucky credit card:= Mexican credit card.[1]
Kentucky oysters:= Rocky Mountain oysters.[1]
Kentucky windage:Compensating for wind or misaligned rifle sights by aiming off target.[1]
Mahon soger:A lazy and worthless sailor.[2]
Mexican standoff[1]
Mexican Bogner's:Jeans worn as ski pants.[1]
Mexican breakfast:A cigarette and a glass of water.[1]
Mexican car wash:Leaving an automobile out in the rain.[1]
Mexican cashmere:A sweatshirt.[1]
Mexican chrome:Silver-color paint used to decorate a car.[1]
Mexican credit card:A siphon for stealing gasoline.[1]
Mexican dragline:A shovel.[1]
Mexican filling station:= Mexican credit card.[1]
Mexican fox-trot:= Aztec hop.[1]
Mexican motor mount:Inner tubing used instead of proper parts.[1]
Mexican muffler:A can stuffed with steel wool on an exhaust pipe.[1]
Mexican nose guard:Jockstrap.[1]
Mexican overdrive:Driving downhill in neutral.[1]
Mexican promotion:An increase in rank or title without a pay raise.[1]
Mexican side-walls:Painted tires.[1]
Mexican straight:In poker, any five cards and a sharp knife.[1]
Mexican threads:A stripped bolt forced into a hole to cut new threads.[1]
Mexican toothache:= Aztec hop.[1]
Mexican two-step:= Aztec hop.[1]
Mexican valve job:Cleaning a carburetor with kerosene.[1]
Mexican window shade:A Venetian blind mounted in the rear window of a car.[1]
Milwaukee goiter:A beer belly.[1]
Mississippi marbles:Dice.[1]
Montezuma's revenge:= Aztec hop.[1]
Mountain dew:Moonshine.[2]
Mountain oysters:= Rocky Mountain oysters.[1]
Nigger bait:(Excess) chrome on an automobile.[1]
Nigger fishing:Fishing for low-value fish with a pole and bobber.[2]
Nigger heaven:The cheapest balcony seats in a theater.[1]
Nigger rich:Either rich and ostentatious or rich one day, poor the next.[1]
Oklahoma credit card:= Mexican credit card.[1]
Oklahoma guarantee:No guarantee.[2]
Oklahoma showup:A falsified police line-up.[1]
Oregon beef:Deer killed out of season.[1]
Pennsylvania salve: Apple butter.[1]
Philadelphia lawyer
A crooked lawyer.[1]
- Polish air conditioning:Driving with the windows down.[1]
Prairie coal:Cow dung used as fuel.[2]
Prairie oysters:= Rocky Mountain oysters[2]
Puerto Rico Pendleton:An old work shirt.[1]
Rocky Mountain oysters[2]
Rocky Mountain canary:A burro.[1]
Russian roulette[1]
Scotch mist:Dense mist-like rain.[2]
Scotch woodcock[2]
Scotsman's Zoo:A viewpoint from which a zoo can be seen without paying.[2]
Spanish flu
The 1918 pandemic flu. It was associated to Spain since, in other countries, the World War I censorship blocked local reports to preserve morale. [3]
- Spanish supper:Tightening of the belt a notch instead of eating.[1]
Swedish headache:Pain from sexual arousal without sexual release (cf. Blue balls).[2]
Texas butter:Gravy made from bacon grease, flour, and water.[1]
Texas oysters:Rocky Mountain oysters[2]
Texas squirrels:Prairie dogs used as food.[2]
Tijuana Bible:Pornographic comic books.[1]
Vatican roulette:Calendar-based contraceptive methods.[1]
Welsh rabbit[2]
West Indian Time: Late.[1]
Notes
- Ed Cray, "Ethnic and Place Names as Derisive Adjectives", Western Folklore 21:1:27–34 (January 1962), p. 27-34
- Kenneth Porter, "Still More Ethnic and Place Names as Derisive Adjectives", Western Folklore 25:1:37–40 (January 1966)
- News: https://web.archive.org/web/20100127100727/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/spanish%20flu%20facts/111285 . 27 January 2010 . Spanish flu facts. Channel 4 News .
