white trash 的詞源

1824年，最初出現在南方非裔美國人的方言中。

The slaves themselves entertain the very highest contempt for white servants, whom they designate as 'poor white trash.' [Fanny Kemble, journal, Jan. 6, 1833]

“奴隸們對白人僕人非常鄙視，稱他們爲‘可憐的白人垃圾’。”[範妮·肯布爾，日記，1833年1月6日]

[T]he term [poor white] is rather loosely applied by Northern writers even to mountaineers and to small farmers who live on a precarious footing. But in the Southern conception, not everyone who is both poor and white is a "poor white." To the Southerner, the "poor white" in the strictest sense is a being beyond the pale of even the most generous democratic recognition; in the negro's term, "po' white trash," or so much social débris. [Robert Penn Warren, "The Briar Patch," 1930, footnote]

“‘可憐的白人’這個詞彙在北方的概念中，甚至被寬泛地應用於山民和靠不穩定生計爲生的小農民。但在南方的概念中，不是每個既貧窮又是白人的人都是‘可憐的白人’。對南方人來說，‘可憐的白人’在最嚴格的意義上是一種超出最慷慨的民主承認範圍的存在； 在黑人的術語中，是“貧窮的白人垃圾”，或者說是社會上的廢物。”[羅伯特·佩恩·沃倫，“荊棘叢中”，1930年，腳註]