PWT

If someone calls you PWT, they think you're "poor white trash." People apply this label to others who they believe to be a) poor, b) white, and c) morally or socially reprehensible.

Where does the phrase "white trash" come from?

While the exact origin of "white trash" is unknown, one of its earliest documented uses was in 1833. In Maryland, the daughter of a successful slave owner said there was no ire between slaves and slave owners, only between slaves and "white trash." (Obviously, that statement was untrue. Also, notice how the statement attempts to set slaves and "white trash" at odds, while setting "well-to-do" whites above both.)

Since then, educated, well-off white people, as well as people of other races, have used the label "white trash" to draw a line between themselves and white people who lack means and behave poorly.

Is it ever okay to call someone PWT?

Not really. While it may be tempting to call an impoverished, unintelligent white person PWT (especially when they are lighting off fireworks in their backyard at 3 am on a Wednesday), you should refrain from using this derogatory acronym.