List of phrases using ethnic or place names as derisive adjectives

Ethnic and place names are often used as derisive adjectives.

Most of these derisive adjectives reflect stereotypes about the ethnicity or the place. Most are pejorative and some are offensive.


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