Talk:Play the white man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Can any British people vouch for this phrases alleged usage in England, as stated ? Even for historical usage, I have never heard of it--Jrleighton 14:52, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
The phrase is/was used in the UK, although to be honest I haven't heard anybody say it since I was a kid. To me "Play the white man" means - be straight, or do the right thing and it's usually rendered as "Come on, play the white man". The article says "The term is considered to be extremely derogatory against non-white people because it carries the implication that they are indecent or untrustworthy" - well I don't know about that I haven't heard it since I was a kid but I don't think I ever got the impression that it was implying anything about non-white peoples. I think I might even have thought that it was referring to people wearing white like in cowboy films. i.e. "play the man in white". Do we have any references for the pharse's origins? Jooler 14:50, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
I'm an Englishman and I have to say my old man used to say this all the time if he thought people were not playing a straight bat.