Luanne Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 My mother was just talking about how certain people perceive us to be "white trash" simply because we live in a mobile home and in a mobile home park. I was just curious to see how people on here perceive people living in trailers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I have never given it much thought. I don't think a person's choice of housing defines the type of person he is, so I guess I would say no. I know there is a common "trailer park trash" stereotype, though, but I think the people who use that term are picturing a really dumpy, dirty mobile home, not something that's neat and tidy. I don't think it helped when shows like "Cops" always seemed to be going into horribly run-down mobile home parks to arrest drug dealers and drunken fools. It definitely perpetuated the stereotype. I only know of one mobile home park, and it's about 45 minutes from where we live. I think it's a senior citizens' community and it's very well maintained. There is certainly nothing "trashy" about it. It's actually very nice. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icollectkids Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I know trailer packs get a bad rap for 'trailer trash'. I think it's the conditions one lives in that give that vibe. Sadly, often trailer packs are not well kept up and 'trashy'..ya know? Then again, often houses often have that same look. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 LOL, my sister lives in a trailer, and she calls herself "trailer trash," but no, I don't think that way. It depends on how the people live, but this is true in any neighborhood. There are definitely some trailer parks that don't look inviting to me. ;) But many regular streets don't, either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Well we live in a mobile home but not in a park. Actually I have lived in one most of my life :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I voted sometimes. It's not because of where they live, though. It just happens that some people who happen to fit my definition of "white trash" might also live in a mobile home park. **I lived in a mobile home when I was younger, and have actually looked at a few parks as potential places to live when DH retires. Some are very nice! 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I voted sometimes. It entirely depends on the condition. Some mobile homes are very nice, neat and tidy. Some are not. The same is true of stick built homes. So IMO it has more to do with how one maintains a home than whether or not it's a mobile home or a regular house. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luanne Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 Sometimes trailer parks can be trashy, no doubt. The one we live in is very clean and well kept. I've seen neighborhoods of actual houses though that are trashy as well and no one seems to mention them being "trash". 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I hate that phrase. Around here, many families buy a mobile home and park it on a beautiful piece of land as a temporary housing situation while they build lovely homes as do it yourself contractors. These are then sometimes set in a wooded area to be used for storage or as hunting cabins, home offices, or emergency housing for relatives. We're a pretty practical lot around here! LOL 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I grew up with that association, but I know as an adult it's just a stereotype. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquirrellyMama Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 No, but I might have at one time. My parents have managed mobile home parks in CA, FL and TX. Some of those homes cost more than my house :) Kelly 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I don't, but some people do. My mother has made some pretty harsh threats that made me say "Thanks, but no thanks." to people who have offered to rent me very nice mobile homes, but she considers much smaller, more poorly maintained conventional housing that is next door to a meth house to fall in the realm of "genteel poverty". ds1 and I joke about the double wide he's going to buy for me when we don't have to worry about her opinion any more. Don't stress over it unless you're trying to understand a difficult family member. There are people in this world who think breastfeeding is only for "poor white trash" but you wouldn't want them in your life anyway. I'm sure your home is beautiful and it sounds like your mother was just trying to help you to not take ignorant people's behavior too personally. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Trash can live anywhere. Mansions, trailers... One's type of residence doesn't mean anything. 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Sometimes trailer parks can be trashy, no doubt. The one we live in is very clean and well kept. I've seen neighborhoods of actual houses though that are trashy as well and no one seems to mention them being "trash". They probably do. If a neighborhood looks run down and dirty, you can be pretty sure that people are saying it's dumpy or trashy or whatever. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 There are some people who I know personally who live in mobile homes and are white trash. There are other people I know personally who live in mobile homes who are definitely not white trash. Likewise, there are some people I know personally who live in non-mobile homes who are and others who aren't. As a whole, I do not think living in a mobile automatically equals white trash, but I know people who do think so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danestress Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 My mother was just talking about how certain people perceive us to be "white trash" simply because we live in a mobile home and in a mobile home park. I was just curious to see how people on here perceive people living in trailers. No offense to your mom, but when I hear the phrase 'white trash' I bristle, and my impression of the person using it is pretty low. There are no mobile home parks close to where I live. But when you get out into the country, lots of people live in mobile homes - in and out of parks. I don't think you can judge the character of people on something like that. I see lots of nice tidy mobile homes when I drive - many that appear very tidy and well maintained with flowers and gardens and kid stuff in the yards - just like people in modest houses in the same areas. To me it seems like if you need inexpensive housing In a rural area without apartments, that where you might live. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trulycrabby Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Sounds like a manipulative statement to me. Makes me mad, actually, because you are absolutely not trash! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I voted sometimes. It entirely depends on the condition. Some mobile homes are very nice, neat and tidy. Some are not. The same is true of stick built homes. So IMO it has more to do with how one maintains a home than whether or not it's a mobile home or a regular house. :iagree: exactly what I was going to say. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 In what context would this even come up? Does your mom say, "oh yeah, my daughter who lives in a trailer park..."? If people know the trailer park you're living in, and it's well-kept, then why would they think "trash"? In my area, "white trash" is a term used only by ... people of certain standards. Low standards. So it strikes me as rather ridiculous. But maybe it is used more widely in other places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 In my area, "white trash" is a term used only by ... people of certain standards. Low standards. So it strikes me as rather ridiculous. But maybe it is used more widely in other places. It's a Southern thang and it's kind of like that other word that isn't offensive when used within the black community but will never cross my caucasian lips. I think the people who are using it on this thread do so in the context of embracing an insult to take the power away from it so that it will not hurt anyone else, IYKWIM. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 No! We lived in a mobile home for a while, while our house was being built. I think "white trash" is more of a lifestyle and values, rather than where one lives. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amira Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 No, I don't. Even more, I would never, ever use that term about anyone. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 That phrase isn't one I'd personally use, but I agree with the PP who said it's about lifestyle and values rather than place of residence. Kind of the Caucasian equivalent of "ghetto". 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 There are several nice mobile home communities in my area. If there are more problems there, it's because there are more people there. That said, I would not want to live in one. They do seem to be tornado magnets. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 My grandparents retired to a mobile home park. I spent some time visiting with them; I remember some fun times playing pool with my grandfather at the rec center. I think my aunt and her husband are now living in that mobile home; they inherited it when my grandparents died. They are all very nice people, not trashy at all. Our painter also now lives in a mobile home park since his divorce. I'm sure there are less sophisticated people who live in trailer parks, but just living in one does not make one trashy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelbe5 Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Both my dh and I lived in a mobile home when we were younger. My parents had ours towed from IL to CO. What an adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berta Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I hate that phrase. Around here, many families buy a mobile home and park it on a beautiful piece of land as a temporary housing situation while they build lovely homes as do it yourself contractors. These are then sometimes set in a wooded area to be used for storage or as hunting cabins, home offices, or emergency housing for relatives. We're a pretty practical lot around here! LOL We bought our land that came with a four bedroom double wide on it. Our plan was to live in it while building a house on the back acres. Well, it's been almost 4 yrs and as of now we have scrapped any plans of building. I really like my double wide. No, it's not fancy and not really well built like a stick built home, but it serves our purpose. The thought of having a bigger mortgage just to live in a stick built home sounds silly to me now. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 WHo I consider trash has nothing to do with what type of home they live in, but rather the attitude they go through life with. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMamaBird Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 We lived in a very nice mobile home park for 9 years and had some terrific neighbors. So no, I don't automatically thing Trailer Trash when I think of trailers. I've met some really nasty people who live in stick built homes, apartments, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 No. Trashy areas can be anywhere where people don't take care of their environment, but that doesn't mean the people who live there are trashy. There are trashy people with a lot of money. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 No, I don't. Even more, I would never, ever use that term about anyone. :iagree: People are not trash, whatever else they might be. They might be slobs, druggies, jerks, creeps or whatever, but none of us are trash. I've been called white trash before, and it's an even nastier thing to say in my dialect. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I've had friends who were definitely not trash who lived in a very nice mobile home park, and I've known trashy people who didn't live in mobile homes. Quite a few years ago I got a kick out it when someone said that "Paris Hilton teaches us that you don't have to be poor to be "white trash". 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myeightkiddies Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I voted sometimes. Sometimes people who may be considered by others to be "white trash" live in mobile homes. If you had done a poll called, "Do you consider people who live in houses to be white trash", I would have voted sometimes as well. Sometimes people who may be considered by others to be "white trash" live in homes. It's about the person - not the structure. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maus Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 My mom lives in a mobile home she inherited from my grandmother. Everyone on the street does, but it's not a park. Everyone owns their own land, and it's more retirement central than white trash. We have a trailer park not far from us that is a mix, some retirees and some white trash and some immigrants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I hate that term and think it speaks more negatively of the person using the term than it does the person being called trash or where they live. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXBeth Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 :iagree: People are not trash, whatever else they might be. They might be slobs, druggies, jerks, creeps or whatever, but none of us are trash. This exactly! I really hate this term. First for the reason above, but also because of how racist it is. Using the term "white trash" implies that the default for trash is some other color, so we have to specify. It's disgusting. People are not trash, no matter what color they are, no matter where they live. People are people. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandylubug Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Do I personally? Nope. I've lived in a singlewide myself when we first were married and only paid 300 a month in rent. It was a bargain and lovely. We grew out of it. I will say the entire 2 years we lived there, my SIL refused to visit. She wouldn't step foot inside. And we weren't in a mobile park. We were on a working farm with tons of cows and pasture. I think some people are stupid and clueless. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T'smom Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I'm with the group that doesn't consider ANY person to be trash. "White trash" is a term I hear extremely rarely. If I heard someone use it, it would influence my opinion of them. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharonM Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I've seen white trash on Real Housewives of (insert city here). Its not where you live its who you are! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 If I said that phrase around my Mom, she'd tell me "God, don't make junk!" and then hand me a bar of soap and point to the bathroom to wash my mouth out. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 My maternal grandparents lived in a double-wide in a mobile home park that was restricted to old folks. Every "yard" had low maintenance colored rocks and pebbles, ceramic gnomes and deer and rabbits etc. - we kids LOVED walking through the park with Grandpa to see all the little yards. Each time at least one old biddy would look out and scowl at us (how dare there be children there!)but more often than not little old ladies would come out to see us and chat up Grandpa. We'd end up by the park's pool area, where Grandpa would give us each a quarter to use on the soda pop machine - the pop came in heavy glass bottles, about 8 oz. He had a wee putting green in his "yard" and we'd try to putt - I never could hold the club to his satisfaction. Your poll reminded me of all this. ;-) i suppose there are good trailer or mobile home parks and less- desirable ones, just as there are good and less-good of any kind of neighborhood. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SproutMamaK Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I think a lot of people who live in mobile homes in trailer parks are a good deal wiser than those who live in McMansions in the suburbs that they can scarcely afford. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Actually, there was a recent article that may explain trailer parks and tornados. The type of area more prone to tornado strikes is land that is cheaper but still has some access to stores, prime trailer park location area. http://phys.org/news/2014-04-landscape-transition-zones-tornadoes.html My parents neighbors in their trailer park are much nicer than their neighbors at home! They prefer the race neutral "trailer trash," LOL. They spend almost half the year in their trailer now that they are retired. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 A good percentage of the houses on my rural road are trailers. I don't know anyone who's trash. A neighbor and I were talking about it because she moved here from a place where there were very few trailers. Her son piped up that he thought it was great because it meant younger people like himself could get a for into the property market, something they couldn't do where they'd lived previously. We looked at a trailer in a park when we first got married. It was by far the nicest place we looked at and if it had been in a more rural location I think we would have bought it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I don't call people trash. And the term "white trash" is even more problematic. I guess if I am guilty of judging someone it's my disdain for people who use the term white trash to describe others. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 NO, that would be ridiculous. I don't like mobile homes because I am from tornado alley. I don't know that I would ever really feel safe living in one but I don't think any differently of people who live in them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 No, I do not. My childhood best friend (still friends, although not as close) lives in a mobile home park. Now, I will say that I know why some of the ones around here (in the south) get a bad rep. It seems like every time I talked to my friend, somebody was being arrested for something in the park, and it certainly was not a place I would allow my daughter to stay overnight (she has a daughter the same age as my own), but that has everything to do with her quality of neighbors, and nothing to do with that it's a mobile home park, kwim? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aiden Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 As a child, I believed the stereotypes about people who lived in trailers and trailer parks. It was all I really was exposed to, and I had no reason not to believe it. But there was a girl in school who was very popular: pretty, smart, well-dressed. The first time I went to her house, I was shocked. She lived in a mobile home, and not a particularly well-maintained one. She since has said that she had a very difficult family life as a child. So even then it became apparent to me that where a person is growing up--and even with whom a person is growing up--doesn't have to determine who they are. In jr high I started dating a boy from a neighboring town. The first time I visited his house, again, I was shocked--it was a very well-maintained double wide trailer. His parents obviously weren't well off financially, but they were dignified and respectable. This experience started the notion that maybe just maybe, the stereotype wasn't true--maybe it wasn't just that the kids who lived in trailers had hope, but that the adults also could be just as respectable and responsible as any adults who lived in brick-and-mortar homes. I also had an uncle who lived two states away from me with his wife and daughter. I rarely saw him, but when we visited, we stayed in his very nice double wide trailer in a large, clean trailer park. There definitely were some "southernisms" in his manner (loud, opinionated, laidback) than made it easy to assume that he was a good, respectable, but poor man who was doing the best he could to provide for his family. Imagine my surprise when I was told, sometime in college, that he had purchased a brick home on a nice plot of land--big enough that he'd moved the trailer over for his adult daughter to live in--and a brand spanking new truck--and that he had paid cash for every bit of it! His family hadn't lived in that trailer park because they couldn't afford "better," as I had so naively believed. They had lived there because underneath his gruff exterior, my uncle was a very principled, very hardworking man who refused to go into debt for anything, even a house. He had paid cash for everything his entire life and had saved a nice pile of money so that when he bought the house he wanted, it would be with cash. No, I don't believe that the type of house in which you live has anything to say about your character, which is what the term "white trash" references. If someone is lazy and dirty and entitled and apathetic, that's what determines to what degree the term fits--not where the person lives. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I personally have never heard someone use the term white trash before, except in American novels. Does the term white trash mean low-life's? or druggies? or something along those lines? or a battler who is down on his luck? I don't particularly associate that with people living in caravans. Mostly people here who live in mobile homes or caravans are retired people. Caravan parks are usually in idealistic locations, right by the beach or by a river. The caravans are cheaper to rent than a house and smaller,-perfect for a retired single person on an aged pension. Many rich retired people have very flash caravans and travel around the country, they are called grey nomads, and mostly people look at them as living a lifestyle that others aspire to achieve when they reach retirement age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I've never heard the term used in Canada, and I've never used it myself. I find it pretty disturbing. Seems to say more about the ignorance of the person using the term than a reflection on people living in a certain style of dwelling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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