White People Shit (WPS)

About

White People Shit, often abbreviated as WPS, is a slang term used in reference to stereotypes or things that are perceived as more popular or common among white people than people of color. The term is often used derogatorily and as a tongue-in-cheek way of calling a white person's actions cringeworthy. The term was first defined online as early as 2010 and was further popularized throughout the 2010s, seeing a notable resurgence on TikTok in the 2020s.

Origin

The exact origins of the term "white people shit" and its acronym "WPS" are unknown. Online, the earliest known use of the term was posted by X^[1] user @MzJetson on February 27th, 2008, in which she wrote, "lmao no wonder I used to love britney spears, nsync, bsb, hanson, stone cold steve austin, all that white people shit." Several other uses of the term were also posted that year, including by X^[2] user @anjaleef on September 20th, writing, "'We can be just friends…' 'Man, that's some white people shit!' LOL." and X^[3] user @levioner on December 2nd, writing, "what are you dooing?…oh a scavenger hunt…..thats some straight up white people shit."

On August 2nd, 2010, the term "W.P.S. (White People Shit)" was defined on Urban Dictionary^[4] for the first time, gaining over 250 thumbs-ups in 14 years. The definition reads:

Some dumbass shit that only white people would do.

Climb mountains, horse back riding, the economy, KKK, hockey, Family Guy, Republicans, bear hunting, hunting in general, pick up trucks, white jesus, rock music, country music, whale hunting, baked chicken, the show Jackass, beer games, are all examples of w.p.s. (white people shit).

Spread

The term spread further throughout the 2010s as a way of describing things that white people like to do, often within a mocking or negative context. On July 27th, 2012, Vice^[5] published an article titled "Clyde’s Corner: White People Shit" in which he discusses several examples of WPS, including "eating bread with everything," "cursing your parents out," "camping" and "going outside to see what that noise is."

On November 15th, 2018, a now-deleted Redditor posted a screenshot of an X post by a now-suspended user to the subreddit /r/BlackPeopleTwitter^[6] criticizing the use of the term "white people shit," garnering over 2,000 upvotes in six years (shown below). In 2019, a show titled That White People Shit began airing in the U.S.^[7]

The term, in particular its acronym, became increasingly popularized on TikTok throughout the 2020s, including as a hashtag in which videos of people displaying examples of WPS are uploaded. On July 30th, 2022, TikToker^[8] @caseywalker05 posted a video of a woman labeling her washer and drier as a man repeats "white people shit" to her, garnering over 700,000 views in two years (shown below, left). On September 20th, the @barstoolua TikTok^[9] page posted a video of a group of white men singing to a woman using the hashtag "#wps," garnering over 950,000 likes in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On January 21st, 2024, TikTokers^[10] @christifritz posted a video in which a white couple explains that they're going to walk barefoot everywhere from now on, garnering over 7.4 million views in two days (shown below, left). The video became the subject of criticism, with many calling it an example of WPS. For example, on January 22nd, TikToker^[11] @vish_avva posted a video suggesting the video is WPS, garnering over 7.2 million views in a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

@getagripmama The hold @HEYDUDE have on white people 😬 #heydudes #whitepeoplebelike #whitepeoplethings #thingswhitepeopledo #TheRealPussinBoots ♬ White people doing things – @TheKornfeldFamily

@gorgeousmonyea So Embarrassing lol #medicalassistant #houston ♬ original sound – ⭐️

Search Interest

External References