81 Stereotypically White Phrases That Crack People Up Every Time

Stereotypes are just that: an oversimplified, generalized belief or idea about a particular group of people or things. So it goes without saying that not all white people use the phrases featured here, and not only white people use them, either.

In fact, where I come from, many of the gems featured on this list are used by people of color, too. But we can't deny that each culture or race often does have its own sayings, catchphrases, and colloquialisms that have been passed down through generations. Many are so good that they end up getting adopted by other cultures, too.

This list got me wondering who the heck Pete ("for Pete's sake") and Louise ("Geez, Louise") are...

It led me to a Mental Floss article, which aimed to answer the question, "Who is Pete?" According to that piece, "for Pete’s sake" first appeared around 1903, more or less the same time as "for the love of Pete." Some argue that Pete may actually be St. Peter, while others say Pete isn't/wasn't a person at all.

As the Mental Floss article explains, "for pity’s sake" has been around since the 17th century; and its predecessor, "for pity," dates all the way back to the 15th century. It goes on to reference Michael Quinion, who wrote that people who wanted to curse without really cursing could have played a part in "pity" becoming "Pete." The two words can sound a little similar, depending on who is uttering them.

"Pete’s sake sounds even more like 'peace sake'—a phrase that popped up at various times over the centuries," adds Mental Floss.

What about Louise? Jeez, who is she, even? Well, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known use of the interjection "Jeez Louise" is in the 1950s. It seems to have come about because certain people were poets but they even didn't know it.

"At least as early as the late 1900s, English speakers started inserting words into their speech that sounded like a blasphemous cuss word that 'took the lord’s name in vein,' but skirted it by rhyming or sounding similar to the forbidden profanity," explains Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. "In the 1930s, when rhyming slang became briefly popular, somebody paired “geez” with “Louise” and that relic of the era lived on as an expression of exasperation."

"Knuckle sandwich" is a sort of obvious one: a rather special way to say "punch in the face."

It's often used more as a joke than an actual threat. "The humor hides in the metaphor," explains the Emma Brooke from englishgrammerpro.com. "A sandwich is something you serve, share, or hand someone. Swapping out bread and filling for a fist gives the phrase a silly twist. You get a mix of toughness and comedy wrapped into one short expression."