Play the white man is a term used in parts of England meaning to be decent and trustworthy in one's actions.
The origin of the phrase is obscure. The term carries with it a reference to an obligation which outnumbered English civil administrators in the latter years of the British Empire might have considered themselves to be under: that is, the obligation to uphold respect for their county abroad by maintaining personal standards of behavior and fairness which darker-skinned native peoples could respect. The act of calling upon someone to remember his personal moral obligations in this way is expressed in Rudyard Kipling's poem The White Man's Burden. On the other hand, the racially neutral color white has long been associated with pureness and virtue.
A similar expression in the United States is "That's mighty white of you", meaning, "Thank you for being fair". Among African Americans, this phrase is said in response to being patronized or told what to think.
Famous quotes containing the words white man, play the, play, white and/or man:
“One revelation has been made to the Indian, another to the white man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Let me play the fool,
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“We cannot play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“The chief assertion of religious morality is that white is a colour. Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“Laughter and grief join hands. Always the heart
Clumps in the breast with heavy stride;
The face grows lined and wrinkled like a chart,
The eyes bloodshot with tears and tide.
Let the wind blow, for many a man shall die.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)