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 play the, play, white and/or man:
“A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
Which is as brief as I have known a play,
But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,
Which makes it tedious.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If every man possessed everything he wanted, and no one had the power to interfere with such possession; or if no man desired that which could damage his fellow-man, justice would have no part to play in the universe.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“I do not think white America is committed to granting equality to the American Negro ... this is a passionately racist country; it will continue to be so in the foreseeable future.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“Certain anthropologists hold that man, having discovered tools, ceased to evolve biologically. Animals, never having discovered them, continue to fashion drills out of their beaks, oars out of their hind feet, wings out of their forefeet, suits of armor out of their hides, levers out of their horns, saws out of their teeth. Whether this be true or not, all authorities agree that man is the tool-using animal. It sets him off from the rest of the animal kingdom as drastically as does speech.”
—Stuart Chase (1888–1985)