Is there a general term to refer to "a semi-denigrating term used by a minority social group (not necessarily a racial group) to refer to the majority". Examples would be "muggle", "gentile", "textile", "breeder", "straight", "mundane", "vanilla" etc. (I am not referring to outright derogatory terms)


I am not sure that groups of pejoratives are classified by scale (i.e. minority pejoratives; majority pejoratives) but these words and terms are relevant for the discussion:

  • Descriptions of "the majority" include the masses; sheep; common; pop.
  • "Reverse discrimination" is the concept of a retaliation against a dominant or majority group and includes subterms such as reverse racism
  • "Affirmative action" is a classification of policies that are intended to react against an ill-founded majority
  • An "exclusionist" is one who advocates the exclusion of others; this could apply to certain groups against others (e.g. Jews and gentiles)

None of these are a perfect fit but it they may help with specific cases.


Pejorative is slightly more general (for instance, it includes words directed at things other than people), but includes all those examples.