English Reference

Idiom

Oreo cookie

Meaning

A black person that appears to the community to embody the social and cultural features of a white person

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Examples

“Some people call him an Oreo cookie because of his interests.”

“He faced criticism from his peers who labeled him an Oreo cookie for preferring classical music over hip-hop.”

“The social tension escalated when he was dismissed as an Oreo cookie by those who felt his cultural assimilation betrayed his heritage.”

Examples

simple

“Some people call him an Oreo cookie because of his interests.”

contextual

“He faced criticism from his peers who labeled him an Oreo cookie for preferring classical music over hip-hop.”

complex

“The social tension escalated when he was dismissed as an Oreo cookie by those who felt his cultural assimilation betrayed his heritage.”

Origin

By analogy with the proprietary "Oreo Cookie" that is black on the outside and white on the inside, implying that certain black people are white at heart.

Key words

Related idioms

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English Reference