Colored People's Time

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Meaning · English

A notional system of time (or time zone) which others sometimes derogatorily ascribe to African Americans, and which they sometimes jocularly ascribe to themselves, to account for their supposed tendency to be tardy.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

một hệ thống thời gian được cho là của người Mỹ gốc Phi, dùng để giải thích thói quen chậm trễ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Register: dated, derogatory, slang

Where it’s used: Used American English

Examples

“Colored People's Time,” King said with a grin. “It always takes us longer to get where we're going.”

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Common questions

What does “Colored People's Time” mean?

A notional system of time (or time zone) which others sometimes derogatorily ascribe to African Americans, and which they sometimes jocularly ascribe to themselves, to account for their supposed tendency to be tardy.

Is “Colored People's Time” formal or informal?

Colored People's Time is generally dated, derogatory, slang.