[Nick V.]

What are the origins of slurs such as ‘dago,’ ‘wog’ and ‘guinea’?

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Name : Nick V., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 24, City : Sydney, State : NA, Country : Australia, Occupation : student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Ned]

I don’t know about ‘dago’ or ‘guinea,’ but I believe I can comment on the term ‘wop.’ When European immigrants came to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s, those without proper identification, passports, etc. were classified as ‘(w)ith(o)ut (p)apers’ – WOP. Somehow the term came to apply to Italian immigrants only – and subsequently to all Italians and Italian-Americans.

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Name : Ned, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 27, City : San Diego, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Computer Programmer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[ACC24052]

‘Dago’ is a mispronunciation of ‘Diego’, meaning that Italians were being lumped in together with Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Wog is the initials for ‘wily oriental gentleman’, a common term used around 1900 to imply that Asians were ‘naturally’ sneaky or untrustworthy. Guinea, I think, is meant to imply Italians were African looking, as in from the country of… Notice how in two of these examples the greatest insult is to imply that someone white is not really white.

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Name : ACC24052, City : W Lafayette, State : IN, Country : United States, 

[Andy]

I’ve heard that the origin of ‘Wop’ was different from Ned’s explanation, though I can’t validate the truth of either. What I’ve understood is that the term ‘Wop’ or ‘Wap’ is a bastardization of the Italian word ‘guapo’ (well, that’s the Spanish and I know it’s very similar if not the same in Italian), meaning handsome or taken to mean as somewhat of a dandy. Some Americans heard certain Italian males referred to as ‘guapo’ and turned that into an insult. I don’t know if either story is true, but it’s interesting to hear the different explanations.

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Name : Andy, Gender : M, City : Indianapolis, State : IN, Country : United States, 

[Andres]

I have read that ‘dago’ derived from the name Diego. Actually a Spanish name, but apparantly common in Italian and other Latin/Romantic societies as many other names are as well.

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Name : Andres, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 25, City : Chambersburg, State : PA, Country : United States, 

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