 |
 |
italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies I always grew up thinking it came from the fact that many Italians in America settled in Wappingers Falls, NY, hence the name wop. > ---------- > From: Simon Pocock > Reply To: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies > Sent: Monday, April 5, 2004 4:59 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Just curious: Italophobia,respectable bigotry or just n o bigdeal > > italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies > > aside from whether the term is offenive or not, I'm interested in the > etymology. > There are a number of explanations; the Without Papers is one, and POW > backwards is another: but both presuppose different periods of genesis (i.e. > early 20th century US immigration or WW2, depending). > Another explanation is that since the majority of immigrants/POWs were > Southern Italians, they all became identified as "guappi" or "guaparielli". > Americans pronounced this as "wop". There is a similar example in the > literature: in 1943, American parachutists hiding near Sarno (NA) were told > by local partisans to use the word "wallyo" as as code word in case of > trouble. Unbeknown to the US soldiers who wrote the book later (Doyle and > Stewart (1988)), they were simply transcribing the southen "Guagliņ" - > "kid". > Can someone at least confirm that "WOP" predates WW2? > Simon > > -----Original Message----- > From: claudia clemente [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: 05 April 2004 09:29 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [I-S] Just curious: Italophobia,respectable bigotry or just no > bigdeal > > > italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies > I understand that this discussion centers around the weight or value of > certain words in contemporary context and any action that could be taken. I > just wanted to point out that I can confirm that Giancarlo's definition of > WOP is probably correct, though I had been under the impression that it > meant "Without Passport." Both understandings have the same general > meaning. Other Italian Americans with grandparents who came through Ellis > Island should be able to confrim. > > I think in New York at least the term WOP might have lost a lot of its > offensive value over the second half of the 20th century; people of my > father's generation (he was born in 1929) still react to it and might use > it, but I hardly ever hear it in common speech. > > Regards, > Claudia Clemente > > Filippo Sabetti <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies > > please note that the core issue is not the origin of certain words, but > whether expressions like "wop" and "wop accents" are offensive, and what if > anything can be done about it > > For the context that sparked the posting, here is the link: > www.mcgill.ca/reporter > and then look for issue dated March 25, 2004 and article entitled "viva > richleriano" by Maria Francesca LoDico. > > Hope this helps. And thanks to those who have written, particularly to Grace > Bullaro'for her thoughtful comments. > > > Filippo Sabetti > > > giancarlo lombardi wrote: > > > italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies > > > > da quel che so, "wop" e' l'acronimo per "without papers"... > > > > Giancarlo Lombardi > > > > On Apr 4, 2004, a! t 3:37 PM, massi : wrote: > > > > > italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies > > > > > > Caro Filippo, > > > > > > personalmente non conosco le espressioni "wop" e "wop accent". E' la > > > prima > > > volta che le sento, probabilmente perche' essendo io italiano me le > > > avranno > > > dette alle spalle e non in faccia. Comunque, io penso in genrale che le > > > parole siano offensive o no in base allo spirito con cui vengono dette. > > > Insomma, si puo' essere politicamente corretti nei termini e pensare> > > > dentro > > > di se' cose molto offensive, e viceversa. Mi piacerebbe sapere qual e' > > > l'etimologia di "wop", ad esempio. > > > Credo che in tedesco la parola per 'frocio' e' 'Schvule'. Ho visto una > > > rivista gay militante in Germania con questo titolo, per cui la > > > semantica > > > 'offensiva' viene us! ata dagli "umiliati e offesi" con un senso di > > > orgoglio e > > > provocazione, e ribaltamento connotativo. > > > > > > saluti, > > > > > > Massimiliano Chiamenti > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >Filippo Sabetti wrote: > > > > > > > > > italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of > > > Italian > > > studies > > > > > Dear List members, > > > > > some of my Italian Studies colleagues seem to think that > > > expressions > > > > > like "wop" and "wop accent" are no > > > manifestations of Italophobia (the > > > > > way Harney discussed it in his 1985 article in Studi > > > emigrazione) > > > or > > > > > respectable bigotry (the way Lerner highlighted in his 1969 > > > article in > > > > > American Scholar) or even self-denigration (the way Cattane! o > > > wrote > > > > > about in 19th century). > > > > > > > > > > Are really expressions like "wop" and "wop > > > accent" not scandolose, > > > > > offensive, at all? Would you dismiss similar expressions > > > about > > > Jews > > > > > or American Blacks in the same way? > > > > > > > > > > Welcome your reactions. > > > > > > > > > > My view is that such expressions are intrinsically offensive > > > to > > > any > > > > > group of people, be they Italians or Jews. I also think > > > that > > > > > colleagues in Italian Studies, no matter what university > > > context > > > they > > > > > are in, cannot remain indifferent or silent to bigotry or > > > self > > > > > denigration in academic and official university journals, no > > > matter! > > > > > how respectable such views may be in some quarters. > > > > > > > > > > Please feel free to agree or disagree with me. > > > > > > > > > > Filippo Sabetti > > > > > > > > ********************************************************************** > > > > > To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies > > > YOUR NAME > > > to: > > > > > [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, > > > address it > > > to: > > > > > [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the > > > message: > > > > > leave italian-studies to: [log in to unmask] In order to > > > report > > > > > problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > > > > > [log in to unmask] For further > > > information, > > > visit > > > >! > our web site: > > > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html > > > > > > > > > > > ********************************************************************** > > > >To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME > > > >to: [log in to unmask] > > > >To send a message to the list, address it to: > > > >[log in to unmask] > > > >To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies > > > >to: [log in to unmask] > > > >In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write > > > to: > > > >[log in to unmask] > > > >For further information, visit our web site: > > > >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > > MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection se! rvice: 2 months FREE* > > > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus > > > > > > ********************************************************************** > > > To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME > > > to: [log in to unmask] > > > To send a message to the list, address it to: > > > [log in to unmask] > > > To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies > > > to: [log in to unmask] > > > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:> > > > [log in to unmask] > > > For further information, visit our web site: > > > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html > > > > > > > ********************************************************************** > > To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME > > to: [log in to unmask] > > To send ! a message to the list, address it to: > > [log in to unmask] > > To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies > > to: [log in to unmask] > > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > > [log in to unmask] > > For further information, visit our web site: > > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] > To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] > To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies > to: [log in to unmask] > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > For further information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html > ********************************************************************** To > join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME to: > [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave > italian-studies to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or > to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our > web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] > To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] > To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies > to: [log in to unmask] > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > For further information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html > > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html