Guido x 2

[Jonathan Lighter]

The _New Yorker_ discussed precisely the same phenomenon WRT _Jersey Shore_
last week.

Whatever the origin of the species, HDAS 1 traces the designation _Guido_
back to 1988-89. My SWAG is that it was inspired by Joe Pantoliano's
character "Guido" in the teen megahit _Risky Business_  (1983).

JL

On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 2:20 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Guido x 2
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In today's Times, there is a piece by Patricia Cohen in the Arts
> section about "Guido" (the ethnic/social label) and "Jersey Shore"
> (the MTV reality television show that, as Virginia Heffernan (see
> below) puts it, chronicles the exploits of "the hottest, tannest,
> craziest Guidos" in Seaside Heights, N.J.  Reclamation may or may not
> be involved, depending on your source...
>
> ===============
> As New York State Senator Diane J. Savino, a Democrat who represents
> Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, explained, "Guido was never a
> pejorative." It grew out of the 1950s greaser look, she said, and
> became a way for Italian-Americans who did not fit the larger
> culture's definition of beauty to take pride in their own heritage
> and define "cool" for themselves.
>
> When she was growing up, everybody listened to rock; girls were
> supposed to be skinny, with straight blond hair (like Marcia Brady on
> "The Brady Bunch"); guys had ripped jeans, sneakers and straggly hair.
>
> Then in 1977 "Saturday Night Fever" was released. "It changed the
> image for all of us," Ms. Savino said. As Tony Manero, John Travolta
> wore a white suit, had slicked-back short hair, liked disco music and
> was hot. "It was a way we could develop our own standard of beauty,"
> she added.
>
> Indeed, Professor Tricarico calls "Saturday Night Fever" the "origin
> myth" for "Guidos." Think of Tony Manero as their Adam.
>
> Young Italian-Americans, he said, did what other immigrant groups
> before have done: take a symbol of derision, own it and redefine it
> their own way. Young African-Americans did that with the "n word," he
> added, much to the consternation of their elders, and gay people did
> the same by proudly using the word "queer."
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/arts/television/23shore.html
> ===============
>
> Then in the Magazine section coming out tomorrow, Virginia Heffernan
> has this more dialectologically oriented mini-essay--it's not every
> day the Times begins an article by citing Bill Labov:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-medium-t.html
>
>
> LH
>
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