From Guinea to Ginzo?

[Bruce Dykes]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Victoria Neufeldt" <vneufeldt at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2001 13:10
Subject: Re: Guinea (was Re: Asian = Oriental, etc.)


> Thanks.  I read DInIs's suggested etym just after I had posted my query
> (sorry about that).  But I have never encountered the term before its
> mention on this list.
>
> Victoria
>
> On Thursday, February 08, 2001 8:31 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >
> > I'm not sure what the source of the puzzlement is, unless it's
> > etymological.  As I mentioned last night, "guinea" is a
> > well-established ethnic slur (like "wop" and "dago") for Italians,
> > and in particular Italian-Americans, who are associated with these
> > shirts.  As to WHY Italians are called guineas, that seems a bit
> > cloudy, although dInIs tentatively offered his own speculation.
> >
> > larry

After reading several of the Guinea posts, 'ginzo' was jogged in my memory,
meaning just the same thing, and possibly a descendant.

I did a Google search to be sure, and the following popped up from Barleby's
(bartleby.com):
----------------------
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.
2000.

ginzo

SYLLABICATION: gin·zo
PRONUNCIATION:   gn´z

NOUN : Offensive Slang Inflected forms: pl. -zoes
Used as a disparaging term for a person of Italian birth or descent.

ETYMOLOGY: Origin unknown.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton
Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
---------------------

There were only a very few English language pages returned, and those fell
into the 'Italian ginzo and proud of it' sorts of identifiers, people using
it as a nickname, etc. The vast majority of the rest of the pages were in
Italian.

bkd