AWLP (1917)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>...
>22, February 1917, Chicago Daily Tribune, "A Line o' Type or Two," pg. 5,
>col. 3:
>THE Japs, as has been observed one or twice, are  "a.w.l.p."

That is: "a wonderful little people".

This writer ("B. L. T.") attached this phrase to the Japanese several times
during this epoch ... also to the Russians (twice) and to the Germans,
Swiss, ancient Egyptians, and Romans (once each) ... according to ProQuest
search. I get the impression it is used with tongue in cheek and probably
taken from some other writer.

Wolfe attached the same phrase to the Dutch in the novel "You Can't Go Home
Again" (1940).

-- Doug Wilson