Wetback (1944)

[Jonathan Lighter]

That beats me. HDAS has the noun from J. Frank Dobie, about 1930.

  JL

"Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
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Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
Subject: Re: Wetback (1944)
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Barry -- Check the Archives. I found Dallas Morning News antedatings
from the 1920's: attributive from 1928, and noun from 1923.

Bill Mullins

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
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> Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:42 PM
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> Subject: Wetback (1944)
>
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
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> Subject: Wetback (1944)
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>
> What does HDAS have for "wetback"? Newspaperarchive seems to
> have it in =20 Texas newspapers from 1944.
> ...
> ...
> (OED)
> wetback orig. and chiefly U.S., an illegal immigrant who
> crossed the Rio=20 Grande from Mexico to the U.S.; also
> attrib. and transf.;=20
> 1929 Foreign Affairs Oct. 101 The peon walks or swims
> across..and is=20 welcomed by his countrymen here as a
> =E2=80=98*wet back=E2=80=99. 1972 Obs= erver (Colour
> Suppl.) 28=20 May 28/1 Last year in California alone, border
> patrols turned back 27,000 =20 wetbacks (the contemptuous
> name derives from their practice of swimming the=20= Rio =20
> Grande to reach the US). 1978 N.Y. Times Mag. 23 July 23/2
> Wetbacks (a=20 derogation of Mexicans swimming the Rio Grande
> to slip into the U.S.) becam= e=20 illegal aliens, and are
> now referred to as undocumented persons.=20 ...
> ...
> 21 June 1944, Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX), pg.
> 2: =20 One such incident occurred at McAllen Monday,
> officers said, when a group o= f=20 about forty "wetbacks"
> presented themselves to the authorities and asked to=20= =20
> be sent back across the border.
> ...
> ...
> 23 June 1944, Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX), pg. 4:
> Regarding the deportation of the thousands of wetbacks from
> the Rio Grande =20 Valley district I think it's the best
> thing that could be done for both labo= r =20 and capital of
> American, because it should cause the "New Deal" to
> establish= =20 its largess programs which harbor and
> maintain many citizens in semi-idlene= ss=20 while our
> producers have to seek this cheaper foreign labor in order
> to=20 continue in business.
> ...
> ...
> 9 March 1947, Los Angeles Times, pg. 7:
> WASHINGTON, March 8. (AP) -- California Congressmen today
> urged the =20 Immigration Service to be lenient with Mexican
> "wetbacks" pending ratificati= on of a=20 new contract with
> Mexico for the importation of farm workers. "Wetbacks" ar=
> e=20 those Mexicans who enter the United States illegally,
> presumably by swimming= =20 the Rio Grande.
> =20
> 4 April 1948, Washington Post, "'Wetback' Play a
> Losing Game," pg. B=
> 8:
> The base-line of the game in Texas is the Rio Grande, which
> forms a =20 1000-mile border between El Paso and Brownsville.
> Some of the hiders swim or=
> wade the=20
> shallow, narrow river. Because of that, all illegal Mexican
> immigrants have= =20 come to be known as "wetbacks."
> ...
> ...
> 3 March 1951, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. 7:
> A "flying squad" of the AFL National Farm labor union today
> forced the =20 deportation of 115 "wetback" Mexican farm
> laborers [illegal entrants] just a= s =20 their presence in
> the United States, according to union officers, was being=20=
> =20 legitimized in an unlawful processing operation.
> ...
> ...
> ...
> (GOOGLE BOOKS)
> _Swedish Unemployment Policy - 1914 to 1940 - Page 139_=20
> (http://books.google.com/books?vid=3D0n6j2tasRhvnimbk5o&id=3Dt
> uepRsu5GKcC&q=
> =3Dwetbacks&dq=3Dwetbacks&ie=3DISO
> -8859-1)=20
> by Harrison Clark - 1941
> The Tragedy of the Wetbacks THERE is a great deal of feeling
> in California=20 ... =20 Apparently the big farmers do not do
> much about the deportation of Wetbacks= .
>
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