"Wop" in 1908?

[Jonathan Lighter]

1915 is perfectly plausible, but the earliest in the HDAS files is 1923.
Maybe he heard the usage in conversation.

Slang names for ethnicity regularly cover the language as well. I can't
identify the earliest attested ex. though.

JL




On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 12:32 PM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Wop" in 1908?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Joseph Wiengarten, _American Dictionary of Slang_ (1954), gives as a second
> sense of of the term 'the Italian language', with the date (arrived at how?)
> 1915.
>
> --Charlie
>
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:05:03 -0400
> >From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> (on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>)
> >Subject: Re: "Wop" in
> 1908?-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Great work, Doug.
> >
> >You've noticed that none of these early exx. (or later ones for decades)
> say
> >anything like, "so called from the phrase 'Without Papers/Passport.'"
> >
> >Opinion: the ety. from It. dial _guappo_ is correct. Its orig. aplication
> by
> >Italian-Americans to other Italian-Americans led non-Italians to refocus
> the
> >meaning. Hence the rapid demise of the more general English sense.
> >
> >However, the unpub. HDAS files show the word occasionally being applied to
> >various European nationalities (incl. Poles and Germans) into
> >the 1990s.
> >Jack London wrote in 1913 (with ref. to 1898): "I was trying to get work
> as
> >wop, lumper, and roustabout."
> >
> >Berry & Van den Bark (1942) list "wop" as a 'section hand.'" The
> >meaning fits superficially, but I believe it to be an error. (Track it on
> GB
> >and see what I'm talking about.) London seems to be referring to
> >day-laborers' jobs: the kind, of course, often filled at the time by
> Italian
> >immigrants.
> >
> >JL
> >
> >
> >On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 3:23 AM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net>
> wrote:
> >
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> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> >> Subject:      Re: "Wop" in 1908?
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Probably related to "Wop" and/or to its etymon:
> >>
> >> ----------
> >>
> >> _The Evening World_ (New York NY), 9 May 1907: p. 3:
> >>
> >> <<Maybe Roberto Fiaza Nobi thought that he could impress the Magistrate
> >> in Ewen Street Police Court by claiming to be a count. Nevertheless he
> >> was charged with following and annoying a young girl on the street, and
> >> his name might as well have been Tony Woppo for all the good his title
> >> did him.>>
> >>
> >> ----------
> >>
> >> _The Sun_ (New York NY), 28 Aug. 1906: p. 5:
> >>
> >> <<[title] SNITCHER IN THE WAPPO GANG / .... / If Blinky Loretto, leader
> >> of the Wappo gang, down on Cherry Hill, had only been wise to the
> >> snitcher he wouldn't be doing his latest "bit" in the Catholic
> >> Protectory. .... / .... When Dago Pete Bascino was admitted to
> >> membership in the gang early in the summer nobody had the faintest idea
> >> that he would ever squeal on the mob. Although Blinky is only 10 years
> >> old, ....>>
> >>
> >> [some miscellanous slang in this item, including "spiel off yer best
> >> Ginnie" which I suppose means "speak your best Italian" (when selling
> >> stolen books to Italian-speaking locals)]
> >>
> >> ----------
> >>
> >> -- Doug Wilson
>
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