[Ads-l] Antedating wetback

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Thu Sep 15 15:15:59 UTC 2016


Bill Mullins wrote:
> OED has 1929
>
> _El Paso [TX] Evening Post_ 22 Feb 1928 p 4 col 1 [newspapers.com]
> "There's enough Mexican labor already on this side of the border to
> supply those demands, supplemented as it will be by those admitted
> annually under the quota, by those who will be permitted to cross daily
>  to hold regular jobs and by the "wet backs" who can't be prevented from
> slipping past immigration inspectors."

Bill: Barry Popik has an valuable entry for wetback (wet back) with a
1920 citation:

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/wetback_wet_back/

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