[Ads-l] "wop" = "without papers/passport" (1971)

[Ben Zimmer]

The bogus acronymic etymology deriving "wop" from "without papers" came up
recently in Jonah Goldberg's National Review column:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/447848/wop-without-papers-etymology-incorrect

I see that's attested back to 1971, though there are suggestions of earlier
oral transmission.

---
Alan Dundes, "A Study of Ethnic Slurs," Journal of American Folklore, Vol.
84, No. 332 (Apr.-Jun. 1971), p. 192
http://www.jstor.org/stable/538989
One folk etymology for the word "wop," a common term of disparagement for
Americans of Italian descent, is that in the early 1920s many Italians
tried to enter the United States illegally. These would-be immigrants were
rounded up by U.S. officials and sent back to Italy with documents labelled
W.O.P. which supposedly stood for "Without Papers" referring to the papers
needed for legal immigration.
---
Tucson Daily Citizen, Dec. 7, 1971, p. 30, col. 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/23550083/
"If anyone called me a 'wop' I was furious and wanted to slug the guy right
then and there," [Cleveland Indians manager Ken] Aspromonte said, "but then
one day my grandfather explained the origin of the word. He told me that in
the early 1900's so many Italians were coming into the United States that
many of them didn't bother to get visas. When they'd arrive on Ellis Island
and didn't have papers with them the inspector would holler out, 'Here's
another one, without papers.' So somebody took the letters 'W-O-P' for
'without papers' and that's how it got started," Aspromonte said.
---

Also from 1971 is the related derivation "without passport."

---
Monroe (La.) News-Star, July 30, 1971, p. 6, col. 1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/32327198/
"Glad You Asked That!" (syndicated column by Hy Gardner)
"Wop" reverts to the turn of the century when millions of Calabrians and
Sicilians came off their ships holding a slip of paper with the name of the
foreman they had been assigned to. U.S. immigration officials rubberstamped
the papers "W.O.P." -- meaning without passport.
---

--bgz

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