[Ads-l] Antedating of "Wetback"

Shapiro, Fred fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Sat Feb 15 12:51:23 UTC 2020


wetback (OED 1929)

1920 _San Antonio Evening News_ 20 Mar. 11/6 (Newspapers.com)  The other 50 per cent [of Mexican immigrants] are known as "wetbacks," a slang term applied generally to all who are smuggled across the river because of the popularity of swimming the Rio Grande as a means of smugging themselves across the river.

Fred Shapiro


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list