Dago
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article discusses an ethnic slur; for other meanings, see Dago (disambiguation).
In American English, the term dago refers to Italians and Italian Americans, especially recent immigrants and others not fully assimilated into Anglo-American culture. Commonly used in the early 20th century, "dago" is now considered quite offensive. Nonetheless, the term "dago red" is sometimes used to refer to cheap or homemade red wine, such as was common in Italian-American households during Prohibition.
The term "dago" possibly comes from the fact that many Italian Immigrants were day laborers and they would "Work for a day and then go."
Dago is also a derogatory term used in British English to refer to people of Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese origin. Its use is not as offensive as, for example "wog" - in fact, the former chief executive of the Bradford and Bingley, Christopher Rodriguez, was known to refer to himself as a "swarthy dago". In popular culture, it was used in M*A*S*H to refer to the Father Mulcahy, who was called "Dago Red".
