Wog
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Wog is a slang word with several meanings, some commonly derogatory, some not.
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[edit] As a racial epithet in British English
British racial term originating in the colonial period of the British Empire. It was generally used as a label for the natives of India, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. By the 1950s it had become a pejorative term used in order to offend. In common British parlance however it is not used as much today but it now used as another term for a Black person, especially of Black Caribbean or African descent. It may also be used to identify a South Asian who is very dark skinned.
The origins of the term are unclear. Most dictionaries say "wog" either possibly or likely derives from the generic term golliwog after the Golliwogg, a "grotesque" blackface minstrel doll-character from a children's book published in 1895. Various facetious explanations include the claim that it originated from acronyms for "Western/Westernized/Wily/Worthy Oriental/Orientated Gentleman" or variants thereof, or for "Workers of Government", "Wards of Government" or "Warden on Guard", used to refer to early immigrants into the United Kingdom. Such attempts to explain the word's origin are generally considered apocryphal and examples of backronyms.
The use of the word is discouraged in Britain, and most dictionaries refer to the word with the caution that it is slang, derogatory, and offensive.
The saying "The wogs begin at Calais" was originated by George Wigg, Labour MP for Dudley, in 1945. In a parliamentary debate concerning the Burmese, Wigg shouted at the Tory benches, "The Honourable Gentleman and his friends think they are all 'wogs'. Indeed, the Right Honourable Member for Woodford [i.e. Winston Churchill] thinks that the 'wogs' begin at Calais." Wigg's coinage, sometimes paraphrased as "Wogs start at the Channel" or "Wogs start at Dover", is used to characterise a stodgy Europhobic viewpoint, and more generally the view that Britain (more so England) is inherently separate from (and superior to) the Continent. In this case, "wog" is used to compare any foreign, non-English person to those more traditionally labeled "wogs".
In the film "Lawrence of Arabia", T. E. Lawrence announces with a vengence how "we did it... the wogs" have captured Aqaba to a British military establishment who are growing in their concern at his overachievement in turning the nomadic Arabs in revolt against the Ottoman Empire into a fighting machine that can outpace even the British Army.
[edit] As a racial reference in Australian English
Wog is also a slang term in Australian English originally denoting Australians of South East European ancestry, more recently also those from the Middle East. This meaning came into popular use in the 1950s when Australia accepted large numbers of immigrants from Southern Europe. Although originally used pejoratively, the term is increasingly used more affectionately, especially by the individuals the term is used to describe. Wog is a word with definite and widespread currency in contemporary Australian English, and for the most part it is rarely considered to be the sort of slur or insult that it remains in other parts of the Anglosphere.
The process by which it has become embraced by the communities it describes is similar to the reclaiming of gay and poof in the homosexual community, a process designed to take the sting out of the pejorative. The process was accelerated in the early 1990s with the popularity of the stage show Wogs Out of Work starring Greek-Australians including Nick Giannopoulos, George Kapiniaris and Mary Coustas. The production was followed on television with Acropolis Now, and in film with The Wog Boy.
Nevertheless, this process of reclaiming the word is only partial and is mainly restricted to ethnic groups broadly accepted by the dominant white Anglo-Celtic ethnic group. The term remains quite offensive to a lot of people in Australia, particularly people of non-anglo origin who grew up in Australia during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. In those times the word was usually used as a racist slur or insult. Its use was often preceded by a word such as "dirty", "greasy" or an expletive such as, "fucking". For example, in December 2005, the term was used frequently in its pejorative sense before and during the 2005 Cronulla riots.
[edit] As a synonym for "illness" in Australian English
Wog has also been used in Australia as a slang term for illness such as colds, the flu or malaria. This usage has been in existence since at least the early 1940s. It is recorded in the 1941 Popular Dictionary of Australian Slang by S. J. Baker as meaning a germ or parasite.[1]
Another use of the term, which dates from 1909, was to describe insects and grubs, particularly if they were hunting insects or regarded as being unpleasant in some way.[1]
The derogatory nature of the term when used as a racial taunt largely succeeded in overtaking and driving out use of the term wog to describe illness or undesirable insects. In common parlance, the word no longer has much currency in these contexts, and many young Australians would be unfamiliar with this usage. Nevertheless, older usages may occasionally be referred to ironically or humorously. For example, The Australian National Dictionary cites a joke in a publication called Nichigo Press from 1983:
- Have you been in bed with a wog? Oh no, I'm married! [1]
[edit] As a term in Scientology
Among Scientologists, "wog" is used as a slightly disparaging word for non-scientologists, especially middle-class materialists and Christians. According to the Technical Dictionary of Dianetics and Scientology, the term "wog" is an acronym of "Worthy Oriental Gentleman", and means a common ordinary run-of-the-mill garden-variety humanoid, or somebody who isn’t even trying (to achieve spiritual freedom). In Scientology, the term "wog" lacks all racist overtones, as it is used most frequently for caucasians, and can be said to be a synonym for the ethnical, financial and ideological mainstream known in North America as WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant).
Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard employed the term frequently in his lectures and writings, and its use remained prevalent among Scientologists. Since wog is not in general use in American English, it is most likely that he picked it up during his period of service as a US naval officer during World War II (1941-45). An alternative source would be England, where he spent several years (1953-66).
An example of its use, from a 2000 Church of Scientology staff recruitment leaflet: "Why spend your time and ability working a 9 to 5 job in the wog world, when you can be 100% on-purpose, working full-time to help change conditions and Clear the Planet?"
[edit] As a piping component term
WOG appears on certain types/models of block or check valves, indicating they are suitable for "water-oil-gas" service, where gas normally means natural gas or propane. The letters "WOG" are always in capital letters and are usually raised—having been cast with the valve body. This abbreviation sometimes appears as "W.O.G.".
[edit] As a poultry processing term
Poultry processors and distributors in the U.S. use the acronym "WOG" as an abbreviation of the phrase "without giblets.' ie..."Chickens, whole, WOGs"
[edit] Etymology
The term wog is often given a folk etymology as an acronym for various phrases:
- western oriental gentleman/westernized oriental gentleman/western orientated gentleman
- wily oriental gentleman
- worthy oriental gentleman
- without God
- wonderful oriental gentleman
- working on government service
- wonder of god (said to be on shirts worn by Suez Canal workers)
No evidence has been found for any of these purported explanations.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Ramson, W. S. (Ed). The Australian National Dictionary: A Dictionary of Australianisms on Historical Principles. Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-19-554736-5. p. 741.
