“He had the handsomest wop kisser I ever saw” -Jean Genet “Thief’s Journal” p.185

What does wop kisser mean?

  • naharin
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    8 months ago

    wop, noun, often capitalized offensive — used as an insulting and contemptuous term for a person of Italian birth or descent

    Etymology Italian dialect guappo swaggerer, tough, from Spanish guapo, probably from Middle French dialect vape, wape weak, insipid, from Latin vappa wine gone flat

    • Afghaniscran@feddit.uk
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      8 months ago

      If I’m not mistaken it was originally to describe Italian immigrants during whatever period of time (world war 1 maybe?) and it was a acronym for Without Papers. As in not having a visa.

      I could be mistaken though, I read that once from one source so not really done any due diligence.

      • amio@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Sounds like folk etymology. Like how “fuck” is supposedly an abbreviation for whatever-the-hell but it’s just… not.

      • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        There was no such thing as a visa during that time. Immigration documents did not really exist until 1924 and the slur was already in use by then.

      • naharin
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        8 months ago

        Interesting, I just got this from Merriam-Webster.

    • Mothra@mander.xyz
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      8 months ago

      This is very interesting considering guapo is used as synonym for handsome in Spanish across the globe in this day and age