# Do WASPs actually exist in the modern age? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803 "2014-08-18T03:47:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/21 "2014-08-20T00:38:47Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Except Lois’s Mom is \ Jewish! And a Holocaust survivor to boot; though you’d never know it from her maiden name, \*Hebrewberg \*! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/22 "2014-08-20T04:15:38Z")
Since Protestantism is the official religion of Norway, you’ll find WASPs in Norwegian-American communities such as in Minnesota. Okay, they aren’t Anglo-Saxon, but close enough. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/23 "2014-08-20T05:07:51Z")
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the OP is referring to some guy off the boat from Liverpool … when people say WASP they usually talking about a specific community of old-money aristocrats like [this](http://www.ivy-style.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Merriwelly.jpg) … or the evil fraternity leader in Animal House. These days a wealthy foreigner would probably have more in common with them than a middle class American. ---
**Author:** ![48Willys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/db5fbb/32.png) [@48Willys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/48Willys)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/24 "2014-08-20T08:35:18Z")
Oh darn, I was hoping that this was about the Women’ Air Service Pilots WASPs of WWII fame!! Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/25 "2014-08-20T11:01:48Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > An ex-girlfriend explained to me that old money WASPs are all over the Northeast, but the 1920s-style “Harvard Yard” stereotype is totally out of date. These days, an outsider will probably never encounter their communities unless one of them invites you (or you take a wrong turn somewhere in upstate Vermont.) Their kids exist in a low profile world of tiny, liberal arts colleges that you’ve never heard of but cost insane amounts of money. Are you talking about the Boston Brahmin types or WASPs in general? Since I don’t think there are that many of the former in upstate Vermont. And while lots of the Boston Brahmins go to Vassar or Bowdoin, I suspect plenty go to Harvard or even Boston U. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/26 "2014-08-21T00:46:56Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Are you talking about the Boston Brahmin types or WASPs in general? Since I don’t think there are that many of the former in upstate Vermont. And while lots of the Boston Brahmins go to Vassar or Bowdoin, I suspect plenty go to Harvard or even Boston U. Nah, I don’t know much about Boston Brahmins … except that they’re so legendary even other WASPs should be in awe of them. Actually, one thing I have noticed is that there are also many WASPs among the progressive/hippie communities of western New England and upstate NY. Seems that if you meet a Unitarian organic farmer and poet from the Berkshires, chances are their family came over on the Mayflower. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/27 "2014-08-23T19:08:22Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > A WÅSP once bit my sister… Can you _imagine_ a WASP biting your sister? And then she **stepped** on the ball! They had to call the whole thing off. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/28 "2014-08-23T19:22:38Z")
I must get out of these wet clothes and into a DRY martini! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/29 "2014-08-23T19:48:27Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > I must get out of these wet clothes and into a DRY martini! If the vermouth runs out before the Tanqueray does, something’s not right. Well, I mean, apart from failing to always ensure that you have adequate supplies on hand. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/30 "2014-08-23T20:53:17Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Nah, I don’t know much about Boston Brahmins … except that they’re so legendary even other WASPs should be in awe of them. “The Lowells talk only to Cabots. And the Cabots talk only to God.” ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/31 "2014-08-23T21:10:05Z")
Middle and upper middle class folks that are a) white, b) Anglo-Saxon and c) Protestant certainly exist. They haven’t spoken like [Thurstan Howell the 3rd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurston_Howell) for a while though: even during the 1960s, such folks were rarities/caricatures. Bill Buckley adopted his accent in college: it was an affectation. And he was born in 1925. More generally, I understand that most CEOs hail from state schools. WASPs used to run the country, but that was over 40 years ago. I guess another factor was that evangelical Protestants and Catholics largely made peace with one another during the 1970s, though Jack Chick apparently never got the memo. Not that evangelical Protestantism was a big thing among WASPy citizens - I’m just noting that a lot of the anti- Irish/Italian/Catholic bigotry and divisions died down over time. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803/32 "2014-08-23T23:21:37Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Are you talking about the Boston Brahmin types or WASPs in general? Since I don’t think there are that many of the former in upstate Vermont. Yeah, they hang out in Woodstock, which is in the southern end of the state. Stowe, in northern Vermont, is mostly new money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-wasps-actually-exist-in-the-modern-age/695803.md?page=1)