# So what's a "dayglow b\*stard"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-a-dayglow-b-stard/378423>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 30, 2006, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-a-dayglow-b-stard/378423 "2006-10-30T11:18:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-a-dayglow-b-stard/378423/1 "2006-10-30T11:18:30Z")

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Y’know, the slur that Sean Connery’s cop uses when inviting an Italian-American to leave his house for bringing a knife to a gunfight in “The Untouchables” 🙂

Obviously not what he said, my hearing being what it is. Anyone clear up this slur for me (and possibly explain what it means?) Did Italian-Americans apply flourescent make-up in the 1920s/30s?

Mods, feel free to pop this into Cafe Society, but I thought it would be best here as its a factual answer I’m looking for.

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**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-a-dayglow-b-stard/378423/2 "2006-10-30T11:29:28Z")

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He probably (I admit to not having seen the movie) said [dago b\*astard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dago).

While I don’t think I’ve actually ever heard anyone use the term in real life, it seems to come up regularly in movies and books of a certain time period.

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-a-dayglow-b-stard/378423/3 "2006-10-30T11:50:55Z")

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Heh, wikipedia and its lists of slurs and taunts 😛

My hearing just isn’t great, the number of times I’ve misquoted a film…

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-a-dayglow-b-stard/378423/4 "2006-10-30T12:55:17Z")

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I know!  
He’s a policeman, and he’s concerned about violations of copyright law. “Day Glo” is a traddemaerk of the DayGlo corporation, who have been waging a war against people using the term “dayglow”, lest they lose their trademark status (just like _cellophane_ and _zipper_ and _aspirin_). Connery’s character was evidently concerned that the other guy was improperly using the term, even though the stuff hadn’t been invented opr trademarked yet. That’s just the kind of cop Connery played!

> **[DayGlo Color Corp | It's Color. Only Better.](https://www.dayglo.com/)**
>
> DayGlo Color Corp.

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**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-a-dayglow-b-stard/378423/5 "2006-10-30T13:01:12Z")

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I believe the proper terms are “Fluorescent American” or “Person of Really Bright Color.”

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**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-a-dayglow-b-stard/378423/6 "2006-10-30T13:09:16Z")

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A little known fact was that the gangster worked in the banana trade.

Sean actually said ‘Day-O! Bastard!’ :eek: