# The origins of racial slurs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478 "2000-08-07T21:54:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/41 "2000-08-11T13:55:16Z")
Mc is a contraction of Mac, meaning son of, as posted above. i.e. McGowan or Mac an Gabhainn, “son of the smith” BTW, please dont blame us for infilcting “Big Mac” on you 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/42 "2000-08-11T14:11:06Z")
> [@](#): > > please dont blame us for infilcting “Big Mac” on you What a kroc. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/43 "2000-08-16T20:42:40Z")
It was my understanding that “faggot” was originally a slang term for a shrewish old woman, and that “fag” (servant-boy) is unrelated, deriving instead from “fagged” (worn out, exhausted). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/44 "2000-08-16T21:06:51Z")
**APB9999** asked: “So what derrogatory term do the Dutch use for Americans?” \*\*Coldfire[b/] replied “Usually Dumb Fat Yankee Tourist does the trick.” Which is highly ironic, given that according to H.L. Menken (whom Cecil quotes in the corresponding article), “Yankee” is a derivative of the term “John Cheese”, which was applied as an insult by Brits to the **Dutch** settlers of New Amsterdam, and eventually somehow mutated into “Yankees” being all American settlers. Oh, and if **JohnLarrigan** , as an Irishman, refuses to take responsibility for the “Big Mac”, then I, as an Italian-American, refuse to take responsibility for the “Whopper”. ---
**Author:** ![Wooglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@Wooglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wooglin)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/45 "2000-08-16T21:34:29Z")
origins im familiar with: wop - for when the italians came over as immigrants and were WithOut Papers, which was than abriviated and written on them, altho it seems that has been struck down. anyone know where the “dego” from wop dego comes from? mic - from the prefix Mc, which regardless of what it means or meant in ireland, is still used by an abundance of irish folk now. ive also heard hem, but couldnt figure that out. fag - from a faggot, or bundle of sticks gathered to burn, which is waht i heard was done to homosexuals when the the term for a bundle of sticks was in vouge. altho that is a pretty shaky origin. spic - also from the contraction hispanic, makes sense to me kike - the story i heard was this was originally a word used by other jews to make fun of the not so bright jews who would sign there name w/ a circle, insted of the standard X on papers at ellis island. there is a supposed hebrew/yiddish word that corresponds w/ cirlce and the name seem to have caught on w/ ignorant people of other religions. nigger - seems to make the most sense that its juts another way of saying negro. simplest = best anbswer right? that about all i can think of now, wow what great conversation starters ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/46 "2000-08-16T22:36:11Z")
This page has the origins of a few slurs: [http://parallel.park.uga.edu/distance/texts/berlitz.html](http://parallel.park.uga.edu/distance/texts/berlitz.html) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2000, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/47 "2000-08-16T22:59:51Z")
So far the derivation of “cracker” is interesting, if not utterly convincing. Derivation of “redneck” is obvious, but has been tainted by association with the fancy pick-up/dumb hat/Dixie Chick crowd. Kitty Wells died for your sins. As a recovering Texan, my personal favorite is “peckerwood”. Any ideas on derivation? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/48 "2000-08-17T00:57:21Z")
**Wooglin** , Please note that **wop** had already been addressed and, I’m afraid, your answer is the incorrect folk etymology. I believe that **dago** is a corruption Spanish _Diego_, James. It was initially used as a general term for Mexicans in the U.S. Southwest (in the way that Mick and Paddy have been applied to all Irish). At some point in the late nineteenth century, the meaning and current spelling shifted over to cover Italians. Whether this occurred because anglos simply applied it to any southern Romance-speaking person (Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian surnamed people have all been labelled dago at one time or other) or whether the name was specifically transferred when the large number of Italian immigrants came to Colorado to work the mines, I have not been able to discover. **lee** , That site by Berlitz was interesting, although he blew it on **gringo**. Gringo is simply a corruption of the Spanish word _griego_, Greek. _Griego_ has been used in Spanish for “foreigner” (in a manner not too diferent than the English “It’s Greek to me.”) for a long time. About the time that _griego_ was corrupted to _gringo_, the invaders and meddlers from the U.S. became the most significant obnoxious foreigners to the Mexicans and that word was applied to the Yanks, alone. (The “Green Grows the Grass” story is ancient and widely disseminated–but wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![BrothaTJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@BrothaTJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrothaTJ)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/49 "2000-08-17T03:22:56Z")
One of my friends is of Indian descent and although his parents grew up in India, he has lived in America all his life. Because of this, he sort of looks down on Indians who just recently came over to the US, so a common word that he and many others use for an american newbie is “Fob”, an acronym for “Fresh Off the Boat.” I’m sure this has been used by other American ethnic groups throughout the ages. I’ve also heard “Spearchucker” as a slur against Native Americans, for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2000, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478/50 "2000-08-17T05:01:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, there are also “eggs” - white people who are infatuated with Asian culture/people. Are “eggs” like “asiaphiles” or “rice kings” (white guys who only date asian women)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origins-of-racial-slurs/28478.md?page=2)