# what the hell does WASP stand for/mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2003, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558 "2003-08-07T10:13:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/1 "2003-08-07T10:13:35Z")
alright, i hear constant references to this all the time in american TV, specifically Charlotte off sex + the city. im assuming its some middle class white bread term. whats the score? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/2 "2003-08-07T10:16:11Z")
White Anglo Saxon Protestant 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nisosbar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@nisosbar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nisosbar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/3 "2003-08-07T11:34:15Z")
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, coined by what’s-his-name who recently died. ---
**Author:** ![nisosbar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@nisosbar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nisosbar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/4 "2003-08-07T11:36:57Z")
By the way, it was coined by this E. Digby Baltzell to refer to the historically dominant ethnic/racial class in America. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2003, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/5 "2003-08-07T11:40:51Z")
WASPs are suppsed to be the bedrock of the American establishment, shaping the habits and political bent of the elite – conservative and straitlaced and financially well-off. The stereotype is that they are exceedingly formal, even in the privacy of their own homes. I’ve known several WASPs, who didn’t fit the stereotype, and were kinda defensive about that. Dave Varry makes the point that he isn’t, either. In the animated movie **Antz** , Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtin play a couple of _real_ wasps who are, of course, WASPs, right down to the Connecticut "jockjaw\* accent that **EVE** has talked about. All the characters in A.R. “Pete” Gurnet’s plays ( **Love Letters** , for instance) are WASPs. Movies like **My Big Fat Greek Wedding** are the exact oppsite of WASP tradition – big, heavily ethnic, exuberant families. Shee Woody Allen’s **Annie Hall** for another such contrast. ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/6 "2003-08-07T11:41:38Z")
Wasn’t there an 80s heavy-metal group that used it as “We Are Sexual Perverts”? So, Charlotte is a WASP in Baltzell’s sense, while Samantha is a WASP in the other way. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/7 "2003-08-07T14:30:30Z")
It also stands for Women’s Airforce Service Pilots, who flew planes during WWII (delivery, target towing, et al) But I’m guessing thats not what is being referred to… Brian ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/8 "2003-08-07T23:39:51Z")
It should be mentioned that WASP is most often used today for what it _doesn’t_ mean, namely:[ul][li]not black[/li][li]not Slavic-European[/li]not jewish (or Catholic)[/ul]That is, its usually meant as a symbol of prejudice and exclusivity. ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/9 "2003-08-08T00:39:14Z")
In _Family Guy_ Peter and Chris observe a family of WASPs for a merit badge. They were the stereotype of upper-middle class suburban dysfunctional family. Remember, the Griffins were catholic so they ain’t WASPs. ---
**Author:** ![verbenabeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@verbenabeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/verbenabeast)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/10 "2003-08-08T00:48:06Z")
yes the groupd W.A.S.P. used the “alternate” meaning… the one about sexual perverts… had some cool tunes too… ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/11 "2003-08-08T01:36:34Z")
Wrong forum. I’ll move this for you. ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/12 "2003-08-08T02:00:15Z")
What has been said. These days, I like to think of it as meaning Wannabe Aristocracy of Sycophantic People. Generally, people of inherited money/position/attitude who basically believe that they are superior than all others because of that alone. People who believe that there is or at least should be a class system in which they are at the top. The world revolves around them. Technically I am a WASP, as are what I’ll guess is an extremely large part of the population of the U.S. But WASP is generally a derogitory term for snobs, regardless of heritage or religious affiliation. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/13 "2003-08-08T02:14:47Z")
> [@](#): > > White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, coined by what’s-his-name who recently died. I think Hacker is still alive. If you mean Baltzell, see below. > [@](#): > > By the way, it was coined by this E. Digby Baltzell to refer to the historically dominant ethnic/racial class in America. While most people think that Baltzell coined the word, this isn’t true. He possibly popularized it, but the phrase was first used in print some six years before Baltzell used it. > [@](#): > > 1957 Andrew M. Hacker in _Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev._ LI. They are “WASPs” – in the cocktail party jargon of the sociologists. > That is, they are white, they are Anglo-Saxon in origin, and they are > Protestant. > 1011 This was found by the truly great researcher, Fred Shapiro, Assoc. Librarian for Collections and Lecturer in Legal Research at Yale Law School. Fred is known in the “word” business as the best manipulator of databases on the planet. He is the Barry Popik of etymology, without the caffeine. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/14 "2003-08-08T17:42:31Z")
for those of us who grew up in the sixties: [World Aquanaut Security Patrol](http://television.jasper.org/stingray.htm) ---
**Author:** ![hazygreyeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e480ec/32.png) [@hazygreyeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazygreyeyes)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/15 "2003-08-08T18:09:16Z")
If you’re a true hescher, I believe that the band’s name WASP stood for, “We Are Satan’s People.” That’s always how I’d heard it phrased in the eighties. Of course, I could be wrong, this is just the neighborhood speak of the heschers I knew that dug this band. Maybe that elongation of their acronym was dubbed by the Christian Right to damnify the band since this was the time of big censorship of “Satanic” lyrics and all. Didn’t Ozzy bite off the bat’s head about this time, too? ---
**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 8, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/16 "2003-08-08T19:55:57Z")
What has been said, except to note that traditionally the term takes in, and connotes, Northeastern (U.S.) white elites from the country-club set, and above, so to speak. I’m not sure how important the “protestant” element is, either; in the broad sense I think the Kennedys could be called WASP’s even though they’re not Protestant. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-wasp-stand-for-mean/193558/17 "2003-08-08T23:19:17Z")
Call an Irish Catholic a WASP and you’re aiming for a fight!