# WTF is a W.A.S.P. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442 "2002-12-29T01:26:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442/21 "2002-12-31T00:40:20Z")
> [@](#): > > I gotta assume that he was just a pup back in 1957 and not yet a famous name, but the Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. is hardly an obscure source. How is this going unnoticed by the OED? And, of course, the OED in 2010 will have it. I think Shapiro discovered it since the 1989 OED. ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442/22 "2002-12-31T01:34:31Z")
How many WASPs does it take to change a light bulb? Two - one to call the electrician, and one to mix the martinis. ---
**Author:** ![puffy\_jacket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@puffy\_jacket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puffy_jacket)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442/23 "2003-12-27T11:30:16Z")
So here’s something I find deeply perplexing: why W.A.S.P.s? Why not just A.S.P.s? Aren’t all anglo-saxons white, after all? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442/24 "2003-12-27T11:58:03Z")
**Puffy** , I think it’s to distinguish from Southern and Eastern Europeans. Not Anglo-Saxon, White, but White, Anglo-Saxon. Basically distinguishing between Pepperidge Farm white and Wonder Bread white. [Nigel Tufnel] Like, none more white [/Nigel Tufnel] ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442/25 "2003-12-27T12:22:05Z")
WASP = White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, and is sometimes derogatory WASP = Crappy metal hair-band of the 80’s - We Are Sexual Perverts, We Are Satan’s People, We Are Smelly Performers (I made the last one up) and you get the idea WASP = Women Airforce Service Pilots - A cadre of female pilots, who in WWII flew cargo planes, and transported other aircraft, thus freeing up male pilots for combat missions. In thier own way, they may have been as necessary to the war effort as the Higgins Landing Craft. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442/26 "2003-12-27T22:39:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by whuckfistle \* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > > > **W.A.S.P. is also a crummy band led by Blackie Lawless.** > > > > **What was the meaning? We Are Sexual Perverts? as I recall.** > > \*\*I believe it was We Are Satan’s People. Horrible band if memory serves me right. The pinnacle of 80’s crap metal. \*\* I believe **whuckfistle** was right. On W.A.S.P.'s debut album, “We are sexual perverts” is etched into the vinyl. (I was a huge fan.) D ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442/27 "2003-12-27T23:00:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*White Anglo-Saxon Protestant \*\* I’ve often wondered how black Anglo-Saxons felt about this term. ---
**Author:** ![Vezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b38774/32.png) [@Vezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vezer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442/28 "2003-12-27T23:05:32Z")
So two bee’s are flying along. One puts on a Yarmaluke. The other bee asks, hey why did you put that on? “Because I don’t want to be mistaken for a wasp.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-a-w-a-s-p/145442.md?page=1)