Wop

Wop is an American English pejorative ethnic slur for an Italian. It is derived from the Neapolitan word "guappo" (often pronounced simply as "guap'" in the regional dialect), meaning a person who flaunts an overbearingly cocky and swaggering attitude. In the past, it also could refer to someone following the guapparia, meaning bravery, i.e., the ancient honour code of Camorra, a criminal organisation based in Naples and the region of Campania, w... more

Wop is an American English pejorative ethnic slur for an Italian. It is derived from the Neapolitan word "guappo" (often pronounced simply as "guap'" in the regional dialect), meaning a person who flaunts an overbearingly cocky and swaggering attitude. In the past, it also could refer to someone following the guapparia, meaning bravery, i.e., the ancient honour code of Camorra, a criminal organisation based in Naples and the region of Campania, which bears similarities to the better-known Sicilian Mafia. In Italy, the term "guappo" is still used, often sarcastically, to describe those young native men who really try hard to act brave, play cool, court every pretty girl, and those that are arrogant to the point of inducing a fight. It was brought to the USA by early Italian immigrants from the region of Campania, who named those suspected to belonging to the Guapparia “Guappi”, in a similar fashion the Sicilians used the term “Mafiosi”. Widely used in Chicago where most immigrants from... less