Use of the word 'Wog'

[footyfan1978]

A mate of mine at school had the nickname Wog and he wasn't even fully Italian, only his dad was Italian, his mum was English.

When he started school he was actually using his mum's surname to hide the fact he was Italian which is a sad reflection of how racist Australia was back then.

By about Year 9 he changed his surname back to his dad's Italian surname and also copped the Wog nickname, although by that stage Wog wasn't really seen as being racist due to Italians joking about it with Wogs Out of Work.

Speaking of Wogs Out of Work I saw Nick Giannopoulos dining at one of those outdoor restaurants in Mykonos in the early noughties.

I did have a laugh when him at that other well known Aussie wog Vince Colosimo released this film (more of a laugh than I had when I watched that pile of s**t).

Clown on the right is a big Carlton fan.
Remember some game at Docklands about ten years ago he sitting in same row and totally losing his s**t.
Just turned into a raving lunatic, like a lot of footy fans. I think Fev was having one of those days where he was giving away 50 metre penalties being petulant.

 

[Plugger35]

The 80s was a big turning point with gay acceptance when Culture Club arrived, they got a reception like The Beatles when they toured here back in the 80s.

This song was huge here, I remember we had to sing it in primary school at school assemblies along with God Save The Queen and Advance Australia Fair.




I hated Karma Chameleon, I thought they'd sold out with that tune.

I was into their old school stuff.




Boy George has got a gig on The Voice here as a judge, he's probably more accepted and respected here than he is in the UK and certainly in the US.

 

[edgie]

Probably the f word because like the n word it's rarely used in anything but a derogatory sense. Unless your talking about sticks, rolled balls of offal or ciggys.

Do homosexuals use it to reference themselves like African Americans do with the N word?

I've only heard it used in quoting Joe Jackson.

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[edgie]

The 80s was a big turning point with gay acceptance when Culture Club arrived, they got a reception like The Beatles when they toured here back in the 80s.

This song was huge here, I remember we had to sing it in primary school at school assemblies along with God Save The Queen and Advance Australia Fair.




I hated Karma Chameleon, I thought they'd sold out with that tune.

I was into their old school stuff.




Boy George has got a gig on The Voice here as a judge, he's probably more accepted and respected here than he is in the UK and certainly in the US.

Tbh I never immediately considered Boy George was gay just cause of his appearance. There's a fair few pop and rock and even metal musicians who presented themselves quite similar in the 80s that were all very straight.

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[Procrastinator35]

The 80s was a big turning point with gay acceptance when Culture Club arrived, they got a reception like The Beatles when they toured here back in the 80s.

This song was huge here, I remember we had to sing it in primary school at school assemblies along with God Save The Queen and Advance Australia Fair.




I hated Karma Chameleon, I thought they'd sold out with that tune.

I was into their old school stuff.




Boy George has got a gig on The Voice here as a judge, he's probably more accepted and respected here than he is in the UK and certainly in the US.

Graeme Kennedy was the King of Oz tv during the 60's & he was a well known homosexual....Similarly, Molly Meldrum ruled the musical scene from the 70's onwards.

Once the new wave of immigration hit Oz during the 80's, particularly the Vietnamese, the term 'wog' pretty well lost much of it's use & impact....Nowadays it tends to be the Africans who are the target for much of our racist, tribal tendencies.....Just ask the Murdoch Press.

 

[JackOutback]

The use of language changes over time, and when a formerly offensive term becomes adopted by the group it is intended to marginalise it stop being offensive.
'Wogs out of work' changed the use of the word. 'NTTAWWT' has become less offensive over time as the people it targets adopt it sometimes. Growing up in the west wog was a completely inoffensive word by the time I hit high school - half my family is Mediterranean and were known by everyone as 'the wog half'.

Wog is still offensive in other countries though - it means something completely different in the UK.

Can go in reverse too. As mentioned earlier, Paki wasn't offensive when I was growing up in the '80s, it was literally just shorthand for Pakistan. But as the world got 'smaller', people understood how it was used elsewhere and kinda self regulated, which has to be a good thing.

I think comedians took all the sting out of wog in this country. I don't think it's offensive, though I think The Wog Boy is offensive.

 

[Plugger35]

Tbh I never immediately considered Boy George was gay just cause of his appearance. There's a fair few pop and rock and even metal musicians who presented themselves quite similar in the 80s that were all very straight.

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Back in the pop makeup days of the 80s it was hard to know who was gay and who was straight and we didn't really care as kids as long as it was a good tune.

That was back in the days when we put the posters of our favourite bands on the wall, I had posters of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Wham on my wall.

I gave one of my mates s**t for having a poster of Culture Club on his wall because Boy George was gay and I had a poster of Wham on my wall.

No one knew George Michael was gay back then, he seemed like a ladies man.

 

[raskolnikov]

The 80s was a big turning point with gay acceptance when Culture Club arrived, they got a reception like The Beatles when they toured here back in the 80s.

This song was huge here, I remember we had to sing it in primary school at school assemblies along with God Save The Queen and Advance Australia Fair.




I hated Karma Chameleon, I thought they'd sold out with that tune.

I was into their old school stuff.




Boy George has got a gig on The Voice here as a judge, he's probably more accepted and respected here than he is in the UK and certainly in the US.

This was their best song.

 

[Plugger35]

Graeme Kennedy was the King of Oz tv during the 60's & he was a well known homosexual....Similarly, Molly Meldrum ruled the musical scene from the 70's onwards.

Once the new wave of immigration hit Oz during the 80's, particularly the Vietnamese, the term 'wog' pretty well lost much of it's use & impact....Nowadays it tends to be the Africans who are the target for much of our racist, tribal tendencies.....Just ask the Murdoch Press.

I didn't even know Graham Kennedy barracked for St Kilda until I saw his funeral and St Kilda footballers were his pallbearers, very moving ceremony.

Of course I know Molly Meldrum is a St Kilda supporter but I don't care if they're homosexuals, I just think St Kilda has the best entertainers in Australia's history.

Have a look at Shane Warne, another St Kilda supporter, the most entertaining cricketer in Australia's history just like Eric Bana is the most entertaining actor.

 

[JackOutback]

just like Eric Bana is the most entertaining actor.

Who do Chris Hemsworth and Hugh Jackman support?

 

[Gough]

Do homosexuals use it to reference themselves like African Americans do with the N word?

I've only heard it used in quoting Joe Jackson.

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I only use it to describe cigarettes, personally I don't like the word but ******s by Larry Kramer is a classic of gay literature.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Have a look at Shane Warne, another St Kilda supporter, the most entertaining cricketer in Australia's history just like Eric Bana is the most entertaining actor.

Your taste in cricketers & actors is as bad as your taste in music Plugs.

 

[Spongebob]

The N word in America is still really contested.

Some of my African American friends and fellow students absolutely detested it and would never use it. I even saw some pretty heated arguments about its use.

One interesting aspect was education and “class”. Better educated and more middle class, the less they would tolerate it. Rappers etc often came from more dispossessed circumstances and used it more as a weapon.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Back in the pop makeup days of the 80s it was hard to know who was gay and who was straight and we didn't really care as kids as long as it was a good tune.

That was back in the days when we put the posters of our favourite bands on the wall, I had posters of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Wham on my wall.

I gave one of my mates s**t for having a poster of Culture Club on his wall because Boy George was gay and I had a poster of Wham on my wall.

No one knew George Michael was gay back then, he seemed like a ladies man.

He also sang he wasn't going solo.
He might of been bi back then, who knows.

 

[Plugger35]

He also sang he wasn't going solo.
He might of been bi back then, who knows.

I remember being on holiday at Rotto as a kid and listening in to hear who was the no1 song of 1984.

It came down to these two songs.




Needless to say I voted for Burn for You

 

[Cruyff14]

Nothing wrong with it. It'd be offensive if it was 1983.

 

[Hawk Dork]

No one knew George Michael was gay back then, he seemed like a ladies man.

and a wog

 

[rocker_oz33]

I remember being on holiday at Rotto as a kid and listening in to hear who was the no1 song of 1984.

It came down to these two songs.




Needless to say I voted for Burn for You

INXS all the way.

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

I remember when I was at school we used to call soccer "wogball".

Johnny Warren's history of soccer in Australia

 

[Gough]

Good book.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Johnny Warren's history of soccer in Australia

That heading says it all really.....Captures the zeitgeist of Oz in the 70's perfectly.

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

Good book.

I haven't actually read it yet. The title has always been stuck in my head though! I wonder if its out of print now? Next time I see a copy at an op shop I I'll be sure to grab it.

 

[rocker_oz33]

I like wog food tho.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

Can go in reverse too. As mentioned earlier, Paki wasn't offensive when I was growing up in the '80s, it was literally just shorthand for Pakistan. But as the world got 'smaller', people understood how it was used elsewhere and kinda self regulated, which has to be a good thing.

Pretty lousy when people on BigFooty pretend to not understand what's bad about "Paki" and "Jap".

 

[edgie]

Good book.

Do you recall if it features the Alagich family?

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