Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0019476, Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:22:54 +0000

Subject
Re: QUERY: Red Wop Explained
Date
Body
RSG: Scousers (Liverpool dialect) call the cheapest gut-rot alcoholic drink
RED BIDDY. It¹s a mix of METHS (methylated spirit) and red wine (so I¹m
told!) The ROT = Germanic Red, in gut-rot is just a linguistic coincidence.
So many fanciful etymologies for WOP. Preferred etym. seems to be variants
of GUAPPO (= S. Italian dandy) pronounced whappo/whoppo in some dialects,
rather than several acronymic interpretations (WithOut Papers; WithOut
Passport). Etymologist¹s Axiom 1: distrust all acronymic explanations!
Especially POSH (Port Outward, Starboard Home).

MattR: our emails citing In Cold Blood crossed. I suggest that VN/EW were
probably aware of, amused by, the very fact that Red Wop had so many
off-beat meanings. Quite likely that the derog. Wop would be known on
Shade¹s multi-ethnic campus, and picked up by Hazel in all innocence.
SKB

On 19/02/2010 19:07, "R S Gwynn" <Rsgwynn1@CS.COM> wrote:

> In Leon Uris's Battle Cry wine of this type is called "Dago red."
>


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