I think it comes down to ownership of the word. Saying that if another person took it offensively then it maybe acceptable to ask for it not to be used.
WASP isnt really an offensive term is it? Its difficult to bully up the food chain.
Jeff-
The fact is Anglo-Saxon which covers the Germanic countries and some of the UK are not the same as the Irish and celts..many of us in the UK are a mixture of Celt and Anglo-saxon but mainly on the eastside of the Island at least up unto the industrial revolution. Genetically we are a still very much a Celtic base in the UK.
I know this dosent add up to much by the time you get over to the US when people are rich and attended the top schools but the breeding and the distinction is very different. Celts are proto-europeans and the reason the Irish have retained such a distinction is because of their georgraphy.
The difference between an Anglo-Saxon and a Celt is quite vast they might both be in Europe but they're from seperate migrations..maybe but not so clearly defined in the UK anymore just Ireland and the west side of the UK.
I am a pretty strong mix of the two, O'hearne oneside, Robinson on the other. And also like I mentioned before we also have the Putnam line and we are related to the Putnams of the Salem witch trials. I originally come from just near Penn in the UK and some of the Putnams went out there as the founding familes..obviously some stayed here and that's my Nans maternal line.
That arguably is what makes an Englishman, the mixing of both influences. The new migration of indo-europeans meeting with the celtic protoeuropeans who were already here.
That would really matter to an old racist WASP..infact the Irish have always suffered racism in the UK..the lineage is different. Im not saying it should make a difference. But there is a reason for the distinction.
And it's a point worth making when you look at the world JFK and is father were setting their sights on as new money middle-class folk.
Many banking familes and industrialist would marry into a peerage in the UK to make that final leap into the upper-classes.. in the US the highest you can go with out a monarch is being President I guess?
Last edited by Bop (2015-08-04 01:58:17)
Ive moved my response over to the NSFW..although this isnt the best thread in the world..weve left the topic of clothing
I meant to say AC was using the term about himself somewhat ironically.
Oswald wore Ivy
/\ hahaha no he really didn't
Yeah, I'm not convinced he did.
I think the term WASP is now recognized, rightly or wrongly, as any member of a ruling establishment.
It's a well defined look and I agree with Stan; people often post in the film thread about boring contempo movies where some dude wore a button down or loafers. Jerry Seinfeld wore button downs and crew necks throughout the entire series but he still looked square. The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Button downs and other staple articles are pretty commonplace in our culture. Wearing the occasional crossover item might be in good taste but does not identify as 'sporting the look' in my book.