what is a WASP?

I've come across this term before and never given it a second thought.

WASP

Is it an acronym?
What does it mean?

Here's a passage from the story I'm currently reading:-

"She was a sophisticated New Yorker and a brilliant young lawyer with no place to go but up.
There were two things she wasn't though.
She wasn't an international beauty and she wasn't a WASP".

Can anybody out there enlighten me?

Comments

  1. Elephant's ChildAugust 21, 2013 at 9:12 AM

    A WASP is a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Essentially the ruling class in too many Western cultures.

    ReplyDelete
  2. VickiAugust 21, 2013 at 9:13 AM

    Found this River...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestant

    Hope that helps. It'll make sense if it sounds right, in context :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joanne NoragonAugust 21, 2013 at 9:44 AM

    WASP is is a fairly common acronym. They haven't put one together yet for the newest phrase, fat white men.

    ReplyDelete
  4. MimsieAugust 21, 2013 at 11:38 AM

    So now you know. I guess we two over here are both WASPS but hardly part of the ruling class...just a couple of poor old aged pensioners.

    ReplyDelete
  5. R.H.August 21, 2013 at 2:25 PM

    The poor get kicked in the teeth whatever colour they are.

    ReplyDelete
  6. RiverAugust 21, 2013 at 5:34 PM

    Elephant's Child; thank you, it's nice to know the actual meaning.

    Vicki; EC's comment helped, context is right for her meaning.

    Joanne; I've read it a lot and heard it in a few movies, just never knew the actual meaning.

    Mimsie; you're just a very nice person, nothing at all waspish about you.

    R.H. that's true.

    ReplyDelete
  7. jabblogAugust 21, 2013 at 6:35 PM

    It just goes to show how easy it is to assume that everyone understands acronyms. Actually WASP is almost as much of a slur as WOG which used to be current many years ago but is now, rightly, politically incorrect.

    ReplyDelete
  8. TempoAugust 21, 2013 at 6:55 PM

    ..and so we all learned something today...

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousAugust 21, 2013 at 8:05 PM

    Whate Anglo Saxon Protestant haven't heard that expression in a while

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousAugust 21, 2013 at 8:22 PM

    I haven't heard it used recently but it is kind of put down phrase. Your view doesn't count because you are a WASP and would not understand. That is, you have the natural advantage of being a white Anglo Saxon person, and so you can't understand what it like to not be a WASP and what we face. If you are a WASP, you are of the ruling class.

    Most interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. RiverAugust 21, 2013 at 8:38 PM

    jabblog; now I'm wondering what WOG means. Is it another acronym? I know that years ago Italian immigrants were called wogs.

    Kymbo; learning is good.

    Delores; I only hear it in movies and read it in books. I've never heard anyone actually say it.

    Andrew; I had no idea it was a put down phrase. I thought it was merely descriptive.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ManzanitaAugust 21, 2013 at 11:25 PM

    It used to be the ruling class..... white anglo-saxon protestant. But now, at least in the US, it is the minority who pay the taxes to support the 75% of non-WASP's who are living off the government.

    ReplyDelete
  13. PearlAugust 22, 2013 at 4:18 AM

    White Anglo Saxon Protestant.

    Never heard anyone in the midwest say it, but I don't doubt that it's used in the east.

    Ruling class. Elite/snobbish/keeper of rules.

    Pearl

    ReplyDelete
  14. Plastic MancunianAugust 22, 2013 at 5:14 AM

    Hi River,

    There is a metal band from the 1980's called W.A.S.P. - and that doesn't stand for anything pleasant at all.

    :-)

    Cheers

    PM

    ReplyDelete
  15. RiverAugust 22, 2013 at 4:46 PM

    Manzanita; thanks. Really 75% living off the government? That's a lot.

    Pearl; I got the idea they were elite and snobs just from reading books. but it's nice to have my thoughts confirmed.

    Plasman; I'd never heard of them and thta's probably a good thing.

    ReplyDelete

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