Who are WASPS (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) in the US (officially and unofficially)? (plantation, move)
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that's stereotypical upper class WASP.
however, if you live in south carolina, in a shed and u are of anglo saxon heritage, white and protestant you are still a WASP.
Yep, I described my version of a WASP which is admittedly biased on my home region....but you got me thinking of the South---I think most of my above criteria still hold true, but just tweaked a little bit to account for South.
For me:
Everything I said in my previous post, plus:
Absolutely must have a Southern accent--denoting you're a true Southerner and not some lowly transplant from NJ.
Strong fraternity membership in a SEC or ACC type of school, or preppy Southern private school---preferably membership Kappa Alpha Order or SAE. Don't even think about making friends post college in Atlanta and such places without being a member of the right fraternity.
Family history in agriculture---great granddaddy was a gentleman farmer of tobacco and cotton.
I think WASP is a mentality not a race issue, here in London there are thousands of mainly blonde young men and women( some mousy brown hair), who are moving into the previously working class streets, or your once jovial workplace, and are arrogant, nasty and aggressive ( they are like a tribe of posh locusts ( im no class warrior), and devour everything). They all place a Bay tree in a pot, or olive tree, or expensive green shutters in their windows to announce loudly their evil posh arrival on the scene. ( AKA Wandsworth, Battersea, Clapham, Balham, West Norwood). They are all propped up by their posher parents from surrey. Funny how they can`t afford Chelsea.
Old post but Englishman does not equal Anglo-S. Perhaps only 22% DNA and that is Southern England. WASP= Means privilege. Even Catherine Middleton ( next Queen) has Jewish blood.
I have a lot of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, but I'm not wealthy, and I'm an agnostic, and I also have a Catholic background from my Irish side. Would I be a WASP?
I have a lot of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, but I'm not wealthy, and I'm an agnostic, and I also have a Catholic background from my Irish side. Would I be a WASP?
I think WASP is a mentality not a race issue, here in London there are thousands of mainly blonde young men and women( some mousy brown hair), who are moving into the previously working class streets, or your once jovial workplace, and are arrogant, nasty and aggressive ( they are like a tribe of posh locusts ( im no class warrior), and devour everything). They all place a Bay tree in a pot, or olive tree, or expensive green shutters in their windows to announce loudly their evil posh arrival on the scene. ( AKA Wandsworth, Battersea, Clapham, Balham, West Norwood). They are all propped up by their posher parents from surrey. Funny how they can`t afford Chelsea.
It's interesting you mention that. The same exact thing is happening in NYC past 10 years, with the WASP mentality transplants gentrifying former ghettos and working class neighborhoods. The stench of elitism is nauseating. In NYC we see this in Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Bed-Sty, Greenpoint and places in Queens, like Astoria.. Very similar kids, in NYC they're from upper middle class Midwest families. Parents help with the rent, but the kids can't quite afford to live in Manhattan.
The worst is their delusional neighborhood pride they create once they settle into them, and how they constantly laud them in contrast to the Manhattan neighborhoods they wish they could live in and can't.
Yep, I described my version of a WASP which is admittedly biased on my home region....but you got me thinking of the South---I think most of my above criteria still hold true, but just tweaked a little bit to account for South.
For me:
Everything I said in my previous post, plus:
Absolutely must have a Southern accent--denoting you're a true Southerner and not some lowly transplant from NJ.
Strong fraternity membership in a SEC or ACC type of school, or preppy Southern private school---preferably membership Kappa Alpha Order or SAE. Don't even think about making friends post college in Atlanta and such places without being a member of the right fraternity.
Family history in agriculture---great granddaddy was a gentleman farmer of tobacco and cotton.
Family member(s) fought for the Confederacy.
Gentleman farmer? I guess that's the nice way of saying slave owner.
Pretty much the whole south adheres to this preposterous WASPY ideal. WASP to me screams New England. The Southern Aristocrat/"Frat" Culture, whatever that may be is a world away from that found in New England.
Gentleman farmer? I guess that's the nice way of saying slave owner.
Pretty much the whole south adheres to this preposterous WASPY ideal. WASP to me screams New England. The Southern Aristocrat/"Frat" Culture, whatever that may be is a world away from that found in New England.
Harvard vs. Ole Miss pretty much sums it up.
I believe there can be both Northern and Southern WASPs each with differing traits. And there are plenty of gentlemen farmers all over the country. Believe it or not, there are wealthy, educated farmers.
I believe there can be both Northern and Southern WASPs each with differing traits. And there are plenty of gentlemen farmers all over the country. Believe it or not, there are wealthy, educated farmers.
The term has evolved from it's original meaning to refer to the classic upper class white anglo saxon protestant business owner in the northern urban cities or large ranch/farmer in the Midwest or Texas or wealthy agrarian mansion owner in the south like South Carolina. There was a time in US history where a large % of the white population were actually pure anglo saxon heritage and they owned everything. That number has dwindled out of immigration and mixing.
However, by definition.. you are not a White Anglo Saxon Protestant if you are not White, not of Anglo-Saxon heritage, and not Protestant. Because someone graduated from Harvard, and is an elitist and lives in a ritzy neighborhood in NYC does not make him a WASP. The same would apply to someone who stereotypically works in finance, deals in alot of money does not make him a JEW. Additionally, just because Vanilla Ice or Eminem raps, does not make them black.
The stereotype of a wealthy elitist WASP arrives, because in the past, upperclass WASPs did not associate or marry outside WASP culture. The term "waspy" has since evolved to describe someone who exhibits those elitist exclusive behavior.
I believe there can be both Northern and Southern WASPs each with differing traits. And there are plenty of gentlemen farmers all over the country. Believe it or not, there are wealthy, educated farmers.
I completely believe there are plenty of wealthy, well educated farmers. There are plenty of intellectual, granola type farmers across the Northeast, PNW, and Upper Midwest as well.
That was not my point.
The term gentleman farmer, in relation to the South, is a direct reference to plantation owners and their ancestors. The term "Southern Gentleman" arose during the antebellum period to describe such people. Despite the fact that these men were racist, enslaved a whole race of people, and eventually were traitors to the United States these frat boys at SEC schools idolize them. Yes I see this as a severe problem. And no I don't consider these 19 year olds such as those in SAE at Oklahoma WASPS in the true sense. Outside of New England the true wasp is extinct. Even in New England the WASP is endangered simply by the evolution of American values away from the puritans. The P is WASP is for Protestant, but more in the Puritan sense, rather than that of the status conscious caste system of the South. The term was coined to describe the old money families of New England who were descended from the settlers of Plymouth Bay Colony.
The term has since been co-opted by upper middle class Southerners as a way to differentiate themselves as better than others, particularly if their family was not old southern money. Old southern money has conveniently taken up the term in an attempt to put "lipstick on a pig". In today's society, outside of the South WASP sounds much better than gentleman farmer or plantation owner...for good reason.
There was nothing noble or worth celebrating about the antebellum south. The whole institution was awful.
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