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Maybe I was born too late or too poor, but technically I fit the description as far as the acryonym goes, but neither I nor anyone I know ever referred to themselves with that term. It was always considered a political or demographic lable you used to describe a group, not an individual. You might acknowledge to someone that you were one, but you never used the term yourself.
Do people actually still call themselves WASPS, and if so are they being pretentious? Scholars agree that the group's influence has waned since the end of World War II, with the growing influence of Jews, Catholics, African Americans and other former outsiders. WASPS lost even more control of their once disproportionate social and financial power in the 80s when business interests gained more influence in Congress, and the social fabric of America started to change as entrepreneurs surpassed WASPS in net worth. Today they are a minority in Congress, and my guess is that their wealth is miserly compared to America's new found billionnaires.
What's your insight?
I always thought WASPS who call themselves WASPS do so out of humor. But to voluntarily announce it? It's just tacky. See the second post of this thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/fashi...ghetto-13.html.
I always thought WASPS who call themselves WASPS do so out of humor.
This. I use the term for myself and my family quite frequently but I am the only one in the family who does so, and I am basically taking the **** out of us. Because there's a lot of funny stuff about the WASP subculture--one of my favorite scenes in any movie is in the second Michael Keaton Batman movie, when the baby Penguin's parents cope with their freak son by tossing martinis. I'm all "yep, those are my people! Better living through alchoholic self-medication in elegant glasses."
This. I use the term for myself and my family quite frequently but I am the only one in the family who does so, and I am basically taking the **** out of us. Because there's a lot of funny stuff about the WASP subculture--one of my favorite scenes in any movie is in the second Michael Keaton Batman movie, when the baby Penguin's parents cope with their freak son by tossing martinis. I'm all "yep, those are my people! Better living through alchoholic self-medication in elegant glasses."
Yes exactly. And you get a good laugh out of it because it's funny. But you don't go out of your way openly announcing to people, let alone strangers, your heritage right?
Yes exactly. And you get a good laugh out of it because it's funny. But you don't go out of your way openly announcing to people, let alone strangers, your heritage right?
God, no, not to strangers! (Although it's pretty obvious, I definitely look the part.) But a stranger might think I was trying to brag--the humor might not come across and that's a tricky thing, it might read as some kind of weird "White Pride." It is just a joke, but I will say it's a long-running joke with my friends. My family has given me a TON of material that when I tell my friends, they're all "REALLY? People actually do that?"
This. I use the term for myself and my family quite frequently but I am the only one in the family who does so, and I am basically taking the **** out of us. Because there's a lot of funny stuff about the WASP subculture--one of my favorite scenes in any movie is in the second Michael Keaton Batman movie, when the baby Penguin's parents cope with their freak son by tossing martinis. I'm all "yep, those are my people! Better living through alchoholic self-medication in elegant glasses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RussianRedLipstick
Yes exactly. And you get a good laugh out of it because it's funny. But you don't go out of your way openly announcing to people, let alone strangers, your heritage right?
I think she just did reveal her background but I don't think she did it with intention or pretention. The other woman on this thread //www.city-data.com/forum/fashi...ghetto-13.html, however, seemed to me like she was projecting some kind of deluded sense of self-importance. I don't think that a geniune WASP, in the traditional definition of the term, would have the desire to reveal that he/she is a WASP due to the group's vilification by the media, and the fact that they are associated with the British colonizers. Also based on their conservative values they are simply not flambouyant people like the woman on this thread appears to be. //www.city-data.com/forum/fashi...ghetto-13.html
I think she just did reveal her background but I don't think she did it with intention or pretention. The other woman on this thread //www.city-data.com/forum/fashi...ghetto-13.html, however, seemed to me like she was projecting some kind of deluded sense of self-importance. I don't think that a geniune WASP, in the traditional definition of the term, would have the desire to reveal that he/she is a WASP due to the group's vilification by the media, and the fact that they are associated with the British colonizers. Also based on their conservative values they are simply not flambouyant people like the woman on this thread appears to be. //www.city-data.com/forum/fashi...ghetto-13.html
Why would it be pretentious? It's just their ethnic background. It's no different than someone proclaiming himself to be Irish Catholic.
Your view of the terminology is very simplistic. WASP-iness is more than just an ethnicity. Why wouldn't it be pretentious if you voluntarily told complete strangers that you're a WASP? As Gee1995 noted she would feel like she was bragging if she volunteered that information. If you were of European aristrocatic descent, would you announce that to the whole world? Same concept. Get it?
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