I see your point and you are right about the PC brigade, its getting bad here as well, to the point where the bounderies are being blurred (for me anyway!)

Where's Kwinana?

Calling an Aussie a crim will definitely NOT offend him/her. Having history back to the original convict fleet is considered Australian "Royalty"

Steve, with all due respect your referring to a book by a bloke that is a Legend in footballing circles in this country.

So rather than have a go at you, I'll point you at something.

SBS covered the whole of the last world cup, with quotes by this bloke in the corner of the screen, he was a football commentator for SBS, an Australian Captain In time to come if you have any respect for football you will learn how important this guy is as one of the pioneers of the world game in this country. In fact SBS are bound to do it again... If you ever see the term "I told you so" in the corner of the screen thats down to this fellow here...

Here is some further background. Johnny Warren.


Description

From a nine-year-old who was initially rejected by his local under-12's team because he was "too small and needed to go home and eat more porridge" to leading the Socceroos from 1964 to 1974 through three World Cup campaigns as captain and vice-captain, Johnny Warren has witnessed every stage of Australia's soccer journey for over fifty years.
From the days you were called a "sheila", "wog" or "poofter" if you played soccer to today when players such as Harry Kewell are celebrated as our brightest sporting stars and prized by overseas clubs; from the curse placed on the Socceroos in 1969 by an African witch doctor through to more than thirty agonising years of trying to qualify for soccer's Holy Grail, the World Cup, Johnny Warren reveals the highs and lows of Australian soccer's past and present, and how its future success can be achieved. This fully updated and revised edition includes a final chapter reviewing all the action from the 2002 World Cup - the Cup that caught the hearts and imaginations of Australians everywhere. In February 2003, NSW Premier Bob Carr set up a $1.5 million soccer training academy named the "Johnny Warren Soccer Academy" to develop players and increase Australia's chances of securing the 2014 World Cup. The recent victory of the Socceroos against World Champions England, has ensured that soccer is reaching fever pitch in Australia. So here's to Germany in 2006 - ole, ole, ole, ole!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Warren

Just to clarify, why would you have a go at me? What have I said to warrant that?

The taxidriver who bored me all the way home tonight mentioned the term "wop" at one point, reckons it originates from "without papers" as many Italians used to arrive (allegedly) in Aus or the US with no papers.
Anyone know if that is true?

Now with my Mods hat on, (thats the purple witchy one, which survived another night in the pub tonight)...

.......can we keep this to a friendly light hearted discussion please, with no-one having a go at anyone?
Thanks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop

And don't forget about us Paddys!!! Hee Hee.

This is what Wilapedia says:

Wop is a English pejorative ethnic slur for a person of Italian descent. It is derived from the Neapolitan word "guappo", meaning a person who flaunts an overbearingly cocky and swaggering attitude. The word defines those who belong to the Guapperia o “Camorra”, a criminal organization similar to the Sicilian Mafia located mostly in the province of Campania (an Italian Province) and its capital Naples, Italy.

The term is still commonly used especially in Central-South Italy (Meridione) to describe those that either belong to the organization or those that are arrogant to the point of inducing a fight. It was brought to the USA by early Italian immigrants from the province of Campania who named those suspected to belonging to the Guapperia “Guappi”, in a similar fashion the Sicilians used the term “Mafiosi”. Widely used in Chicago where most immigrants from Campania settled, one of its native sons Al Capone was a typical Guappo, it was confused by the non Italian population to indicate people of Italian origins, similarly the word “Paesano”.

Contrary to popular belief, it is most likely not an acronym for "With Out Papers" or "Without Passport", one of the most famous examples of folk etymology or backronym. The reason for this is that the term was already in popular use as early as 1910, a period in which no immigrant needed papers to enter the United States (passports and visas were not required of immigrants entering the country until 1921).

This is what Wog means according to Wilapedia:

British racial term originating in the colonial period of the British Empire. It was used as a label for the natives of India, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. By the 1950s it had become a pejorative term used in order to offend. In modern British parlance it has become less prevalent and has been applied to any type of dark skinned person.

The origin of the term is uncertain. Many dictionaries say "wog" possibly derives from the Golliwogg, a blackface minstrel doll character from a children's book published in 1895. An alternative is that "wog" originates from Pollywog, a maritime term for someone who has not crossed the equator. Attempts to derive "wog" from such phrases as "Worthy Oriental Gentleman" or "White Oriental Gentleman" are however considered backronyms.

The use of the word is discouraged in Britain, and most dictionaries refer to the word with the caution that it is derogatory and offensive slang.

The saying "The wogs begin at Calais" was originated by George Wigg, Labour MP for Dudley, in 1945. In a parliamentary debate concerning the Burmese, Wigg shouted at the Tory benches, "The Honourable Gentleman and his friends think they are all 'wogs'. Indeed, the Right Honourable Member for Woodford [i.e. Winston Churchill] thinks that the 'wogs' begin at Calais." Wigg's coinage, sometimes paraphrased as "Wogs start at the Channel" or "Wogs start at Dover", is used to characterise a stodgy Europhobic viewpoint, and more generally the view that Britain (more so England) is inherently separate from (and superior to) the Continent. In this case, "wog" is used to compare any foreign, non-English person to those more traditionally labeled "wogs". The word is also used to describe a large, unkempt hairdo, much like the word 'mop' is used. It is used in this fashion as a derogative, but not necessarily racially. eg. "Get that cut, wog'ead".

Just a click north east of Rockingham Western Australia

What exactly does "pom" mean? I've been told before but forgotten

I reckon this is another wind up thread. There's been a few lately aimed at Poms Vs Aussies and I reckon someone is stirring the pot to get a reaction

I'm not having a go mate, just replying to your post, and stating what Johnny Warren was all about. Sheilas Wogs and Football comes from him. I'm trying to illustrate that these days it's not a derogatory term in this country. I do accept that wogs is still a derogatory term in the UK