Quote:
Originally Posted by Docere
People rarely say they are WASPs, outside of very elite circles I don't think. Intellectuals, media commentators and so on do talk about WASPs (often their decline though). It's rarely on its own, but sometimes used to contrast with "ethnics." Of course these differences are much less salient than in say, 1965 or even 1985.
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Personal anecdote:
My therapist has called herself a "WASP." Originally from McLean, VA, she has a German surname, but said that she's mostly of Irish descent (her dad was from Massachusetts). She's brunette and has brown eyes.
Extrapolating her comment, "WASP" to her meant North/Western European ancestry (British Isles, Germanic, and French*). Shawn and (I think) iheartthed have essentially said that being "ethnic" Irish is more a socioeconomic thing than anything else, and less to do with cultural heritage.
Italian is a different thing, especially if we're talking southern Italians (most Italian Americans' ancestors). Different language, darker complexions, a fundamentally isolated social culture, and (initially)
a very different relationship with the Catholic Church.
* If Wikipedia is correct, then most Francophone Americans/Canadians came from northwestern France.