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Wog is a racial slur used to refer, in British English, to Black and South Asian people, and, in Australian English, to people from the Mediterranean region. Whilst extremely derogatory in British English, in Australian English it may be considered non-offensive depending on how the word is used, due to Reappropriation and changing connotations. In the United Kingdom, it has usually been employed against people of black and Desi origin or descent and maritime Southeast Asia and less typically to North Africans and those from the Middle East. It is generally considered similar to other racially abusive terms such as dago for Italians and Spaniards, spic for Hispanic and Latin American people or wop for Italians.
In Australia, wog mostly refers to people from the Mediterranean region and to Australians from the Mediterranean region. This includes , (Balkans) or ethnicity, descent, and appearance, such as Italians, Greeks, and Lebanese. The slur became widely diffused in Australia with an increase in immigration from Southern Europe and the Levant after the Second World War, and the term expanded to include all immigrants from the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. These new arrivals were perceived by the majority population as contrasting with Anglo-Celtic Australians. In contemporary times, the word has lost some of its negative connotations in Australia in certain contexts due to reappropriation by the intended targets of the slur, though this is still considered a point of controversy.
Suggestions that the word is an acronym for "wily Oriental gentleman", "western orientated gentleman" "working on government service", or similar, are perhaps examples of false etymology or .
The saying, "The wogs begin at Calais", which implies that everyone who is not British is a wog, appears to date from the First World War but was popularised by George Wigg, Labour MP for Dudley, in 1949 when in a parliamentary debate concerning the Bamar, Wigg shouted at the Conservative benches, "The Honourable Gentleman and his friends think they are all 'wogs'. Indeed, the Right Honourable Member for Woodford i.e., thinks that the 'wogs' begin at Calais."
As reported by British Jews journalist Linda Grant, the term has been used in England to refer to Jews and Israelis as well. "It started at once, Ophir said, with the geography teacher, 'who we used to call Bullet, who had a map on the wall where Israel appeared as Palestine and to my face he called Jews and Israelis 'terrorist wogs'... As for calling Jews 'wogs,' Ophir was to understand that there was nothing derogatory in the term, it simply meant Western Oriental Gentleman."
In 1969, the term was used on official police paperwork by Leeds City Police officers to describe the Nigerian British man David Oluwale; two officers were later found guilty of his assault and are also believed to be responsible for his death. This inspired the title of Kester Aspden's book on the case, Nationality: Wog, The Hounding of David Oluwale.
Today, "wog" is used particularly in places in Australia with substantial numbers of Southern European Australians, as well as non-European Middle Eastern populations, such as in Sydney and Melbourne. As with other slang and profanity used in contemporary Australian English, the term "wog" may be employed either aggressively or affectionately in different contexts.
In Australian English, "wog" can also be used as a slang word for an illness such as a common cold or influenza, as in: "I'm coming down with a wog". Such usage is not perceived as derogatory.
I think by defusing the word 'wog' we've shown our maturity and our great ability to adapt and just laugh things off, you know... When I first came to and I started trying to explain to them why we got called 'wog' they'd get really angry about it, you know. They were, "Why? Why they say this about the Greeks people?" You know? But then when they see what we've done with it—and this is the twist—that we've turned it into a term of endearment, they actually really get into that...
Thus, in contemporary Australia, the term "wog" may, in certain contexts, be viewed as a "nickname" rather than a pejorative term—akin to the nicknames ascribed within Australian English to other historically significant cultural groupings such as Australians (""), the English ("Poms"), the Americans ("Yankee") and New Zealanders ("Kiwis").
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