LIGHT ON Bliki

A British poet Lemn Sissay was in the capital of the Shetland Islands, Lerwick, and found a group of “golliwogs” on sale in one of the shop windows. It immediately led to a childhood memory of being spat at in the street, followed by slurs like “Wog go home”. Sissay gets his picture taken with the dolls and when he comes home he uploads the conversation between him and the shop owner on to his blog. This leads to media coverage and upsets the shop owner, who is accused of racism. Golliwog was a popular children’s toy character that has since the 60s been portrayed as a “naughty thieve” and the word “wog”- adapted from Golliwog - turned into a derogatory term for black people. Since they have been seen as racially insensitive, racist and vicious at worst, the Golliwog merchandise has been banned from merchandise. The description of the Golliwog was linked to the same apparel as the dark-faced minstrels in Europe and North America and came to be seen as “primitive” black. “Go home Wog” is therefore perceived as highly offensive. The slur furthermore implies that black people do not belong in the UK and should “go home” to their own country.

The term "wog" - derived from the golliwog doll - is transformed into a derogatory term towards blacks ("dark foreigners“/ “non-British” people"). "Go home wog" is therefore perceived as a highly offensive phrase, which also implies that black people of are not part of the United Kingdom and should "go home" to their country.

Golliwog-nukesta johdettu sana “wog” on muuttunut mustia halventavaksi termiksi, minkä vuoksi ilmaisu “mene kotiin, wog” on hyvin loukkaava herjaus, joka samalla antaa ymmärtää, että mustaihoiset ihmiset eivät kuulu Iso-Britanniaan. Kyseessä on erittäin pahantahtoinen loukkaus.

A „wog” szó a Golliwog (egy játék, a „néger baba”) névből származik, és a feketebőrű emberek lealacsonyító, szélsőségesen rasszista megnevezésévé vált. A „Wogok, haza!” kifejezés azt sugallja, hogy a feketebőrűeknek nincs helye az Egyesült Királyságban és „haza kellene menniük” a saját országukba.

Il termine "wog" (negraccio) - tratto dal pupazzo Golliwog - è trasformato in termine dispregiativo nei confronti dei neri. "Vai a casa wog" è dunque percepito come una frase altamente offensiva. L'insulto implica inoltre che le persone di colore non facciano parte del Regno Unito e dovrebbero "andare a casa" nel loro Paese. "Wog" è pertanto un termine estremamente oltraggioso per indicare una persona di colore.

Beseda ‘wog’ (črnuhar) – prirejena po Golliwog – se je obrnila v poniževalno oznako za temnopolte ljudi. ‘Izgini nazaj domov, črnuhar’ je dojet kot izrazito poniževalen. Poleg tega žaljivka implicira, da temnopolti ne sodijo v Veliko Britanijo in naj ‘zginejo nazaj domov’. ‘Črnuhar’ je izrazito žaljiva beseda za temnopolto osebo.

The blog post was uploaded on September 6, 2013 http://blog.lemnsissay.com/2013/09/06/golly-blog-2/
and was followed by a wider debate in the media E.g. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/20/golliwog-shetland?commentpage=1
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1136016/How-golliwog-went-innocent-childrens-hero-symbol-bitter-controversy.html