Wog is an offensive slang idiom of Australian English refering to people of Mediterranean features, usually from Southern Europe. The origin of the term is unclear and was first noted by lexicobrapher F.C. Bowen in 1929 who described coonwogs as “lower class Babu shipping clerks of the Indian coast.” The slur in Australia came to popular use following the arrival of a large number of Italian and Greek immigrants following WWII. The term defused its original pejorative nature in the Eighties with popular shows such as “Wogs Out of Work” and “Acropolis Now” featuring Nick Giannopoulos. Here is a scene from “The Wog Boy” showing how a typically Aussie game of bingo is given a twist of “wog”. Series such as this have led some to believe that there is a “wogsploitation” of pop culture.

Following “Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos”, Nick Giannopoulos said: “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 Greece] 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 Greek 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…”