I agree it should be shortened especially the Buren stuff or the bit with the other presidents. Having said that, WASP is so specific to American history and culture, and that not all people from around the world are familiar with this site, a little background might be useful. And also I think even for younger Americans like the current generation and so on, where there is a greater homogenization among White Americans, this might be useful since it does speak to the past more than it does to the present.
It should contain as much background as is needed to understand the stereotype that is being described. Other than that, WASP is just a label. A label is not a trope.
- The term originally referred to New Englanders, New Yorkers, and Tidewater Southerners from wealthy backgrounds, generally either Congregationalist or Anglican/Episcopalian doctrinally, but eventually came to be applied as well to inland Southerners, Midwesterners, and Westerners of Anglo-Saxon (English) descent as well, regardless of income level or sect. It also came to be roughly synonymous with "Protestant", so that even Protestant Irish, Scandanavians, Dutch and Germans were eventually called WAS Ps. "White Protestants" wasn't as snappy a term as WASP, so usage of the term has hung around. The stereotype might be extended to upscale (or not) Catholics or Jews who either intermarry with Protestants or internalize Protestantism as the standard for "normal" Americans.
So, long story short, everybody is a WASP. English, Irish, German; North or South; Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish; upscale or poor; white or black—everybody. This is not useful background, because what it boils down to is that the label WASP can mean just about anything. Maybe that is true and the term is too diluted nowadays to carry much meaning; then, of course, what is the trope called White Anglo-Saxon Protestant about, and why is it called thusly?
Incidentally, when the acronym WASP was coined, it meant Wealthy Anglo-Saxon Protestant. A valuable piece of background which is not mentioned here.
Edited by LordGro Let's just say and leave it at that.
Maybe add in a note that says that this dynamic refers to an earlier period of American immigration history.
Having said all that, I think in any case you should take this to this forum here
. I speak from experience, I had some issues and got into trouble elsewhere. I think you should discuss this there and bring up the problem there in case you haven't done so already.
Charles Xavier? He's got a Spanish last name, specifically the name of a Catholic saint.
Is this actually a trope, or just a list of WASPs regardless of whether their religion is an important aspect of their character / what they are notable for?
Edited by lrrose Hide / Show Replies
While all tropes unofficially exclude Real Life examples (but have a RL section anyway, for fun), it does seem like this article should specifically prohibit Real Life examples.
Becky: Who are you? The Mysterious Stranger: An angel. Huck: What's your name? The Mysterious Stranger: Satan.
Ballistic Soprano
Welsh, Scottish, and Scotch-Irish are not and never have been Anglo-Saxon. They are Celtic, which is not even close to the same thing.
This page spends way too much time speaking about the term WASP and its history, as opposed to the stereotype(s) it is associated with. The reader has to read through three chunky paragraphs which only talk about what the trope name means technically, before finally being told something about the stereotype that is supposedly referred to here in the middle of the fourth paragraph:
This stereotype should by right be the focus of the page, not an afterthought mentioned somewhere down the middle. All that stuff about the demographic and socio-cultural history of the USA takes up way too much space. Whether Martin van Buren "was a WASP" or not is completely irrelevant.
Let's just say and leave it at that. Hide / Show Replies