Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A doll fashioned in grotesque caricature of a Black male.
Wiktionary
- n. A rag doll or mascot in the form of a caricature of a black minstrel.
- n. dated, racist, offensive A black person.
- n. this sense?) (Rhyming slang as "the" golliwogs): greyhound racing
WordNet 3.0
- n. a grotesque black doll
Etymologies
- Coined for the illustrations by Florence Kate Upton for her mother Bertha Upton′s 1895 children′s book, The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls — and a ‘Golliwogg’. (Wiktionary)
- After Golliwog, a character in books by Florence Upton (died 1922), American illustrator. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Obviously, the target of the use of the term golliwog makes some difference to the situation, but whether ot not Carol Thatcher is employed by the BBC is hardly an earth-shattering issue.”
“Put aside the political correctness agruments for a while (to a child, a golliwog is just a golliwog, ok, a nice, different-looking but just as well-loved doll) and give the child the benefit of the doubt that given the right stimulus, he/she WILL have the interest and attention span to follow through on longer stories - or even series of stories.”
“Carol Thatcher repeated the word golliwog when referring to a black tennis player after she was told it was racist and offensive by both Adrian Chiles and Jo Brand, it has been revealed.”
“There are many who were shocked by Thatcher's use of the word golliwog, Adrian Chiles and Jo Brand among them, and many more who are equally outraged that she could be sacked for uttering it.”
“It followed the furore over Carol Thatcher's use of the word golliwog during a private conversation after the BBC's One Show.”
“Corporation chiefs told her that unless she acknowledged that using the word golliwog was unacceptable, she could not work on the show again.”
“Miss Thatcher used the word golliwog while in the green room with comedian Jo Brand and One Show presenter Adrian Chiles last Thursday.”
“The BBC today defended its decision to axe Carol Thatcher from a flagship show for referring to a tennis player as a "golliwog" - blaming her for not apologising.”
“Opinions will vary over the comparison of a tennis player's hair to a 'golliwog' - personally I don't think it rates anywhere near the top of the list - but the remark was said in private and not on air.”
“I was called a golliwog supermodel she claimed, well that is a lot better than what I would call her which is A vacuous, clotheshorse who is famous for just being famous, who's only skill is that of an automated clothes hanger.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘golliwog’.
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EN - xenophobic terms
Alle Menschen werden Brüder - sooner or later? Derogatory terms for anybody different.
abe, anchor baby, ann, ape, apple, asian nigger, aunt jemima , aunt jane, aunt mary, aunt sally, banana, beaner and 315 more...
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Joycean Vocab
You ain't read no English til you read Joyce.
rasher, cygnet, usquebaugh, ephebe, entelechy, kish, caul, vicereine, atelier, daguerreotype, communard, connubial and 99 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
niglets, aw, flakey, shiznit, thatch, sexy, bummers, hotty, eargasms, ratchetry, weird, fab and 457 more... -
ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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A spoonful of sugar
Words I should learn/I want to learn/I just learned, with a quotation to help the medicine go down.
approbation, assuage, chicanery, abscond, effrontery, enervation, equivocate, ennui, aftertaste, filibuster, perfunctory, abide and 391 more...
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Bits and pieces
neverwasbian, proddywoddy, militant relativism, cverglan, điđe-miđe, goomba, churlsome, skancewards, luftmensch, šmizla, sbc, villayet and 567 more...
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Palabrarium
The delicious wonderful words that I love terribly dearly and without which, the world would be a less inventive and worthwhile place. Also, ostensibly, the reason 1984 and esperanto secretly suck.
panoply, footpad, piccalilli, snickersnee, marl, hispid, greengage, slumgullion, golliwog, mumbletypeg, circumlocution, quiescent and 366 more...
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mazirian's Words
flapdoodle, hypothecator, syllabication, kailyaird, prevarication, jackanapes, golliwog, jejune, exigible, eggcorn, moochism, plasmodium and 31 more...
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Ridicule
Parody, satire, caricature.
batrachomyomachy, amphigory, pataphysics, filk, spoof, send-up, takeoff, piss-take, squib, satire, lampoon, pasquinade and 12 more...
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Valley of the Dolls
Not the movie.
doll, kewpie, barbie, kachina, kokeshi, chatty cathy, blythe, golliwog, hakata ningy�?, bratz, voodoo doll, worry doll and 15 more...
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words that are fascinating
braggadocio, mollusk, myrrh, bouillabaisse, golliwog, prorogue, bowdlerize, rubbernecker, antediluvian, anomie, toothsome, primordial and 12 more...
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in the news
pinteresque, earthrise, green-collar, third-hand smoke, golliwog
Tweets
Looking for tweets for golliwog.
Prolagus See also Racial Epithets in Cultured Accents on The New York Times. Feb 18, 2009
garyth123 Carol Thatcher used this term in relation to a black tennis player and was fired from a BBC show. Carol Thatcher is the daughter of the former Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher. On this week's The News Quiz one panellist commented I blame the parents.
See
For me, golliwogs have lost their juju for an interesting view of the issues involved. Feb 8, 2009
brtom "Madcap Ciss with her golliwog curls."
Joyce, Ulysses, 13 Jan 14, 2007