Of Paisans & Goombahs

OutdoorWriter

Long Time Member
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So I've kept this under wraps until now because I didn't want any of the spoilers in our listening audience to reveal the ending to me.

What?, you ask.

No doubt many folks would find it hard to believe but...during the six seasons the Soprano's aired on HBO, I never once watched a complete episode and actually saw only part of a single one. Reason: I HATE watching a weekly series; I wanna see a beginning & end to what I watch for an hour. I really enjoy but hate Cosner's 'Yellowstone' for the same reason.

So...then about two weeks ago, I started binge watching the Sopranos from the beginning on HBO MAX. It allowed me to watch when & as much as I wish at one time. I got through five episodes the first night & continued until I got through all six seasons, which amounted to about 80 hrs. of watching various paisans & goombahs go into the mafia's version of the 'witness protection program.' It usually involved a butcher shop or a long swim.

The series was partly filmed in northern 'Joisey' right near where I grew up. So I kept looking for places I recognize. That made it kinda neat, but I didn't see anything other than the NJ Turnpike. The Bada Bing strip joint is a real place on Rte. 17 in Lodi called Satin Dolls, but it wasn't there when I was growing up -- i.e. before the 'let's go see some bare t!ts' days. We had to depend on Playboy for that. Later, they mentioned the 'Bergen Mall' where I held my first job in the lingerie shop, which I've mentioned here before.

I did enjoy watching the series, but I was disappointed in the finale, which left the viewer to assume what might have happened to Tony Soprano & his family, leaving them seated in a diner with a nefarious character roaming around as the screen went to black.

The series won 21 Emmys, including three each for Edie Falco & James Gandolfini. They earned them. Their interactions made it seem as if they were actually married.
 
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Never seen a single moment of it. Sorry bro.
It sounds like you got into it pretty deeply during you binge.
Now, “making of a murderer” is a different story! Haha

Zeke
 
remind me who played Tony's shrink???
Lorraine Bracco. I always liked her & she was a true NY-bred dago, as well. I thought she was somewhat miscast in the role. When she first appeared, I figured she would be around only an episode or two. She outlasted nearly every one of them right up to the very last episode.

I was a bit disappointed Tony never bedded her.

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Worst ending ever.

For some weird reason, I’ve pretty much worked for/with Mormons or Italians my whole life.

There was an unwritten but common rule:

”There are 3 kinds of sons here - sons, sons in law, and sons of b!tches. Best know which you are.”
 
Worst ending ever.

For some weird reason, I’ve pretty much worked for/with Mormons or Italians my whole life.

There was an unwritten but common rule:

”There are 3 kinds of sons here - sons, sons in law, and sons of b!tches. Best know which you are.”
I agree on the ending.

Watching it all started to make me wonder how many of my extended family might have been involved with the mafiosa. Now that I'm older & look back at some of them, it's somewhat easier to connect the dots of what I did know back then. That said, I'm pretty sure no one in my immediate family back to my grandpas were involved. I can't say that about a few uncles & cousins, however.

I recalled my grandfather worked for a construction outfit as a laborer/supervisor for many years before he retired in the 1950s. The company did mostly concrete road work & had an Italian name like Collusio Bros. That's not actually it, but I don't remember the real name.

Anyway, the point being, I wouldn't doubt those paisans -- not my grandfather -- were somehow connected to the mob. Watching the Sopranos made it seem as if the mafia had its fingers in all types of union-type work in NJ & determined who got contracts & who didn't.
 
watch "The Ranch" series on netflix Tony......very entertaining
I think I started watching that more than a year ago. If I recall I stopped after one episode because it had a laugh track. Is that the one?

I also did a binge watch a while back of Game Of Thrones, and before that it was Longmire -- another killing per episode series.

Virgin River, which is more of a chick-flick type was pretty good, too.
 
Pretty good Soviet Union espionage series.
The Americans, I think you can find it on Amazon Prime.
It is amazing how they make a modern day TV series look so much like the 1970s and 1980s.
They claim it is based on true Soviet espionage activities.
 
watch "The Ranch" series on netflix Tony......very entertaining
So last night after dinner, I went to Netflix & brought up "The Ranch." I originally began watching it because I like Sam Elliot. It still showed where I stopped the 1st episode in its tracks about 1/3 of the way through it. Resumed & stopped it again after 2 mins. Reason: the infernal laugh track. Thus. I watched a couple movies instead.
 
Lorraine Bracco. I always liked her & she was a true NY-bred dago, as well. I thought she was somewhat miscast in the role. When she first appeared, I figured she would be around only an episode or two. She outlasted nearly every one of them right up to the very last episode.

I was a bit disappointed Tony never bedded her.

View attachment 54193
OW,
Maybe you could help clear up a long running mystery for me?

The area of west Sonoma County, Ca. where I live is home to a ton of Italian folks. The families of most all of my buddies growing up were either "Swiss Italian" Dairy farmers or Fisherman. I would say to this day 75% of my pals are of Italian descent. So much so that when I go to their deer camps I have been called the "token Irishman"!

Since I can remember the term "Dago" has been thrown around with varying degrees of humor and insult around my group of friends. I have witnessed on more than one occasion the swift and often physical reaction that this term can bring to bear if it is said either by the wrong guy, or more importantly, to the wrong guy.
For years I have been asking every Italian I know that uses the term, exactly what Dago means? Maybe you will be the one that can enlighten me. Thx
 
OW,
Maybe you could help clear up a long running mystery for me?

.
For years I have been asking every Italian I know that uses the term, exactly what Dago means? Maybe you will be the one that can enlighten me. Thx

Dago (n.)

1823, from Spanish Diego "James" (see James). Said to have been originally American English slang for "one born of Spanish parents," especially in New Orleans; it was also used of Spanish or Portuguese sailors on English or American ships. By 1900 it had broadened to include non-sailors and shifted to mean chiefly "Italian." James the Greater is the patron saint of Spain, and Diego as generic for "a Spaniard" is attested in English from 1610s. Dago red "cheap Italian wine" is attested by 1899.

The above is the formal explanation. It's akin to using 'wetback' to describe everyone from Mexico or 'spic' for Puerto Ricans, which was quite common in my area in Joisey & NYC when I was growing up in 1950s. That was when the Puerto Ricans started coming to the U.S. in droves.

Another term often used for Italians is 'wop.' At some point, some doofus said it stood for 'with-out papers,' referring to those Italians such as all my grandparents who came to the U.S. thru Ellis Island. That doesn't hold water, however, since loads of Irish, Jews & other nationalities also came thru there without papers.

So...the likely source of 'wop' is ....

From the Italian, south-of-Rome dialect, 'guappo,' a dude. Introduced into America c. 1900, [H. L.] Mencken cited guappo as a common form of greeting among Italian immigrants. It was never that offensive but a rather jovial exclamation when a man showed up in his flashiest Sunday best: "che guappo! What a dude!"

And with all of my family having emmigrated from the island of Sicily, I fondly refer to myself as a 'swamp wop."

The other, and likely most offensive term, is 'guinea,'
pronounced 'gi-nee.' Dating back to the 1740's, it came from 'Guinea Negro' and originally referred to any Black or any person of mixed ancestry. By the 1890s it was a racial slur being applied to Southern Italians and Sicilians (like me!!!), because they tend to have a slightly darker skin than Northern Italians, Anglo-Saxons, Germans etc.

For the most part, when used by Italians among themselves, none of these terms are offensive.

And now you know more than you wanted to know. :ROFLMAO:
 
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