Dear Nick Giannopoulos,

Most Greek Australians are aware of you as being a trail blazer by making wog comedy hip and likeable thanks to the highly popular and successful stage show Wogs out of Work during the late 1980’s and later the TV hit show Acropolis Now.

Where once we had to endure skips with cliched imitations of us wogs playing characters known as Con with a greasy hair style, a three-day growth, usually fat and of course owning a fruit shop and speaking with an accent that us real Greek Aussies knew just didn’t exist beyond the TV studio, you and your ethnic mates came along and changed that image for ever. That ethnic caricature as portrayed for many years and which had become believable to many Australians was to change thanks to these real wogs who had finally arrived on the scene.

Suddenly we had real wogs taking the mickey out of us wogs, but what was different is that us wogs loved it. Not only was Wogs out of Work imitating many situations we had found ourselves in real life but some of the characters were also realistic and could identify with either ourselves or a close relative. Best of all, those involved in the stage show and TV show were wogs themselves and at last they could get a steady and hopefully consistently paid job.

READ MORE: Should ‘wogs’ be trademarked? ‘Wog boy’ Nick Giannopoulos seems to think so

Better still, us wogs were able to reclaim the word from being a racial slur to a term we were proud to be called, of course, at times it depends on how it is said and by whom, although these days as a derogatory term it’s rarely heard directed at us.

However we now learn Nick that you have trademarked the word ‘wog’ so other comedians can’t use it without paying you for usage. I presume it’s for anyone who uses the word in a comical way or is it a blanket cover that you can’t use the word ‘wog’ if there is a possibility of making some money out of it in some way.

Nick, I hope someone gives you a boot up the khyber. Granted you’re a smart wog by trademarking the word, but sorry Nick you don’t own the word it belongs to all the ethnics who got verbally abused as a wog or bashed for being a wog. I find it insulting that you’ve trademarked the word so you can make money out of it.

READ MORE: Why upcoming Greek Australian comedian Anthony Locascio is more than just a ‘wog’ boy

Your reputation amongst Greek Australians is in free fall now as we are all appalled you are trying to get rich from a word that has a special place in our psyche.

Geia sou.

Con Vaitsas
Ashbury 2193

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