There are several ways to react to racial/ethnic slurs. The proper and mature way is to not get angry, hold rallies, “demand justice,” scream about “sensitivity training” or any such rubbish; the best way to deal with a racial slur is to *adopt* it. Behold:

Wandering Dago

“Dago” is one of those slurs that I don’t hear too often; it refers to Italians. I gather that it’s more prevalent in Britain (just as “Paki” is apparently offensive over there, but not over here). But it *used* to be a common enough slur in the US, at least if old movies are to be believed. When Italian mobsters were a thing, and large numbers of poor Italian immigrants were swarming Ellis Island, it seems the non-Italian locals used “dago” or “wop” to refer to ’em derisively, as “Mick” referred to Irish (as an aside: Jerry Doyle once referred to his job on the set of Babylon 5 as a “Mick from Brooklyn playing a Wop from Mars”). Still a few dinosaurs out there, though.

Not having any detectable Italian or Irish heritage, “Dago,” “Wop” and “Mick” neither apply to me nor offend me, and so far as I’m aware nobody has come up with any better ethnic slur for my type than “pasty faced sauna monkey” or “mutt.” And it at least appears from my vantage point that “Dago,” “Wop” and “Mick” will generally elicit little more than, at most, chuckles and disdain, unlike other slurs I can think of. And that’s a good thing.

The point of a slur is to make the slurrer feel superior, and the slurree feel inferior. But if, instead of getting all offended, the slurree adopts the slur, that short circuits the intent, and can be a source of some pride. Ask any Yankees, rednecks, guidoes or queers that you know. Adopt the term and stop getting upset about, and you cut its nuts off. It can’t hurt you anymore. As a bonus: when you defuse an ethnic slur, it becomes increasingly difficult to come up with new ones. What has replaced “Dago,” “Wop” and “Mick?” Nothing springs to mind. While correlation does not equal causation, I’ll note that when Italians and Irish were considered outsiders in the US, “Dago” and “Mick” were slurs that would cause great offense. And now that those slurs don’t burn anymore, those of Italian and Irish decent  are no longer considered outsiders.

If you want to not be hurt by a slur, there is one clearly successful strategy: just don’t let it hurt you. You don’t succeed by trying to control the minds of others; you succeed by controlling yourself. When you were a kid, you might’ve thrown a badly-wrought punch – or perhaps a crying fit or a tantrum – if someone were to call you a doodoo-poopyhead. Would you as an adult?