I got together with a childhood friend of mine the other day and he told me a story that made me smile. He said that his father was a bigot and he called their neighbors daygos because they were Italian. Daygo is a derogatory word that was used for Italian immigrants that were forced to work in the coal mines and they would get paid cash-in-hand at the end of each day, thus they were getting paid as the day goes, hence they were called Day-gos. My friend Cliff did not realize that his dad was a bigot, because he was young and he thought that the Italians that lived next door to him had the last name of Dagoes. One day when he came home from school there was a sign on his door that said your package was left at the next-door neighbor’s house. Cliff went there rung the bell and when the lady gave him the package, he said, “Thank you Mrs. Daygos” and he wondered why she gave him a funny look. It was good to share the old memories that I had with Cliff.
Written for Di’s Three Things Challenge prompt words – Memories Smile Childhood.
I recognise Bob Hope but can’t place the actress. I remember the song as a classic though.
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Dorothy Lamour from the 1938 movie Thanks For The Memory.
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She made The Road films with Crosby and Hope didn’t she?
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She was in several, Road to Singapore, Road to Bali and she made an appearance in The Road to Hong Kong, but actress Joan Collins was cast as the female lead.
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Great story & Thanks for the Memories!
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Thanks for making me smile with your comment Lisa.
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When I was a young child, four or five, all the grief in Northern Ireland was going on. I would hear about “gun-man” on the radio. I misheard it as “good man” and was confused for years!
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The Irish Republican Army must have been terrifying for a child to hear about every day.
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I was brought up in Liverpool, too, which was the main port between Belfast and the mainland.
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How cool, you got a chance to see one of your old neighborhood friends. Is he in FL for a visit or did he move there?
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He lives just south of Tampa and I will get together with him again.
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I can’t imagine what the neighbor thought.
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I am sure she was familiar with the term, but she probably figured that Cliff was just a dumb kid and she may have known that his dad was a bigot.
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