Help!
Is "Walyo" an Italian word? Is it slang? - How is it spelled? What does it mean?
Can't help at all, vithi, but welcome.
Hopefully Emanuela will see this before long.
Thanks, Jackie, Your reply is encouraging. If Emanuela doesn't know, I hope to visit someone soon named Mario whom I could ask.
Vithi
Thanks, I like learning the Swahili word, but I'm sure that wasn't it. Walyo was a word heard in my neighborhood, many years ago, we were mostly Italians. I remember hearing "Hey Walyo!" Almost like "Hey Kid!" derogatory? (waglio?)
Mario didn't know how to spell it, but he said it's an offensive, derogatory term like "dago" "wop" or "guinea".
Cathy didn't agree. She used to live in "Little Italy" in the Bronx and said that it was a friendly term. She spelled it Wallio.
Mario - an offensive, derogatory term like "dago" "wop" or "guinea".
Cathy didn't agree - said that it was a friendly term. She spelled it Wallio.
These two views aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. There are many terms which start their lives as pejoratives and later become endearments (c.f. YART on "bastard")
Could this have been the case here?