The most vile racial slur that can be used against an Italian-American . Refers to the Guinea Coast of Africa; using this slur is a very offensive way of implying that Italian-Americans are non-whites (something we tend to get very defensive about!!).Unlike the " N-word ", which African-Americans sometimes use to address each other, no Italian-American would ever address another Italian-American using this word. Nor would they use the word "wop" (also offensive, but not in a racial way). HOWEVER, it IS common for Italian-Americans to refer to each other as " dago "; this is used the same way that blacks use the N-word with each other.