Portagee

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Variant of Portuguese, or perhaps back-formation from Portuguese taking it as a plural.

Pronunciation

Noun

Portagee (plural Portagees)

  1. (dated, ethnic slur, derogatory) A person from Portugal or a person of Portuguese descent.
    • 1993, Common Lives, Lesbian Lives- Issues 47-49, page 37:
      She lives in New Bedford, and her dad's not around much and her mum calls her boyfriend a Portagee, a fuckin' greenhorn, and she says, Ma, he's 3rd generation, but her mum just rolls her eyes and fixes a drink, fills her glass with ice from the icemaker they have, pours some bourbon from the bottle on the glass-and-mirror shelf above the sink, turns on one of the gold seahorse faucets just a swoosh, and goes into the living room with the paper.
    • 1935, John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat, →ISBN:
      The Portagee sighed happily. He was home again.
    • 2002, Lanai Tabura, Augusto E. Tulba, Lanai and Angies Joke of the Day, →ISBN, page 40:
      What did the Portagee say when he opened a box of Cheerios? "Look, a box of doughnut seeds!"
    • 2005, John A. Broussard, Death and Near Death: A Yoshinobu Mystery, →ISBN, page 121:
      “You damn, dumb Portagee,” he was saying, “How could you have fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book?

Adjective

Portagee (comparative more Portagee, superlative most Portagee)

  1. (dated, derogatory, ethnic slur) Portuguese.
    • 2006, Jerry Hopkins, The Da Lima Code, →ISBN, page 49:
      Did you hear about the man who was half Portagee and half Italian? He made himself an offer he couldn't understand.
    • 2008, Mary Frosch, Coming of Age in the 21st Century: Growing Up in America Today:
      Melvin has a very Portagee accent.
    • 2013, Joseph A. Conforti, Another City Upon a Hill: A New England Memoir, →ISBN:
      The religious shrines that sprouted in front yards across St. Anthony's parish were too Portagee or greenhornish for my mother.

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