Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Golliwog |
GolliwogNoun1. A grotesque black doll. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The Golliwog or Golliwogg is a blackfaced African American caricature created in the late 1800s. It is relatively unknown in the United States, but was historically very popular in Europe. Since the 1960s, the doll has become the subject of a great deal of controversy, with Europeans attempting to decide whether it is a valuable cultural artifact or a racist insult.
Florence Kate Upton's
GolliwoggThe first Golliwogg was created by Florence Kate Upton, an American born of English parents. When Upton moved to England at age 14, she spent several years drawing and developing her artistic skills. In order to afford tuition to art school, she illustrated a children's book entitled The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls. The 1895 book included a character named the "golliwogg", who was described as "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome". The character had black skin, red lips, red pants and a red bow-tie.
The book and its many sequels were extremely successful in England, largely because of the popularity of the Golliwogg. The doll became a popular children's toy well into the 20th century, and was incorporated into many aspects of British commerce and culture; for instance, some of Enid Blyton's books feature them. Although Upton's Golliwogg was jovial and friendly, later Golliwoggs would be portrayed as sinister, and even menacing characters.
The Golliwog inspired a famous piece by Claude Debussy entitled "The Golliwog's Cakewalk".
The British jam manufacturer James Robertson & Sons used a golliwog called Golly as its mascot from 1910 after John Robertson apparently saw children playing with golliwog dolls in America. In 1983 the company's products were boycotted by the Greater London Council and in 1988 the character ceased to be used in television advertising. It was dropped altogether in 2001, and replaced with Roald Dahl characters. Promotional Robertsons Golly toys remain highly collectable and can sell for more than £100.
The British racial epithet wog is possibly derived from golliwog.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Golliwog."
Synonym: GolliwogSynonym: golliwogg (n). (additional references) |
| "Golliwog" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 84.62% of the time. "Golliwog" is used about 13 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 84.62% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Noun (proper) | 15.38% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 13 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
golliwog | 16 |
doll golliwog | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "golliwog"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | kukull lecke me fytyrë të shëmtuar. (various references) | |
Arabic | شخص مضحك المنظر, دمية غريبة الشكل. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | кукла-негърче, плашило (bogey, fright, grotesque, hob, hobgoblin, scarecrow). (various references) | |
Czech | bubák (bugaboo). (various references) | |
French | poupée nègre de chiffon. (various references) | |
German | negerpupper. (various references) | |
Hebrew | בובה משונה. (various references) | |
Hungarian | négerbaba, mumus (hobgoblin), játékszer (plaything, bauble, doodad, toy), félelmetes figura. (various references) | |
Italian | bambolotto negro. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | olliwoggay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | fantasma (ghost), boneca grotesca, bicho-papão (bogeyman, bugaboo, ogre). (various references) | |
Russian | урод (freak, monster), пугало (bugaboo, scarecrow). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | čudna rugoba. (various references) | |
Spanish | muñeco negrito, juego negrito. (various references) | |
Swedish | trasdocka med svart ansikte. (various references) | |
Turkish | umacı (bogey, bogie, bogy, bogyman, bugaboo, bugbear), siyah acayip kukla, öcü (bogy, bogy man, bugaboo, bugbear, hob). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | чорномаза лялька-потвора, виродок (bantling, bastard, deformity, degenerate, monster, yellow dog). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | búp bê mặt đen ông ba bị. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "golliwog": golliwogg, golliwoggs, golliwogs. (additional references) | |
| |
"Golliwog" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: galliwog, Golikov, golliwag, golliwoggy, gollywog. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "g-g-i-l-l-o-o-w" | |
-2 letters: gigolo. | |
-3 letters: igloo, logoi. | |
-4 letters: gill, glow, gogo, logo, olio, will, wool. | |
-5 letters: gig, goo, ill, log, loo, low, oil, owl, wig, wog, woo. | |
| Words containing the letters "g-g-i-l-l-o-o-w" | |
+1 letter: golliwogg, golliwogs. | |
+2 letters: golliwoggs. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
