Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
dago (adj., n.)
(plural: dagos or dagoes), an ethnic or racial insult that English speakers once applied to people of Italian or Spanish (or, loosely, any other Mediterranean) ancestry, has become a taboo word. Today its use is limited mainly to fiction and drama set in the early twentieth century. Some recent college desk dictionaries omit it.
