Pork Chop

Since today marks exactly 530 years of the death of the late great Camões, I have come to a decision to explain the history of the pejorative term “Pork Chop” after being asked many, many times by many, many people this exact question:

“What does Pork Chop mean?”

The words “Pork Chop” is a pejorative term referring to all Portuguese people, including Azoreans and Madeirans; it is unknown the exact date of when the pejorative term first came into use and who was the exact person to have invented the pejorative term, because there were never any historic records traced of this pejorative term. After all, it is a pejorative term that is somewhat offensive and racist, hence why there were never any historic records traced of this pejorative term, and, most importantly, it is not a well-known pejorative term like that of Wops, Spics, Poles, Taffies, Yankees, Crackers, Canucks, Cakers, Munchy Cakes, Bafanas Bafanas, and the list of pejorative terms goes on and on. I could list more; I am not going to bother listing more, because I do not want you readers to think I am being racist and, most importantly, I do not want to offend you readers.

The main reason for the pejorative term “Pork Chop” to be used when referring to Portuguese people was so to indentify the difference from Portuguese to Spaniards and to Spanish speaking South Americans when it came to skin tone, looks, and names, because of how it is common for Portuguese to have the same skin tone, looks, and names as Spaniards and Spanish speaking South Americans.

Another reason is because of the young Italian generation in the past and in the current claiming to have had food pieces of Pork Chops hitting their face or eye, or even going inside their mouth, whenever they spoke with a Portuguese person in Little Portugal, also called as Portugal Village, which Little Portugal is located in downtown Toronto.

Another reason for the pejorative term to be used is because of the high number of Portuguese people living in the Greater Toronto Area, commonly called as GTA, which the approximate number is currently close to 500,000.

There are speculations that the pejorative term “Pork Chop” could have possibly first came into use in-between the years 1953 to 1957 when the Portuguese immigration to Canada increased rapidly, which Azoreans made up 70 percent and Madeirans and Portuguese made up 30 percent.

There are also speculations that the Wops, who are known as Italians, who had emigrated from the Italian Republic to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, since the late 18th century, could have been the inventors of the pejorative term. The Wops are known to refer all Portuguese people, including Portuguese descendents, as Pork Chops, in which they still do, just like how the Pork Chops are known to refer all Italian people, including Italian descendents, as Wops, in which they still do.

In fact, street brawls used to be a common thing in the past between Pork Chops and Wops in Toronto, which would lead to charges and imprisonment, of course. Most of the street brawls had to do with the fact of football, unsurprisingly, due to how statistics clearly show that Italian football dominates more than Portuguese football and the Italian national football team dominates the Portuguese national football team when it comes to tête-à-tête encounters.

Street brawls also occurred because of how the Italians were displeased that there were many Portuguese emigrates moving into their communities, their Italian communities, but they were eventually okay with them moving into their communities once they began to see how nice and friendly and hard workers most of the Portuguese were. Once they saw that, it became a common custom for Italians and Portuguese, or Wops and Pork Chops, to get along with one another and to help one another out in their communities and to even get together.

However, there is a debate on the pejorative term “Pork Chop”, of course, that could probably be more accurate to everything I explained above; the debate is that it is believed a Portuguese street youth gang was formed under the name as Pork Chops; they would refer to themselves as Pork Chops because of how it is common for Portuguese people to eat pork chops and how pork chops are commonly used in most Portuguese dishes, like that of sardines. The Portuguese street youth gang that referred themselves as Pork Chops were the only Portuguese street youth gang that had existed in Little Portugal, including all across Canada.

The year of the foundation of Pork Chops remains to be unknown; it could have been in-between the years 1953 to 1957, but there is a good chance it could have been when a second wave on Portuguese emigration occurred across Canada, mainly in Toronto, throughout 1960s and 1970s.

The Pork Chops did not last very long as street youth gangs during the second wave of Portuguese emigration, due to more and more Portuguese street youth gangs were formed, such as The Wallace Boyz, who are mistaken to have been the very first Portuguese street youth gang when in fact they were the second, The Gary Park Boyz, which an old high school friend, who I still keep in touch with, was once the leader of this street youth gang, and The Earls Court Boyz, and many others like them, and also due to many of the Pork Chops, most likely all of them, were beginning to drift apart from one another as they got older and wiser; they wanted to move on with their lives to focus on their future and to start a family like they have always dreamed and wished about. In fact, the Pork Chops were not the actual typical street youth gang that would cause serious offenses, really, especially one in violation of morality, really; they were a street youth gang that would only commit petty crime, or even crime that was an equivalent of a slap on the wrist, or an equivalent to going to the corner, or an equivalent to going to the bedroom, or even an equivalent to receiving a spanking.

Sometime in the 1980s, possibly in the early 1980s, the Pork Chops were inexistence; they are now completely forgotten, sadly, unlike during their existence. In fact, it is common for many people to not know that there was once a Portuguese street youth gang called the Pork Chops, shamefully, due to the Pork Chops existence did not last very long, and due the Pork Chops did not leave their traces behind to be remembered since they had never committed any serious offenses, especially one in violation of morality, during their existence.

Their inexistence meant that the pejorative term “Pork Chop” was also no longer inexistence, well, more like used, but that all changed in the year 1990, or 91, when the pejorative term surprisingly came back, in which it is still being currently used.

It was not until the year 2000 I began using the pejorative term on a few message boards, just like what you readers see on this note entry and in every single one of my previous note entries and what you readers will continue to see in my future note entries, because I like to spread the word out and to also let everyone know that I am a Pork Chop and proud of it!

“I was born as a Pork Chop, I was raised as a Pork Chop, I am living as a Pork Chop, and I will die as a Pork Chop! Pork Chop 4 life!”
- Kevin de Ávila

Pork Chop 4 Life! <:o)