Last month I sent an e-mail to a friend who works for the Navy, and in the midst of a funny story about my life I said something like, "...that sure doesn't bother this old Dago...." (referring to myself). My message was immediately bumped back by the Navy firewall, with the citation "Unauthorized Ethnic Slur" as the reason. This is the point of ridiculousness I am talking about. There hasn't been an Italian-American who was offended by "dago" since 1947- it's just a jokey word. And if there is one who is offended, he/she is exactly the thin-skinned wimp who ought to go find something serious to be upset about!