Reply From `Two Dagos' -- Italian Americans, And Proud Of It

This letter provides a written response to the concerns raised by one of your readers about the name of our establishment. While everyone has a right to their own point of view, we must take exception to the statement that we " . . . obviously have a shallow opinion of our heritage . . . "

The truth is, we are not only Italian Americans, but fiercely proud Italian Americans.

In his youth, our father faced the kind of prejudice alluded to in the letter. However, with all due respect to Webster, he chose to teach us the true origins of words like "dago," with the idea that we would come to understand that words are simply words; that their misuse says much more about the ignorance of the user that it does the person supposedly being insulted.

It was in this spirit that almost three years ago, we chose to name our restaurant Two Dagos From Texas. It reflects our heritage and our menu, which incorporates the diversity of cooking styles that have influenced an Italian American family of Sicilian descent.

In the 1800s, our great-grandfather chose to leave a controlled society in Sicily and come to this country, where free speech and free thought were protected by our Constitution. Now, three generations later, we too have experienced repression of these fundamental freedoms.

Due to the letter to The Times, we were told by an editor of the US West Yellow Pages that they would not print our ad or list us at all because of the use of the term "dago" in our name. This refusal continues today.

Prejudicial terms will disappear only when people stop buying into false meanings and the stereotypes they represent. Our families are proud to be "dagos" - legal Americans of Italian descent.

- Chris C. Guzzardo and Randall C. Guzzardo, Seattle