Nothing like a little anti-Semitism at work.....

[Jester]

That example should be in the Idiots Guide to Getting Fired Really Quickly, under the chapters of "Don't Know Who You Work For" and "Use Offensive Phrases."

[Record Store Tough Guy]

WOMAN: "So we can't Jew you?"
JESTER: "Excuse me?"
WOMAN: "We can't Jew you down?"

"Well, I can cut about a half-inch off the bottom of the shirt, if that's what you mean..."


Ha ha! Cultural prejudice!

Speaking of Merchant of Venice, you could have thrown Shylock's speech at her. By the time you got to "Wrong us, shall we not seek revenge?" she probably would have been more than a little alarmed.

^_^

[sms001]

I, too, used the word 'gyp' growing up but never knew it had that origin. In fact, until I read this thread, I had always thought and imagined it spelled 'jip'.

Which brings up a good point. Obviously the group being denigrated in the phrase Jester brought up is obvious. (Although I would have to say that I view my cheapness/shrewdness/haggling ability as a positive trait ) But the "Gypsy" Roma connection is VERY obscure for many people. Are we to actively track down every word we use in our day to day speech for possible offenses? Heck, Gypsy even has positive connotations. And that word up there? "Denigrate?" Got a Boston(?) City Council member in trouble a few years back. Apparently too close to a racial term.

What I'm trying to get at here is that we have a living, changing, evolving language here that it is IMPOSSIBLE to sanitize or make free of every reference to every group that's ever lived. What we can do is try to weed out the obvious ones from our own speech, and correct and educate others if they seem ignorant. (And take being corrected and educated in turn - as a couple in this thread have.)

So next time Jester, maybe an even toned, polite "Ma'am - those are pretty offensive terms, especially to someone with a Jewish heritage such as myself." would do the world a little good.

Sweeney/Sullivan - Riding a paddywagon near you.

[Gurndigarn]

Even Shakespeare made negative comments about the Jewish in Merchant of Venice (among other works). That's just how the thinking was back then.

Shakespeare was somewhat radical for his time: he actually gave Shylock a reason for being a mean, spiteful bastard*. Most of the authors said "he's a jew" and that was all the reason that was needed**. Racism being accepted as the social standard has been the norm throughout more of history than tolerance has been, near as I can tell.


* The reason being "everyone treats me like a mean, spiteful bastard, so I'll show them what a Seriously Mean, Spiteful Bastard is like." OK, it's not the most redeeming reason that could have been used, but it's very, very human. Sadly.

** Kinda lazy on their part. Hack writers not thinking characters through has also been the norm thought most all of history, too, near as I can tell.

[sirwired]

Just thought I would chime in here...

My wife grew up in the deep south, and she, at one time, had a Jewish officemate at work. One day, she used the phrase "Jew it down", or something to that effect, and her officemate then informed her that it was kind of offensive. My wife, who is about the sweetest, kindest woman I have ever known, was mortified. She told me later (this incident happened well before we even met) that she did not even know that the phrase referred to Jewish people. She never grew up around any, never had a chance to hear anyone complain about any Jewish people, stereotypically or otherwise. For all she knew, the word in the phrase could have been spelled "gew", or "gue", or "jueue", etc. and referred to nobody at all... it is not as if anybody ever wrote it down.

Until reading this discussion, I had no idea that that "Gyp" referred to the Roma either...

I'm not saying they are harmless phrases, just that those that say them may not, in fact, know that they refer to any particular ethnic group. Assuming your customer is a bigot and getting your blood pressure all worked up may be a bit of an over-reaction. Instead some impromptu education may be in order. If they really meant nothing by it, they will probably be embarrassed, but not angry at you. If they really are bigoted morons, well, you don't want to be serving them anyway.

SirWired

As a side note, her officemate really is a cool guy, and did not take major offense at it... we attended his daughter's Bat Mitzvah a few years ago...

[RetailWorkhorse]

I would have laughed my poor ass off at her. To TEARS.

I know what you are thinking.

I'm thinking Beneful?

"Pollack"

I'm a Pollack. I can "do stupid" really well.

I have heard people talk about jury-rigging something, i.e., fixing something half-assed, just temporarily, and calling it "nigger-rigging" it.

I've jury-rigged (or daisy-rigged) a lot of things, never heard it called....yeah, that.

You and me both, dear. I'd like to know who had the bright idea to use the word "Gay" as a sexual preference? I mean, if you really think about it, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Because you have to fabulous (of which, I'm not ) ?

My only guess would be that it comes from the stereotype of the flamboyantly cheerful gay man but even that's maybe stretching it. Hopefully it being used as an insult will fade away after some time.

FABULOUS!

[Nyx]

I've heard, of people using this phrase before. But I always thought that if they were ignorant enough to use it, that they would only use it in front of their equally ignorant friends.

[Princess J]

I remember reading a very, very old book in high school, recommended by the librarian that was titled, "Our Hearts were Young and Gay". I don't recall the author but I do know I enjoyed its story about a family growing up in the Roaring 20's. I also remember having to use a verbal rolled up newspaper to tell my schoolmates to grow up when they saw the title.

I have that book, and wholeheartedly recommend it! It was written in the 40's by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough and chronicles a trip to Europe in the early 1920s. People seeing my bookshelf that it's on for the first time tend to give me very odd looks.

The woman that Jester was dealing with would have gotten an automatic horrible go-to-Hell-Bitch look from me. But then I can't help it, if someone says something offensive around me they know one way or another (with either a mean look which I am apparently good at or a verbal smackdown) they know not to do it again. I admire his restraint.

[XCashier]

Not to get too Bible on y'all, but the fact is that the Jews only chose which one, Jesus or the other one (Barbarus?) went free.

Barabbas. And yes, the Gentile Romans are the ones who actually flogged and crucified Jesus.

a while back when I was filling in at my friend's magic bar, this guy starting going off on Jews, saying some pretty obnoxious things. When he finally came to a pause, without missing a beat I said, "Hi. My name's [my cousin's obviously Jewish name]. How ya doin'?" Dude turned WHITE. It was awesome!

Reminds me of when a colleague of my husband went into some stupid anti-Semitic rant. When the jerk paused a moment, Hubby said, "J, you do know that my stepmom and stepsister are Jewish, don't you?" That shut the jerk up PDQ!

I'm not Jewish, and aside from the aforementioned in-laws, have no Jewish people in my family. But I hate anti-Semitism. I hate all forms of bigotry, really. We're all just people.

[Shards]

Ahh, freedom of speech at it's finest.[/sarcasm] Although I wholeheartedly believe those women had the right, and very well should have had the right, to say that, I also believe that you should have had the right to shove your jew-gold up some places they wouldn't find terribly comfortable!

For those of you who haven't yet heard, my career aspirations are to become a state trooper. Had I been in that bar (and, this is assuming once I've become a cop) and I overheard that, and had you then proceeded to beat them within an inch of their life, unless there were cameras taking video of the whole thing, I would have then told the ladies: "It looks to me like you fell down some stairs, let me call an ambulance for you."

[Evil Queen]

Shards, I hope you mean verbally beat those women, and not physically. Women beaters don't become cops.

I rather appreciate how this was a simple discussion and there was no heated arguments in this topic.

Thank you, my fellow CSers. You made me think that there might be a little bit of humanity left in the world.

[Shards]

This was a case of exaggeration.

I meant to point out that it would be a situation where despite my job being to step in and stop a retaliation, I could not, in good conscience, do so. If he took it overboard by, say, actually doing what I was twiddling around in my exaggerated post, then yes, I would step in, but if he were to simply give them a verbal lashing that was legally questionable, or basically commit a misdemeanor, I'd probably stand down.

[Evil Queen]

This was a case of exaggeration.

That's good because I think you would make a pretty decent cop. <3

[RetailWorkhorse]

I rather appreciate how this was a simple discussion and there was no heated arguments in this topic.

I would still like some Beneful, please.



(I'm in a really doggy mood, can you tell?)

[venroses]

I've never heard the term "Newfie" used in that fashion. Is it more of a Canadian thing, referring to people from Newfoundland?

The only time I ever use "Newfie" is when I'm referring to my dog.

I'm from alberta and everyone i know uses the term newfie, but thats just describing the fact someone is from newfoundland. But I think when I was younger I remember some people using it in a not nice way. I can't remember what though, I was in elementary at the time.



I never knew gyp came from roma though.