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

[GingerBiscuit]

in the uk we have 'Irish' meaning to be stupid, cheap or drunk.

My grandmother came over from Ireland at 17, worked very hard for very little money saving peoples lives in hospital, and I don't think she or others from any race deserve their race to be a euphamism for something bad.

I have often when someones used Irish in a derogatory way brightly pronounced 'Hi! My grandmothers Irish!' which seems to make them think about what their saying.

I have also seen someone use 'God, your such a JEW' in a shop and then have the owner say 'I'm Jewish. Get out of my store'.

Never knew 'Gyp' came from the Roma though, so I'll have to stop using it.

[pope of the nextels]

yeah, i hadnt really heard this one until this real idiot hypocrite i knew would use it... he was a "born again christian" who did drugs and tried to sleep with anything warm and female... he would constantly use the "he's trying to jew me" phrase, and i would just stare at him like the moron he was...this is also the same guy who would ask for money if you wanted a slice of 2 hour old cold pizza, or would demand that you pitch in for gas if he was making a food run (which was usually only about a 1/2 mile away) ... maybe the phrase should be "can i born-again the price down?"

kinda sounds just as stupid, though

[GingerBiscuit]

My boy just said 'Way I see it, if the only thing you can think of to insult someone is the group they belong to, you are INCREDIBLY stupid. Those are just defaults.'

[froglet]

I was in grade 8 or 9 when I first heard somebody use "You are such a Jew" as an insult, I just kinda stared at him and gave him a WTF reaction. I have never actually heard "Jew it down" though.
Pretty much the same with 'gay' or 'ghey'. Really, wtf does that mean? I heard (I think) a comic once, making fun of idiotic teenagers doing that "OMG, you'd rather hang out with the cheerleaders than us guys? That is SO gay." ... Don't try to follow the logic, it isn't there.

[crazylegs]

Never knew 'Gyp' came from the Roma though, so I'll have to stop using it.

Interestingly there is no reference to the Roma history of the word 'gyp' in the OED, merely that it may be an abbreviation of 'gee up' (Seventh Edition 1989) and it goes further to state that its origin is unknown (Ninth Edition 1995)

I would go as far to suggest that the roma connection is folk entymology as the OED employs people whose sole job it is to research the meaning/origin of words and that if they believe the origins are unknown then thats good enough for me.

*OED stands for Oxford English Dictionary

[Sharsarannon]

Interestingly there is no reference to the Roma history of the word 'gyp' in the OED, merely that it may be an abbreviation of 'gee up' (Seventh Edition 1989) and it goes further to state that its origin is unknown (Ninth Edition 1995)

I would go as far to suggest that the roma connection is folk entymology as the OED employs people whose sole job it is to research the meaning/origin of words and that if they believe the origins are unknown then thats good enough for me.

*OED stands for Oxford English Dictionary

I don't have documentation for this, but to my understanding the itinerant Romany people have, since ages ago, been commonly referred to as Gypsies. This was under the mistaken notion that they came from Egypt- Gypsy being short for Egyptian. Gypped, therefore, comes from the stereotype of the traveling people being out to steal your belongings and swindle you.
I can also add that since in modern America we don't have many itinerant Romany who aren't reenactors, gypped has become jypped or jipped to most of us, who no longer have any kind of fear of "gypsies" or Romany supposedly cheating us at enterprise. Most of us would rather let the word ride on into the new century under a new meaning, but just as "Ghey" doesn't actually make the use of Gay as an insult any gentler, maybe new spelling isn't enough. Maybe we should just say "that lousy SOB frikkin ripped me off!!" and have done with it.


PS: the idea of "Ghey" is from Penny Arcade, a popular webcomic. Other people may claim to have come up with this first, but PA popularized it and spread it across the intarwebz like a plague virus of pathetic attempts at slang. Originally they made the word as a JOKE. A JOKE, people, mocking how stupid it is to use said term in the first place. Ay ay.

[Jester]

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.

Okay, now that is not only ignorant, as the word "denigrate" has nothing to do with the racist term in question, but just downright ridiculous, and a perfect example of people being TOO sensitive about shit. Stupid, stupid people.

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.

I am not trying to sanitize the language at all, and anyone who knows me knows I am a First Amendment Junkie. I agree with you on that, and that the language is evolving all the time. But yeah, the obvious ones? Well, they're obvious, and thus we can point them out with some impunity.

Although I wholeheartedly believe those women had the right, and very well should have had the right, to say that,

As stated above, I am a First Amendment Junkie, and I firmly believe that those women should, in fact, have the right to say what they said, without question. I never once questioned their RIGHT to say it, mind you, just the APPROPRIATENESS of it. That being said, I feel I also have the right to express to them just what fucking bleeding idiots they are....I didn't out of respect for my boss, but not because I didn't feel I had the right to do so.

I also believe that you should have had the right to shove your jew-gold up some places they wouldn't find terribly comfortable!

Jew-gold? Really? What is that, and where do I get my share?

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

Just a little bit, but not much more.

this is also the same guy who would ask for money if you wanted a slice of 2 hour old cold pizza, or would demand that you pitch in for gas if he was making a food run (which was usually only about a 1/2 mile away) ...

Back in the dorms, there was a guy who would charge other residents a quarter for a cigarette, and when we ordered pizza, would hover around and ask for my "bones" (the crusts) that he knew I never ate, and do other ridiculously cheap shit. The sad part to me was that he was the only other Jewish guy on our floor, and I told him on more than one occasion he was living up to that cheap Jew stereotype and making ME look bad in the process.

No, he wasn't one of my favorite people. Fucking idiot. Quarter for a cigarette. Hell, had I been a smoker, I would have never gotten a smoke from him, just on principle. Why I gave him free food (the pizza crusts) I'll never know. Oh wait, yes I do....because I was a better person than he was! (And yes, I did joke about charging him for said crusts.)

[sms001]

"denigrate" has nothing to do with the racist term in question, but just downright ridiculous,

Well..... it is from the same root.
(The big bonus to being fairly free of racial prejudice is that when I think of that root word I almost always think of Negra Modelo. mmmm... Stupid touristas can keep their Coronas!)

I am not trying to sanitize the language at all,

No, I know - but it was mentioned a time or two in the thread. I'd also like to take a quick moment to point out that I assumed that you evaluated these SC's on more points than you brought up in the thread. I usually do the same - knowing that fellow CSers will "fill in the blanks" and know that they had an attitude, or some other tell-tale sign that the point in question (in this case their language) is pertinent.


Also I'd like to mention in what is likely to be a near wrap for this thread: I'm very proud of my fellow CSers. Language, preconceptions, bigotry and ignorance all discussed in an adult manner and not even a hint from the Mods to "Send it to Fratching." This topic had a lot of get-out-of-hand potential and it was handled very well.

[MystyGlyttyr]

One of my favorite authors is a Jewish gentleman named Kinky Friedman (real name: Richard also known as "Big Dick" ).

Very OT, but, oh my God, I know Kinky! He knows the editor or something, he's up here quite a bit. That man is a FREAK! He's awesome! I never knew he was an author, though. I'm going to have to look into finding his books now.

Back to topic, when I was a kid, I thought the phrase was "CHEW you down". I never understood why that was offensive until someone finally told me what it really was. I thought my version was much more accurate, though.

[Evil Queen]

I must say I rather like "CHEW you down" better. It sounds like you're trying to chew gum!

[Pagan]

yes there are some groups that can legitimately be called cults, but I'm sorry, the Mormon church, not a cult, the Catholic church, not a cult, the First Unity Christian Church (or whatever it is that Senator Obama belongs to) not a cult... would people stop calling them cults and stop calling the members cultists... please... unless the church is preaching something truly insane like you must kill yourself so you can reunite with the mothership at exactly 11:55pm on October 21st or you will be damned to hell they shouldn't be called a cult, sect possibly, cult no.

If you go by the strict definition of the word "cult" all organized religious groups are, technically, cults. What's really fun is to apply Isaac Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Frame to some of them! http://www.neopagan.net/ABCDEF.html
http://www.religio.de/cudef.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/cults.htm

But, the word in-and-of itself, using these parameters, doesn't make them bad things. Same as just because one certain group of Gallic Druids did use human sacrifice doesn't mean that we all do. Meh, they're like humans, there's good ones and bad ones.

FABULOUS!

I'm sure that I'm the only person that's hearing the blonde in the Orbits gum commercial....but I really hope I'm not!

I am not trying to sanitize the language at all, and anyone who knows me knows I am a First Amendment Junkie.

Exactly. Which gives you the ability to exercise your right to give verbal smackdowns when warranted.

I believe it was Voltaire that said, "I may not approve of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it."

Negra Modelo. mmmm... Stupid touristas can keep their Coronas!)

Negra Modelo?! Have you no taste? Dos Equis all the way! Especially Dos Equis Amber.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I'm sure that I'm the only person that's hearing the blonde in the Orbits gum commercial....but I really hope I'm not!

That, my dear, was the voice-in-head I was hoping for.

[edible_hat]

I dunno, Jester, er...Mr. Rosenthal , sometimes people say stuff that catches you so flat-footed you don't even know how to react until later. Your brain just goies into this loop of "What? WHAT??"

That reminds me of one of Adam Hills' stand-up routines, of a story that goes:
-drunken racist jerk shows A.H. a racist joke in a text message
-A.H. lists the witty replies he thought of later
-"But what I really said was "GO AWAY! GO AWAY!" I turned into an eight year old."

[Ironclad Alibi]

I heard (I think) a comic once, making fun of idiotic teenagers doing that "OMG, you'd rather hang out with the cheerleaders than us guys? That is SO gay." ... Don't try to follow the logic, it isn't there.

Was he saying "gay" is a guy hanging out with the cheerleaders? And a guy hanging out with other guys isn't "gay"? Dang, I've had that backwards all these years. And I prefer to hang out with cheerleaders.

[edible_hat]

Was he saying "gay" is a guy hanging out with the cheerleaders? And a guy hanging out with other guys isn't "gay"? Dang, I've had that backwards all these years. And I prefer to hang out with cheerleaders.

Comedian Stephen K Amos likes to talk about the time he saw some graffitti that said "ALL GAYS ARE GAY".