<p>Reading older literature like The Merchant of Venice (and in today’s world), I’ve noticed how people have used the word “Jew” with utter resentment and offense. I too have used it from time to time but without ant intention of offending anyone. So is calling someone who’s Jewish a “Jew” offensive? </p>
<p>I’ve had this conversation with several Jewish people. I’m a Jew by birth (not religion) and have no problem when people call me that, however others take offense. I have grown up using the term “Jew” because that’s just what is used in my family… it’s a hard habit to break and I have absolutely accidentally defended people. </p>
<p>To be on the safe side, it’s better to use terms as adjectives rather than labels. Ie, Jewish person rather than Jew (or something like Russian person rather than “that Russian”) </p>
<p>Okay as a noun, not okay as an adjective. For example, it’s okay to say “as a Jew, he keeps kosher”, it’s not okay to say “that jew store owner ripped me off”.</p>
<p>I think like many things, it has a lot to do with context. </p>
<p>We got back yesterday evening from Germany. One of the best excursions we took was to the “Museum of the Murdered Jews of Europe” in Berlin. Very sobering look at the Holocaust and one which definitely forced one to see it from a very “personal” viewpoint in that they highlighted the trials of specific families, showing them before the war and telling what happened to each one of them. I highly recommend it. And note the specific use of the word “Jew,” which in that context, conveys no offense.</p>
<p>FYI, a throwback article from The Atlantic (1948) about a Jewish family that changed its last name to something not Jewish sounding
<a href=“I Changed My Name - The Atlantic”>I Changed My Name - The Atlantic;
<p>I’m Jewish, and I think context determines whether or not it’s offensive. Someone mentioned the use as an adjective being offensive. I can add one more: do not use it as a verb. </p>
<p>Saying “my friend is Jewish” to me sounds nicer than “my friend is a Jew”, however either term is correct. When speaking in plurals, “Jews” is often the most correct term. “The Jews in Europe”.</p>
<p>From personal experience, I think context and intent are most important and I can usually tell the difference. My best advice to someone would be if you feel uncomfortable using it, then don’t because your discomfort can set the context for how it is received. </p>
<p>I also thank you for asking and being considerate.</p>
<p>Before this thread gets overrun with stories of families who claim that their original names of -stein or -ski or -berg got changed to Smith at Ellis Island by an immigration officer, I would like to remind everybody that no names were changed at Ellis Island; that’s a huge myth. </p>
<p>There were translators of all languages and the passenger names were simply checked off a manifest that had been prepared in the old country. If your ancestor indeed changed his name, that was his own choice, and a common one. Don’t believe me, check the Ellis Island website. Carry on. </p>
<p>Also not ok as a verb, as in “he jewed me down on the price”</p>
<p>I prefer “a Jew” or “Jewish” to something like “of the Hebraic persuasion”</p>
<p>That’s funny. I’ve been reading a book with certain chapters titled the “Chollo & the Jew”. I was wondering if Jewish people would be offended by it? I assumed not, tell me if I’m wrong</p>
<p>I say, “I am Jewish.” I don’t say, “I am a Jew.” </p>
<p>If I am talking about a group of Jewish people, than the plural term Jews is fine. “The Jews of Europe” works for me. “Very few Jews live in Montana.” That’s OK, although I prefer, “Very few Jewish people live in Montana.”</p>
<p>What doesn’t work for me is using the term Jew when referring to a single person. “The Jew who owns the store down the street.” That can sound derogatory. I’d rather say, “The person who owns the store down the street is Jewish.”</p>
<p>And PG is correct about Ellis Island. I’d been told for years that my last name was changed at Ellis Island. Turns out my family changed it 40 years after coming to the country – and they hadn’t gone through Ellis Island, either. </p>
<ol>
<li>Modigliani used to introduce himself as “Modigliani. Jew.” I think that speaks volumes: he was trying to put the label in people’s faces because the word is so often used as a label by the unthinking & prejudiced morons that populate so much of the world.</li>
<li>Kinky Friedman in his mystery novels uses the phrase “I Christianed him down”, which agains highlights the use of the word as a ridiculous label. (Reminds me of the expulsion of Jews from the early Holy Roman Empire only to have them called back because Christians were terrible, usurious lenders while the Jews held to the legal practices.) </li>
<li>Everyone remembers “The Merchant of Venice” for its portrayal of Shylock the Jew and Jewish belief as mechanistic. It isn’t so much hate of Jews as complete ignorance because only a Christian would imagine Jews could enter into such a contract (for a pound of flesh) or that any Jewish court would uphold such a thing. That is again a description of the label standing for ignorance. </li>
<li>There’s this thing called a “Jaw harp” that ignorant people call a “Jew harp” or “Jew’s harp”. The derivation is unknown. (I’ve checked.) I think the obvious is correct, that you play it in your jaws so someone said it as Jew’s.</li>
<li>If you read the press in the Muslim (Arab & into Iran, Pakistan), you find constant references to “Jew” as the greatest insult imaginable. Example: General al-Sisi of Egypt is really a Jew (not Jewish, but a Jew). You can pretty much pick any public figure there and find his enemies label him as a Jew. </li>
</ol>
<p>So my take is not that Jew is offensive to me as a Jew but that it tends to be a mark of ignorance and stupidity in the user. </p>
<p>In literature, “Jew” is a common trope and sometimes that concept is important, like when the “Jew” one expects to be like x turns out to be like y. Examples in history abound where Christian characters learn that the one labeled “Jew” has worthy values, is part of the society, etc. There are also examples that use “Jew” as a mark of separation, much like the treatment of Catholics in some English literature; they are there and can be sort of part of society but not really because in the end they aren’t like us. </p>
<p>“Jew someone down” is clearly offensive. I once had a roommate who used that expression, and I was so shocked I didn’t say anything. Later, I wondered if she even knew that she was using a term that referred to Jews. I thought she might have been thinking that this expression she learned as a child was something like “joo someone down,” with no ethnic overtones, an expression she had learned without knowing any etymology. I as a child used the expression to “gyp” someone, meaning to cheat them, but didn’t realize that it had anything to do with gypsies and imagined it was spelled “jip.” </p>
<p>Pizzagirl: Names were changed at Ellis Island. Our family name is one of those families. Ten years after citzenship the family Americanized the name (chopped of the chuk) and had the name).</p>
<p>IMO the word Jew is not offensive per se…unless it is from someone who said, “Broadway is run by old rich Jews” and that was offensive.</p>
<p>I think it could be the intonation on the word. She is a Jew might not be offensive but SHE is a Jewww sure is</p>
<p>Not Jewish, but my husband’s family names *were * changed, not sure where, or why.
My family emigrated long before Ellis Island was a port of entry.</p>
<p>It definitely depends on the context, because the term Jew in and of itself is not offensive. And fwiw, my ancestors voluntarily changed our name to something less Jewish sounding after arriving in the country</p>
<p>Interesting article on the name change debate from the New York Public Library site: <a href=“Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was) | The New York Public Library”>Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was) | The New York Public Library;
<p>Cardinal Fang - I also grew up saying “gyp” and never associated it with anything negative and as a child I honestly never gave a thought to the origin of the word. </p>
<p>I am a Swede and I am also a Swedish person. </p>
<p>I think that most non Jewish people would use the phrase “Jewish person” versus “Jew” simply because we are not sure what to say and we don’t want to offend anyone.</p>
<p>Some names DID change during immigration but yes, not by officials. They were changed by the people with the names or somewhere else down the line. Many people were illiterate and relied on others to write their names. Some had heard stories of the eugenics policies which turned away people at the island and voluntarily chose to change their names to something that sounded less Jewish, Polish, Slavic, etc (though this rarely worked as the officials went by looks and country of origin but I digress). </p>
<p>There are a few phrases I heard growing up that I didn’t get at the time were racist - being a gyp (I too thought it was jip), if something was broken, I heard it was japped up. I thought jap was a word, not referring to Japan, and my dad used to say someone was out of their cotton pickin mind. I never thought about the words when I was younger, after all a gypsy to me was a foreign, mystical concept. I didn’t even know it was a group of people, I thought it meant fortune teller. </p>
<p>My grandmother came through Ellis Island, name intact. </p>