My introduction to words like Gentile have been through Seinfeld and Curb your Enthusiasm. I maybe wrong but my reading on the internet has shown these words to be not derogatory. I find it fascinating that Jews have non derogatory words for Now - Jews.
Do other religions / cultures have such words (that are not derogatory)?
I am looking for factual answers / examples only. Not looking for hyphenated words like non-Christian, or non-Muslim or non-Hindu
I have to question your assumption. People (on the internet) may claim that shiksa is not derogatory. But it always is, at least to some degree, in my experience.
Gentile is not really derogatory, but also not so much the word that Jewish people would use. For that we use goy (plural goyim, adjective goyishe). It might be sometimes, rarely, just descriptive (it comes from the Hebrew word for “nation” meaning “nation other than ours”). But I would argue that in connotation, it’s always got at least a derogatory tinge. (Goyishe kop (gentile head) is definitely not neutral, not a compliment)
I don’t have much experience with other languages but wonder about yanqui. Is that ever non-derogatory?
My understanding is that the word “goy” (plural “goyim”) has a similar definition to “Gentile” (and I’m not sure if it’s Yiddish or Hebrew), but it also appears to be at least somewhat derogatory.
Edit: ninja’d by @Joeu !
@puzzlegal and @Joeu Thank you. I have deleted the word Siksha.
I really want to know about other religions / cultures that have non - zenophobic words like “gentiles”.
I have a Greek friend and I asked her a while back what do they call non-Greeks and she said “Xenos.” She didn’t indicate it was a derogatory word.
The Amish refer to non-Amish as English, and it’s not derogatory. It’s just the word for non-Amish.
I do see your question, and not trying to nitpick, but gentile is not really a Jewish word–neither as a religion or a culture.
It’s not a regional/cultural/local word at all.
EDIT–but what about yanqui? Is there a native Spanish speaker who can attest to that? I know gringo is always derogatory.
I suspect that most languages have words for “not us” that can be used either neutrally or derogatorily. Japanese has foreigner (gai-koku-jin) and also “gai-jin” which literally means outsider but is just a more casual way of saying foreigner. Gai-jin is the more likely of the two to be used in a negative way – or in a more personal way. If someone were to say “I am more attracted to foreigners” or “I don’t like foreigners” they would probably use gai-jin. Gai-koku-jin sounds pretty formal and stiff to me. The kind of word you hear on newscasts and in government documents.
I believe the ancient Greek word barbaros - which more or less means ‘people who aren’t us’ and from which we get ‘barbarian’ - originally had a fairly neutral connotation. Over time it became more derisive.
I would think the word “barbaros” was derogatory from the get-go, meaning people who don’t speak Greek and only say “Bar-bar-bar” (according to the ancient Greeks’ ears).
The Thai call foreigners, “Farang”, or perhaps just white foreigners.
That is considered derogatory in India. It comes from Persia and means the Francs, white people from the crusades.
Haole from Hawaii? I guess it can be derogatory, but I think it’s mostly descriptive. But then, I’m a white boy from Maine, so what do I know.
“Yankee” in English is generally derogatory. Non-Americans use it to describe Americans. In America, Southerners use it to describe Northerners. In the North, it’s used for New Englanders. In New England, it’s used for up-country residents. It’s only recently that some people self-identify as Yankees rather than use it on others.
Not so much. And I have no issue with “Yank” by my friends from Down Under (maybe that’s derogatory?)
The Roma people refer to non-Roma as gorja. I don’t know if it’s derogatory.
Within the United States, it is generally not derogatory. It’s more of a humorous thing, as well as a sports thing, the New Yok Yankees being one of the most popular teams in professional baseball.
And despised.
I also wouldn’t use sports team names as a standard for derogatory.
It’s not insulting, but general usage of “Yankee” was always to describe an outgroup. Often while making a complaint about that outgroup–that is in a negative sense. It’s been steadily losing the negative connotation since WWII, but it’s still rare for people to self-identify as a Yankee.