# Assuming Jewish word like Gentile is not derogatory; are there other cultures/language with such word/s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-jewish-word-like-gentile-is-not-derogatory-are-there-other-cultures-language-with-such-word-s/973433 "2022-10-18T15:10:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-jewish-word-like-gentile-is-not-derogatory-are-there-other-cultures-language-with-such-word-s/973433/121 "2022-12-02T12:40:12Z")
It’s not so much that Israeli Jews adopted less Yiddish, it’s that they adopted different Yiddish words. I’ve never heard an American Jew use the words “Frier” (sucker), for example, or “Kumzitz” (bonfire), “Kutter” (complainer) or “Duch” (to walk in a straight line). Some words also have different meanings in the U.S. and Israel - “Kvetch”, in America, means complain, while in Israel it means crumple or crush"; “Shvitz”, to you, means to sweat, while here it means to show off. Of course, there are still plenty of words we share: “putz”, “nudnik”, “schmaltz”, “Schtick” and of course, the ubiquitous “nu”. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-jewish-word-like-gentile-is-not-derogatory-are-there-other-cultures-language-with-such-word-s/973433/122 "2022-12-02T13:50:05Z")
Spanish Gypsies refer to non-Gypsies as _payos_. They call themselves _gitanos_, i.e. Gypsies, or _calé_, (_caló_ for their language) what is considered derogatory by Central and Eastern European Gypsies, who prefer the terms Sinti and Roma. Ziganism and Anti-Ziganism is multilayered and confusing to outsiders, but my feeling is that _payo_ is not used as a derogatory term, though the relations between _payos y gitanos_ has been troublesome since they first met. Of course it can be used derogatoryly, it’s all in the tone. > [@alovem](#): > > In southern Spain, and probably not everywhere, _gachó_ and _gachí_ are the most commonly used words to refer to non-Roma. Yes, there is that too, but I doubt the name Roma is what Spanish Gypsies would choose for themselves. Are you sure? As I wrote it is quite confusing for an outsider, but the terms Sinti and Roma are more related to the other branch of the people who went to Central and Eastern Europe instead of Spain. I have heard representatives of the Gypsies in Spain refer to themselves as : “Yo soy gitano”. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-jewish-word-like-gentile-is-not-derogatory-are-there-other-cultures-language-with-such-word-s/973433/123 "2022-12-02T21:55:32Z")
Nu! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2022, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-jewish-word-like-gentile-is-not-derogatory-are-there-other-cultures-language-with-such-word-s/973433/124 "2022-12-04T11:05:05Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > and that’s when I found out that a lot of East Asian people call themselves “gaikokujin” but Westerners “gaijin.” Yeah. And I’ve been instant-defriended by many many Japanese online contacts for just merely suggesting they were like a gaijin in some way. And still people try to claim it’s a neutral term. It’s not. It’s very use is offensive because the 98.5% of the world don’t have any commonality that would make them a group. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-jewish-word-like-gentile-is-not-derogatory-are-there-other-cultures-language-with-such-word-s/973433.md?page=6)