# Does the word 'Jew' have a negative connotation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-jew-have-a-negative-connotation/751431 "2016-04-07T12:57:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-jew-have-a-negative-connotation/751431/41 "2016-04-08T18:07:38Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I get that. But we might reasonably ask why “Jew” would be more freighted with negative connotations than “Jewish” would be. > > And I think the answer may be, if we use “Jew” in a situation where the more usual idiom would call for “Jewish”, that serves to call particular attention to Judaism and, given that general context, we can’t avoid the suspicion that it’s intended to be pejorative. > > But, the thing is, the idioms here _are_ a bit slippery, and what sounds to the hearer like a deliberately emphatic use of “Jew” might not be intended in that way by the speaker. The words are not freighted. The use of the words is freighted, and that comes from the speakers. To refer to people as Jewish means they are human. “Jew” may refer simply to an object which has no humanity (It has happened in living memory, so it is part of the context whenever the word is used) I can’t think of an example where the intent is ambiguous though in every day speech. It’s coming from the speaker. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-jew-have-a-negative-connotation/751431/42 "2016-04-08T23:46:21Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > When I was growing up I never had that association either. Jews were a religious group in the Bible. I never heard of anyone living in the area referred to as being Jewish. I don’t a negative connotation about jew as a verb: he jewed him down–means he haggled him down. That’s a skill which I don’t have. That was true for me, too. I was graduating from college, and buying my first new car, and boasting to a group of friends how I had jewed the dealer down. Two of those friends were Jewish, and I knew that. But I had never seen that word written down, and had no idea how it was spelled, or that it had any connection to the religion. (One of them took me aside later, and explained to me that he knew I hadn’t meant to, but that this could be considered derogatory by people. I was astonished, and embarrassed.) Like others have said, it depends on the intent, tone of voice, etc. People who intend to be insulting generally make that clear. Personally, I think we need to start letting go of some of these associations, rather than dwelling on them in perpetuity. I’m sure there are lots of English words that can be traced to stereotypes of various groups. We’d lose a lot of words if we had to drop them all. Just like if we renamed everything named after a slave owner, or a bigot. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-jew-have-a-negative-connotation/751431/43 "2016-04-09T01:00:26Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > That was true for me, too. > > I was graduating from college, and buying my first new car, and boasting to a group of friends how I had jewed the dealer down. Two of those friends were Jewish, and I knew that. But I had never seen that word written down, and had no idea how it was spelled, or that it had any connection to the religion. (One of them took me aside later, and explained to me that he knew I hadn’t meant to, but that this could be considered derogatory by people. I was astonished, and embarrassed.) > > Like others have said, it depends on the intent, tone of voice, etc. People who intend to be insulting generally make that clear. > > Personally, I think we need to start letting go of some of these associations, rather than dwelling on them in perpetuity. I’m sure there are lots of English words that can be traced to stereotypes of various groups. We’d lose a lot of words if we had to drop them all. Just like if we renamed everything named after a slave owner, or a bigot. Somehow this post doesn’t fill me with confidence about the whole thing. So you’re saying you’d like to be able to use “jewed em down” more, but we are not enlightened enough as a society for that? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-jew-have-a-negative-connotation/751431/44 "2016-04-09T03:03:44Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Somehow this post doesn’t fill me with confidence about the whole thing. > > So you’re saying you’d like to be able to use “jewed em down” more, but we are not enlightened enough as a society for that? Yeah, seriously, I don’t get it. Sorry, the richness of the English language isn’t lost because we consider a phrase like “jewing down” offensive and decide not to use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-jew-have-a-negative-connotation/751431.md?page=2)