# How Offensive Is The Word "Jewess"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175 "2014-05-11T05:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/61 "2014-05-12T21:03:20Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > That this comment comes from a goddess makes me smile. Irony aside, I agree completely with the point you’re making. Ha! I didn’t even note the irony. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/62 "2014-05-13T01:15:27Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Since most of us these days would find it slightly artificial to even call someone “ **a Jew** ” or “a Negro” … > [@DETXL](#): > > When the adjective _becomes_ the noun and they’re just “ **a Jew** ” or “a homosexual” there’s an implied otherness to it that makes some people uncomfortable. Bolding mine. I find the idea that referring to a Jewish person as “a Jew” is artificial or uncomfortable in some way rather odd. ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/63 "2014-05-13T01:57:32Z")
Quoting an historic document, I feel there is no problem using "uncomfortable words.’ Jewess, nigger, chink, … if it was used when the piece was written, it should be preserved as written. History should not be rewritten and sanitized. Literature should not be rewritten and sanitized. If the OP’s source used “Jewess,” then, to the writer, she was a “Jewess.” If somebody in the past used a non-pc word, that is a point in history that we should learn from, not deride. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/64 "2014-05-13T07:01:48Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You rock. Please don’t call me a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/65 "2014-05-13T18:18:21Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Please don’t call me a rock. Don’t make me do the thing with the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/66 "2014-05-13T18:41:41Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I would disagree with any notion that there is no need not to sanitize the past. Nice double negative. So you think the past DOES need to be sanitized? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/67 "2014-05-13T18:51:20Z")
I’m uncomfortable with dumping all gendered terminology from the lexicon just because some people are uncomfortable with gender. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/68 "2014-05-13T18:56:10Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > Bolding mine. > > I find the idea that referring to a Jewish person as “a Jew” is artificial or uncomfortable in some way rather odd. QFT. “Jew” is the base term, and it’s a noun. I’ve found its undeclined use as an adjective to be intended offensively, but not as a noun. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/69 "2014-05-13T20:56:04Z")
“Jewess” is nothing for the 1920s. 😃 When my grandfather notably won a swimming race in the late 1920s, the newspaper at the time published the story (highly complementary to my grandfather, BTW) under the title “Jewboy Wins Race!” They clearly were not even _trying_ to be offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/70 "2014-05-13T21:33:33Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus;17373757 When my grandfather notably won a swimming race in the late 1920s, the newspaper at the time published the story (highly complementary to my grandfather, BTW) under the title “Jewboy Wins Race!” They clearly were not even _trying_ to be offensive.[/QUOTE] Assuming there is documentation of this headline (clipping etc.), it is hard to believe any sports editor (even for the 1920s) was stupid enough not to know it was offensive. Wonder why “Jewette” never caught on. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/71 "2014-05-13T21:44:55Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Assuming there is documentation of this headline (clipping etc.), it is hard to believe any sports editor (even for the 1920s) was stupid enough not to know it was offensive. > Wonder why “Jewette” never caught on. :dubious: Heh, I’ll have to bug my parents. They, allegedly, still have a clipping moldering away in the attic. I’ll take a pic if I remember. I assume the editor wanted a snappy headline and cared little whether it was offensive to Jews or not. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/72 "2014-05-13T22:41:22Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > And if she had talked about her grand_father_ being a Jew, would that also offend the family members who read your blog? If so, they have problem…and it’s not a problem of language. > > The “ess” ending is archaic. But it is not offensive. > It’s simply the way language was used in the 1920’s.It was natural for them. > Many of us Dopers remember using the “ess” suffix, too. For example, host and hostess of a party(widely used till the 1960’s), or waiter and waitress (widely used till the 1980’s). I still use waitress. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/73 "2014-05-14T00:52:13Z")
A local diner chain tried to get waitron to catch on, it hasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/74 "2014-05-25T00:47:55Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > A local diner chain tried to get waitron to catch on, it hasn’t. [https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608055923467095832&pid=15.1](https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=HN.608055923467095832&pid=15.1) \I am Waitron… Please let me take your order… \ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/75 "2014-05-25T02:09:36Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’s say it’s offensive because it’s sexist. We no longer use the word “doctress” or even “actress.” One word should be equally applied to both genders. So there’s no longer an Academy Award for “Best Actress/Supporting Actress”? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/76 "2014-05-25T02:55:44Z")
A male or female performer is now equally referred to as an “actron.” ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/77 "2014-05-27T17:09:40Z")
I don’t think it’s offensive at all. Why just last week I had an appointment with my jewess doctress. She’s a lovely lady. ---
**Author:** ![ranger2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@ranger2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ranger2)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/78 "2016-09-13T18:25:02Z")
Jewess has an animal connotation, since many animals have different names depending on the gender (buck vs. doe, sire vs. bitch, bull vs. cow.) I’m born and raised Jewish and the only times I’ve heard the word Jewess is when reading historical Nazi propaganda. Nobody in my synagogue would ever refer to a Jewish woman as Jewess. It’s not a very common word either way, so I can understand why some may doubt that it’s offensive, but it is. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/79 "2016-09-13T18:46:35Z")
It’s basically like this, X word is something that people said in the past, people were racists in the past, therefore X word must be racist. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175/80 "2016-09-13T20:38:13Z")
> [@ranger2](#): > > Jewess has an animal connotation, since many animals have different names depending on the gender (buck vs. doe, sire vs. bitch, bull vs. cow.) I don’t agree with this. Does “Englishwoman” have an animal connotation? What about “Chicana” or “Latina”? I think female-specific forms of words are unusual these days, but some that still hang around in common usage are inoffensive. So if everyone just used “Jewess” in everyday conversation, then it wouldn’t be offensive. > [@](#): > > I’m born and raised Jewish and the only times I’ve heard the word Jewess is when reading historical Nazi propaganda. Nobody in my synagogue would ever refer to a Jewish woman as Jewess. This is definitely true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-offensive-is-the-word-jewess/688175.md?page=5)