# Jewish Jokes \[When are they appropriate? Other ethnic or religious jokes?\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349 "2008-01-21T05:59:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/21 "2008-01-21T20:07:40Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] People need to lighten up. My close circle of (mostly white) friends tell inappropriate jokes all the time - especially Asian jokes. Like, really, really crass Asian jokes involving horizontal vaginas. [/QUOTE] That _is_ stupid. They’re slanted, right? ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/22 "2008-01-21T20:56:12Z")
My rule is joking about something people can control - being a fan of a particular team, liking a certain type of music, etc. - generally are fair game in a joke. I have a fairly diverse group of friends, and I’ve heard my share of ethnic jokes, usually about the speaker’s ethnic group. I don’t make an issue of it, and I smile if it’s funny, but I don’t go too far with it. Out of respect for me (I imagine), I don’t hear many jokes about Black people around me from other Black people, though I do hear stereotypes jokingly referenced by other Black folks - and I sometimes do this myself. I just think that jokes about your ethnicity told by others outside of that group is disrespectful and a really weird way of showing familiarity. The other issue with that is you have people like one guy I know. He’s married to a Latina and is pretty active, like her, in community affairs. (He’s White, btw.) He’s definitely an ally, but he also feels the need to drop some risque or inappropriate joke when he’s in a group of Latinos. Now, it works out okay because most of the time, there’s someone in the group who knows his wife, and his work in the community. But then you have situations like when a colleague of mine went to lunch and didn’t know his backstory, and thought he was a racist and a jerk. My colleague now knows about the other guy’s activism and so on, but I think he respects him a little less because he seriously overestimated the amount of respect he’d get because he married a Latina. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/23 "2008-01-21T22:00:03Z")
Oh and **Wordman** , you forgot one group: The two Jewish men dig for buried treasure and find a chest of gold. They distribute it around and create a small gold-coin based economy, and let the other people on the island borrow small amounts of the Jews’ gold. When the other inhabitants of the island are inevitably late on paying back their debts, the Jews charge interest in the form of other goods, such as food, liquor, coconuts, labor, etc. Absent that, they have the debtors’ legs broken by the Italian guy, who they’ve hired as an enforcer. Also, they set up gambling and monkey-races, and rip everyone off. They use all their accumulated wealth to buy the Japanese woman from the Japanese men, who are too preoccupied with their gambling to care. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/24 "2008-01-21T22:13:47Z")
I wonder why it is that the only Jewish jokes I hear (besides those about money) are about Jewish women’s reluctance to give blow jobs, or a general disinterest in sex. I hear pretty much the same jokes about English women. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/25 "2008-01-21T22:19:27Z")
I think those jokes (about Jewish women and sex) are eventually going to be anachronistic and bizarre to later generations, just like the archetype of the “Jewish nebbish” is currently being overtaken by the “big, obnoxious, white-baseball-cap wearing, sports-betting Jewish frat guy.” Certainly nobody in my generation makes any link between Jewish girls and sexual disinterest. The jokes about money are never going to go away though. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/26 "2008-01-21T22:20:21Z")
My rules for funny ethnic jokes Those that deal with sexual stereotypes (i.e., WASP women are frigid, black guys are well-endowed, etc.) Those that deal with athleticism, dialect, food, child-rearing, clothing, hairstyles, and religion. Jokes that tend not to be funny are those deal with stereotypes about criminality/immorality, inferior intelligence, and inferior work ethic. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/27 "2008-01-22T01:21:30Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Oh and **Wordman** , you forgot one group: The two Jewish men dig for buried treasure and find a chest of gold. They distribute it around and create a small gold-coin based economy, and let the other people on the island borrow small amounts of the Jews’ gold. When the other inhabitants of the island are inevitably late on paying back their debts, the Jews charge interest in the form of other goods, such as food, liquor, coconuts, labor, etc. Absent that, they have the debtors’ legs broken by the Italian guy, who they’ve hired as an enforcer. Also, they set up gambling and monkey-races, and rip everyone off. They use all their accumulated wealth to buy the Japanese woman from the Japanese men, who are too preoccupied with their gambling to care. [/QUOTE] WTF man. That shit is not funny and its totally offensive. And you’re the same guy who repeated the joke from School Ties thinking it was funny. You know I asked around my friends and family and no one could quite believe someone would actually do that. Apparently the consensus on the dope is that it’s okay to tell Jew jokes, but it’s not with me. I dare you to come to any bar in Manhattan and tell your jokes and see if the crowds there are as cool with it as the sdmb apparently is. I’ve tried to be civil about this, but If I hear one more derogatory crack about Jews from you I’m gonna lose it. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/28 "2008-01-22T01:42:59Z")
[QUOTE=cainxinth] Apparently the consensus on the dope is that it’s okay to tell Jew jokes [/QUOTE] The “consensus” seems to be that _any_ inappropriate joke, be it about Jews or whites or Martians, can be either humorous or offensive depending on the context. You make it sound like the SDMB is endorsing any and all forms of anti-Semitic humor. I find the attitude of “It’s only okay if we do it!” odd. When I crack a joke about how Koreans eat too much lice to my friends, I am implying to them that I’m okay with them doing the same. Out of curiosity, is it only **Argent Tower** ’s joke you find offensive, or do you find **WordMan** ’s joke in bad taste as well? ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/29 "2008-01-22T01:44:54Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] That _is_ stupid. They’re slanted, right? [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t you like to know? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/30 "2008-01-22T01:45:50Z")
In Hawaii, ethnic jokes are accepted, and often the sole focus of local comedians. Filipinos: talk funny, marry (way) older men, work in low-status jobs (think of Mexican jokes and insert “Filipino”) Chinese: very cheap, same jokes as Jews. Chinese for cheap is “Pake” and even appeared in a weekly newspaper: the “Pake issue” for cheap eats. Portuguese (Portagee): stupid, same jokes as Polish Hawaiian/Samoan: violent, criminal, adverse to working, same jokes as blacks Japanese and haoles don’t get as many jokes. Haoles usually center around being unfamiliar with local culture and pronounciations. Japanese are usually tourist-camera jokes. There are no black jokes. 1) There are few non-military blacks in Hawaii and 2) it’s considered politically incorrect. You can be in a circle exchanging Portagee and Pake jokes, but the moment you add “What do you call a black man that flies an airplane?”, instant silence. Odd that. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/31 "2008-01-22T01:46:03Z")
I’m done talking about this. If you guys wanna think that was okay, thats your right. I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/32 "2008-01-22T01:50:43Z")
[QUOTE=HubZilla] “What do you call a black man that flies an airplane?” [/QUOTE] A pilot, you racist bastard! (Is there another answer? If there is, it can’t possibly be as funny). Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/33 "2008-01-22T02:37:36Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Oh and **Wordman** , you forgot one group: The two Jewish men dig for buried treasure and find a chest of gold. They distribute it around and create a small gold-coin based economy, and let the other people on the island borrow small amounts of the Jews’ gold. When the other inhabitants of the island are inevitably late on paying back their debts, the Jews charge interest in the form of other goods, such as food, liquor, coconuts, labor, etc. Absent that, they have the debtors’ legs broken by the Italian guy, who they’ve hired as an enforcer. Also, they set up gambling and monkey-races, and rip everyone off. They use all their accumulated wealth to buy the Japanese woman from the Japanese men, who are too preoccupied with their gambling to care. [/QUOTE] This is remarkably offensive. The first paragraph isn’t so bad. The rest of it…just wow. [QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] Out of curiosity, is it only **Argent Tower** ’s joke you find offensive, or do you find **WordMan** ’s joke in bad taste as well? [/QUOTE] This wasn’t directed at me, but I’ll answer it. I thought **WordMan** ’s joke was in poor taste of course, but it was acceptable because it was pretty funny. And being an American woman, I’m the primary target. One thing about it, that **Argent Towers** seems to have missed–it’s all nationalities, not racial, ethnic, or religious groups. (In a few cases, the nationality is practically synonymous with racial, ethnic, or religious identity, but it’s not as direct as naming those groups directly.) ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/34 "2008-01-22T02:40:55Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] A pilot, you racist bastard! (Is there another answer? If there is, it can’t possibly be as funny). Daniel [/QUOTE] Yep, that was it. I love telling that joke. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/35 "2008-01-22T02:42:53Z")
[QUOTE=HubZilla] Yep, that was it. I love telling that joke. [/QUOTE] There’s a zillion WASP jokes just like that one. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/36 "2008-01-22T02:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] There’s a zillion WASP jokes just like that one. [/QUOTE] How many haoles does it take to change a lightbulb? One. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/37 "2008-01-22T02:55:27Z")
[QUOTE=Green Bean] One thing about it, that **Argent Towers** seems to have missed–it’s all nationalities, not racial, ethnic, or religious groups. (In a few cases, the nationality is practically synonymous with racial, ethnic, or religious identity, but it’s not as direct as naming those groups directly.) [/QUOTE] Does it make a difference? I’m curious. Is it less offensive to make a joke about Americans than it is about white people or about Christians? I didn’t like **Argent Tower** ’s joke, but that’s mostly because I didn’t find it funny (no offense 😛 ). ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/38 "2008-01-22T03:19:54Z")
If people are swapping ethnic humor, it should be reciprocal. So if I tell a “black people talk funny” joke, it should be matched with an equally harmless joke from someone of another race/nationality. It’s not as fun if I’m the lone black person in a group of whites, and we’re just telling black jokes. If someone tells a black joke, then that should give me permission to tell a whatever-they-are joke. So that means that people who participate in ethnic humor need to acquire a broad cache of them so that they can be an equal opportunity offender. This thread is reminding me of that dinner scene in that movie “Guess Who?” Ashton Kuchor’s character is entertaining everyone at the table with cute black jokes and then crosses a line where it’s not funny anymore. I think if you’re going to tell those kind of jokes (especially if you are not a member of that ethnic group), then you really need to be aware of where the line is. But I agree that jokes based on stereotypes can be humorous. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/39 "2008-01-22T04:01:54Z")
Please remember that this thread is a discussion about when (if ever) ethnic jokes are “appropriate,” and not a request for your favorite ethnic joke, or even whether you can come up with a joke even poorer in taste than the examples already given. If the joke doesn’t relate to the discussion at hand, please refrain from posting it. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349/40 "2008-01-22T04:09:24Z")
I think if Jews want us to stop telling Jewish jokes they should stop teaching them to us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-jokes-when-are-they-appropriate-other-ethnic-or-religious-jokes/434349.md?page=3)