# tomndebb, please explain why I was noted for saying Jew-bros. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 31, 2015, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248 "2015-10-31T08:26:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/221 "2015-11-02T15:54:59Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > … > When **Leo Bloom** says to his friends “Yo, Jewbro!”, he’s acknowledging his own membership in the disparaged class, and thus turning the slur back onto itself with irony… Huh? A) _Who the hell are you to tell me that?_ (Italics extra for the other "you"s, insofar as this applies, to sympathetic Social Justice Warriors.) B) I told you (the world) it was on a par exactly with “Nu, boychik?” and was immediately understood as such. (“Wassup, dog?”) > [@](#): > > …I say “Yo, Jewbro!” to **Leo Bloom** , I may be attempting to do the same thing. Or I may be using it non-ironically and thus pejoratively. \*Since I’m not Jewish, **Leo** has no way of knowing. \*Thus I’m better avoiding it… Are the minds of Jews and and their emotional responses to language _that_ deep? You do have a way of knowing, if you weren’t walking on the eggshells of your moral sensitivity/superiority. The circumstances in which that could be used pejoratively are so contrived that it is a perfect example of language “advice” as politics, and I don’t need someone to tell me that it’s a dog whistle that I didn’t catch. And yes I, representative unknowable Jew, actually do have a way of knowing if the person speaking to me “knows better” or not, i.e., as you say have knowledge of which would then let that speaker be assured that I know that you know and you know that I know that, so fire away. My social and conversational habits tend to keep me clear of anti-Semites. It’s simple: why would you be into baiting me, or testing out your theories of social justice? Yes, next time I meet Person A who, say, after hearing person B call to me “hey, bro,” Person A glances meaningfully at his neighbor, looks me in the eye through his rimless glasses, draws on his cigarette held cupped in his hand held by thumb and first finger, and says “Jah, I zee. A JEW bro,” and then curls his lip and tightens his eyes slowly as disgust turns to contempt. > [@](#): > > …So blacks can say “nigga” but whites can’t; Jews can call each other “yids” but _goyim_ can’t; gays can use “Nancy”, but straights can’t. We all do this - it’s why **Oakminster** (who’s from Mississippi) can use “redneck” without offending me; but _you_ can’t. You and your professor are correct. But _you don’t know a damn thing_ about one of your ethnic stalking horses in this example. Does this not upset you? Yet perhaps it doesn’t matter, because the goal is just so _good_, so we all can just get along. I can only think of one example of a Jew–and a fictional one, and a fictional Cohen Brothers one at that, “reclaiming” a pejorative: the insane film producer in Barton Fink, who says something about kikes; I can’t remember if he was referring to someone else (so was not reclaiming it, but using it) or for himself–in which case it would be “I’m your worst nightmare: a nigger with a badge” thing. No secular Jew ever says “Yid” (or “yid”) unless he _wants_ to be pejorative. People who speak Yiddish, a cohort not known for anti-Semitism, do use it all the time however. I can go up to a Yiddish speaker and say \*“Nu, vooz macht ah yeed?” Which means literally “so what’s a Jew do?” which in the real world means “Hi, what’s up.” No-one except anti-Semites use the word “Yid” pejoratively; in other languages, where “Yid” is the word for “Jew” they get double their money’s worth by when casting the word in the right tone; but then others have two words in their arsenal." ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/222 "2015-11-02T16:39:11Z")
I think there is generally a lot more understanding of how a word is intended when you say it aloud, in person, to a friend than when you type it on a message board to all and sundry to read. It makes sense to be a little more circumspect with your language in the latter case. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/223 "2015-11-02T18:32:16Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > There are black folks who aren’t Africans, and Africans who aren’t black folks. I thought that the Khoisan were considered black, though, but since “black” is purely a cultural signifier, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are not considered black in some (or even all) parts of Africa. Yeah, well, I aint in Africa. They asses would be BLACK here. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/224 "2015-11-02T21:05:28Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > [article](http://regressing.deadspin.com/the-word-thug-was-uttered-625-times-on-tv-yesterday-1506098319) > > here are his [comments](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjOkTib5eVQ) (on YouTube) > > yes, he sounds angry. but since when does being angry make someone a “criminal”? this one is much better [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wPSiOCC8nvc/hqdefault.jpg "Richard Sherman Thug is another way of saying the 'n' word") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPSiOCC8nvc) ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/225 "2015-11-02T21:08:05Z")
[quote=“jz78817, post:224, topic:736248”] this one is much better [/QUOTE] nm ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/226 "2015-11-02T21:13:01Z")
[quote=“jz78817, post:224, topic:736248”] this one is much better [/QUOTE] i’m listening to it now… yeah, he explains it quite well ---
**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:** [November 3, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/227 "2015-11-03T02:28:47Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I don’t watch football. I didn’t know people were calling football players thugs. I’ve only used the word for violent criminals or violent miscreants. I’ve seen it used for players who are particularly dirty in various sports, usually in hockey or football, and I’ve done so myself. Here’s a [good example](http://relentlessineptitude.blogspot.com/2014/04/milan-lucic-is-irredeemable-thug-who.html). ---
**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:** [November 3, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/228 "2015-11-03T16:49:05Z")
But hockey players are white. So how could “thug” possibly apply to them? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/229 "2015-11-03T17:12:53Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > But hockey players are white. So how could “thug” possibly apply to them? I used to watch a lot of basketball. Back when Oakley and Sparks played for the Knicks, some referred to the team style as “thug ball”. It has nothing to do with race, it was a style of play that was physical, cheap, and borderline unsportsmanlike. But this was epitomized a few years earlier by this out and out [Thug.](https://www.google.com/search?q=laimbeer+detroit+pistons&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAkQ_AUoA2oVChMIju2q2N_0yAIVAgk-Ch33Lg80&biw=1428&bih=1007#imgrc=xk5OZpuhiLeaPM%3A) ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/230 "2015-11-04T13:10:05Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > what allways seems to escape the people who insist that it is not a racist term: > > How can “thug” apply to a trash talking football player? What sort of criminality is involved in playing football? I feel bad responding to a suspended poster but thug behavior has been attributed to several players in several sports. Hockey enforcers, Bill Laimbeer of the Detroit Pistons was considered a thug, Romanowski was a thug. Some of the behavior on the field of play is criminal. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/231 "2015-11-04T14:18:17Z")
Someone needs to remind Robert of what Jack Tatum did to Darryl Stingley. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/232 "2015-11-04T20:42:47Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Someone needs to remind Robert of what Jack Tatum did to Darryl Stingley. Tatum went to his grave whining about he got pwn3d by Franco Harris. Fuck him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248.md?page=11)