# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/61 "2015-10-31T18:13:10Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Didn’t use it as a standalone adjective, used it as a suffix. Or is it a pejorative in “jewfro”? Prefix is the word you’re looking for. A suffix comes after the qualified term. And it’s still a pejorative. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/62 "2015-10-31T19:33:31Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Prefix is the word you’re looking for. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/63 "2015-10-31T19:43:25Z")
The “Jew” in jewfro doesn’t even mean “Jew”, in the regions of the U.S. I’ve lived; it means “non-African.” Any white person who can proximate an Afro will have his or her hair referred to as a jewfro. (I don’t care that Wikipedia says jewfros are for Ashkenazis, they’re for all white people.) A whitefro is a haircut short enough that all the hair stands straight up, like a mini-Afro, I guess. Any man who’s ever had a buzz cut had a whitefro, even if that word is rarely used. So jewfro is a terrible example of a non-pejorative use of Jew, because Jew in that context means “non-black,” not “Jewish.” ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/64 "2015-10-31T20:06:07Z")
I thought it was a poor choice of words, though indicative of the kind of poor judgment we all exhibit. I suspect Tom’s mod note was mainly to ensure this didn’t turn into a thread hijack and while certainly a tad hypocritical with the whole “claiming black people are stupid isn’t racist” argument and the board has a well-deserved reputation for having different standards with regards to groups you can hit and groups you can’t, I’d agree with his decision. I think Dibble would have been better off just saying “Jewish fraternity brothers” which I can’t imagine anyone getting upset by. > [@](#): > > There’s a difference between saying “Blacks, on average, score lower on IQ tests and the evidence points toward a genetic cause” and “Niggers, on average, score lower on IQ tests…” Uh-huh. Yeah in the sense that there’s a difference between saying “I hate Jews” and “I hate Kikes”. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/65 "2015-10-31T20:13:53Z")
I personally see nothing inherently wrong with thug - is there a synonym? I usually use savage - like from Clerks. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/66 "2015-10-31T20:18:46Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > The “Jew” in jewfro doesn’t even mean “Jew”, in the regions of the U.S. I’ve lived; it means “non-African.” Any white person who can proximate an Afro will have his or her hair referred to as a jewfro. (I don’t care that Wikipedia says jewfros are for Ashkenazis, they’re for all white people.) A whitefro is a haircut short enough that all the hair stands straight up, like a mini-Afro, I guess. Any man who’s ever had a buzz cut had a whitefro, even if that word is rarely used. > > So jewfro is a terrible example of a non-pejorative use of Jew, because Jew in that context means “non-black,” not “Jewish.” **Allison** (touching Ben’s hair): I love your curly hair. It’s so great. Do you, like, use a product or anything? **Ben:** No. That’s uh, I use, uh–“Jew” it’s called. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3DAMHwLzFSc/hqdefault.jpg "Seth Rogen's Jew Fro in "Knocked Up"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DAMHwLzFSc) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/67 "2015-10-31T20:25:12Z")
Well, it was a weird and kind of tone-deaf thing to say, for sure. I thought it definitely sounded insulting. Also kind of surprising, considering the source. Now I am an old person, and what words mean is probably not gonna change for me, in that when I hear “thug” I am gonna think “armed robber” or “person who might consider armed robbery” rather than any race at all. I know things change (the fact that the Pike frat is banding together with a Jewish frat, for anything, is definitely a surprising turn of events), but I think for most people who actually live and talk in America, “thug” is more going to mean “gangster” and “Jew-bros” is going to be more like “those people.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/68 "2015-10-31T20:46:20Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You don’t have to agree. We probably just disagree on the threshold at which something crosses the line – I think “thug” has already done so in American english. I’d need to be convinced by an expert. If the consensus of “men of letters” or “students of the language” or even plain old linguists was that thug had “crossed the line”, I’d probably be convinced. A bunch of anonymous folks on a message board? No. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/69 "2015-10-31T21:24:54Z")
Yes it was offensive and deserving a mod note. > [@MrDibble](#): > > Just a note, that’s no reason to let it go uncommented.I’m aware of the pejorative use of “Jew” as an adjective, like “Jew lawyer” vs “Jewish lawyer”. I was unaware this had been deemed to now extend to portmanteaus. “Jewfro” is used here with impunity, after all. And it _precisely_ that usage that inspired my invention. It even rhymes. Not sure that rhyming justifies usage. Generally speaking those outside of a minority community don’t get to make up cute names for that minority community. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/70 "2015-10-31T21:28:15Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > The “Jew” in jewfro doesn’t even mean “Jew”, in the regions of the U.S. I’ve lived; it means “non-African.” Any white person who can proximate an Afro will have his or her hair referred to as a jewfro. (I don’t care that Wikipedia says jewfros are for Ashkenazis, they’re for all white people.) This isn’t true in any area of the US I have lived in, including the Northeast and West. (My college roommate was Jewish and had a jewfro.) ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/71 "2015-10-31T22:04:22Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > This isn’t true in any area of the US I have lived in, including the Northeast and West. (My college roommate was Jewish and had a jewfro.) If Chelsea Clinton had a 4-inch long hairdo, it’d be a jewfro, not an Afro, not a whitefro, a jewfro. She’s not Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/72 "2015-10-31T22:17:31Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > If Chelsea Clinton had a 4-inch long hairdo, it’d be a jewfro, not an Afro, not a whitefro, a jewfro. She’s not Jewish. She doesn’t have a jewfro because she’s not Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/73 "2015-10-31T22:18:05Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > If Chelsea Clinton had a 4-inch long hairdo, it’d be a jewfro, not an Afro, not a whitefro, a jewfro. She’s not Jewish. I’ve never heard the term applied to someone who is not Jewish. If it were, I’d consider it a joke. Typically, the person tries to blend their actual ethnicity into “fro”. I’ve heard I-fro from an Irish guy. But never Jewfro form or towards someone not Jewish. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/74 "2015-10-31T22:24:30Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Well, it was a weird and kind of tone-deaf thing to say, for sure. I thought it definitely sounded insulting. Also kind of surprising, considering the source. > > Now I am an old person, and what words mean is probably not gonna change for me, in that when I hear “thug” I am gonna think “armed robber” or “person who might consider armed robbery” rather than any race at all. I know things change (the fact that the Pike frat is banding together with a Jewish frat, for anything, is definitely a surprising turn of events), but I think for most people who actually live and talk in America, “thug” is more going to mean “gangster” and “Jew-bros” is going to be more like “those people.” “Thug” became code for “n\*\*\*er” a few years ago. Part of it was when the Seahawks won a game which sent them to the Super Bowl, and Richard Sherman (who is no dummy) gave a bit of trash talk to the sideline reporter about an opposing player. The sports journalistica (mostly a bunch of old, fat, balding white guys) went all “thuggy thuggy thug thug.” After that pretty much any black guy involved in anything controversial was referred to as a thug. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/75 "2015-10-31T22:31:18Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’d need to be convinced by an expert. If the consensus of “men of letters” or “students of the language” or even plain old linguists was that thug had “crossed the line”, I’d probably be convinced. A bunch of anonymous folks on a message board? No. Sounds reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/76 "2015-10-31T22:33:13Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’ve never heard the term applied to someone who is not Jewish. If it were, I’d consider it a joke. Typically, the person tries to blend their actual ethnicity into “fro”. I’ve heard I-fro from an Irish guy. But never Jewfro form or towards someone not Jewish. Justin Timberlake, a Southern Baptist, is one of the first google images that comes up for jewfro. JT is not a Jew. Hell, when you see a stranger with a jewfro, how could you ever know if they’re Jewish? Do you think you have to know someone’s religion to identify a jewfro? There’s no such thing as a gentilefro, jewfro means “white person’s fro,” at least, that’s how it’s used by everyone under 40. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/77 "2015-10-31T22:34:18Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > that’s how it’s used by everyone under 40. No it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/78 "2015-10-31T22:35:00Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > She doesn’t have a jewfro because she’s not Jewish. Still a jewfro. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/79 "2015-10-31T22:38:56Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > Justin Timberlake, a Southern Baptist, is one of the first google images that comes up for jewfro. It’s about the 40th image on the page, not one of the first. People may occasionally refer to non-Jews as having jewfros, but it’s not at all typical, and not really what the word refers to. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248/80 "2015-10-31T22:44:33Z")
> [@Grotonian](#): > > Justin Timberlake, a Southern Baptist, is one of the first google images that comes up for jewfro. JT is not a Jew. Hell, when you see a stranger with a jewfro, how could you ever know if they’re Jewish? > > Do you think you have to know someone’s religion to identify a jewfro? There’s no such thing as a gentilefro, jewfro means “white person’s fro,” at least, that’s how it’s used by everyone under 40. [Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jewfro) disagrees. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-please-explain-why-i-was-noted-for-saying-jew-bros/736248.md?page=5)