No one said that it was, so no one is making that mistake.
Let’s start with Jew-boy or Jew-Doctor. You don’t think those are offensive?
Or you could check some sources and find that you are TOTALLY CORRECT and that among hair stylists, you know people who actually talk about hair and hairstyles, jewfro is not restricted to Jews. Which is why no one finds jewfro offensive, which was my original point.
http://www.manlycurls.com/2012/04/jewfro-curly-hairstyle-men-cool-stylish/
Lol. That’s because “thug” means someone who is a violent criminal. At least it does to me and the people I know.
In case any of you missed my response to VT:
http://www.manlycurls.com/2012/04/jewfro-curly-hairstyle-men-cool-stylish/
Hmmmmm… And you don’t think anyone who uses a word properly might be actually using the word properly?
I am a Jew. I don’t find the noun offensive at all, just descriptive.
I do find the construction “Jew noun” to generally be offensive. When I stumble upon a new usage of that sort, I wonder whether the person using it intends to insult me.
Mr. Dibble, I have accidentally used language that was more racially charged than i realized. People told me, and I apologized and stopped using those words. That’d be my advice for you here, whether or not the mods or this message board allow it.
And I’ve learned something new about recent usage of “thug”. I can guarantee you that’s not the use i learned, or have used the past, but words change. C’est la vie.
Ok, this is asinine and makes little sense to anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the history of anti-Semitism.
Despite phrase like “yid” “Judensau” etc. anti-Semites haven’t generally felt the need to think up epithets when referring to Jews. The term “Jew” was generally bad enough.
Of course the term “Jew” can be used as an insult.
??? This question is tautological.
Irrelevant. Most people don’t use it that way.
You seem to throw around the that’s racist quite often when in fact people using a word might be using it correctly. You state you can’t read minds. Perhaps a bit of humility is in order.
I’m not judging any people, just posts. People who aren’t racist can still say racist things. When that happens, I think it’s appropriate to point it out. If I say something that might be racist, I hope people point it out, because I want to improve myself.
Sometimes I might make a mistake. If so, we can have a conversation about it. It’s not a huge deal – I say “I think you shouldn’t have said that because it’s racist/bigoted/etc.” they say “no, you misunderstand, and here’s why”, and then we can have a good conversation.
I’ll let VT’s response speak for me:
The language and the culture changes when it changes. You don’t get a pass for not noticing. True, there’s always the fuzziness of when change becomes so big that people will criticize you for not noticing its hugeness but when the change occurs it’s usually a huge wave of usage. No, it’s not always fair.
So what to do about this? I’m never heard anyone before this use jewfro for a non-Jew, nor have I ever seen a reference that made me think anybody in the world did before now. Neither has anyone else in this thread. Whether this is truly a change or a weird idiosyncrasy, though, the term is clearly not yet at the tipping point. Being able to find one cite on the Internet means nothing.
The fact that jewfro is in common use and is not considered pejorative and is clearly distinguishable from jewboy makes the silliness of equating jewbro with Jew-Doctor equally clear.
I like the coinage of jewbro. He-bro should be ever better, maybe more so if spelled heb-bro (which makes the derivation more apparent). But jewbro is instantly understandable while he-bro takes a second, a critical difference in usage.
Lots of words are code for prejudice. Coded hate should be pointed out and stamped out whenever and wherever you find it. But this? None of you convinced me that MrDibble did anything wrong, and I’m easily convinced on this subject.
Digger Phelps was a famous basketball coach at Notre Dame and a TV commentator. Im not sure that would have been possible had his name been offensive.
I’m glad that you acknowledge you were wrong.
I could see “Wandering Jew” being maybe slightly offensive if it were a term that ascribed a particular quality to all Jews. But the phrase actually refers to one particular (legendary) Jew. It’s not a slur to all Jews any more than “Flying Dutchman” is a slur to all Netherlanders. Or so it seems to me; but then, I’m not Jewish, so I don’t really get a say.
Whippersnapper. When I hear “thug”, I think “someone who’s going to strangle me with a silk handkerchief as a sacrifice to Kali”.
No problem. I’m at a crowded bar and there is a guy here dressed as Mr. Kotter with a glorious jewfro, not a wig. Well, it MAY be a jewfro. He’s drinking draft beer pretty rapidly, so I’m thinking it shouldn’t be long before he hits the head. My plan is to sidle up next to him at the urinal, (it’s a long trough), and check his Jewish bona fides.
I should be able to report back here pretty soon and let you all know if it’s a jewfro or not. Fingers crossed that he doesn’t think I’m up to something weird. Oooh, he’s getting up; back in a flash…
Nope. Not a jewfro. And unfortunately for that poor curly-haired bastard, I think it must be an Irishfro.
You appear to wish to wander off inventing things I have not said.
I noted that the construction Jew noun was insulting. I said nothing about reversing the order of those words, which, in English, would generally change the construction to adjective Jew
“Sounds like” was not applied as a standard. It was noted because it had already been noted, previously and it provides an example of the sort of construction I noted. Speaking it aloud would give most speakers a sense of they way such a construction sounds insulting.
The ADL does not set the standard for insults; I did not bother to try to find any such thing. I am aware that the construction Jew noun is insulting. If you doubt that, simply drop “Jew insult” into Google and review the number of sites that discuss using Jew as an adjective.
You had to learn that? Did you go to elementary school with Strom Thurmond or something?
“Thug” = “black man” is a far newer thing. I’m 49 (oy, I still hate writing that) and I’d say for the vast majority of my lengthy time on earth, “thug” was pretty much a synonym for “goon,” “muscle,” “young punk,” “gang member” (and that would’ve included the Sharks and the Jets!), “hulking bully” or simply “scary violent person.”
For example, in the 2000 election, when a bunch of rioters forced and bullied their way into a building where Florida ballot counters were involved in the recount, they were (and are) called “thugs.” Considering this was called the Brooks Brothers Riot, that might give you a good inkling of just how Whitey McPaleface these people were. Indeed, harsher Democrats often call Republicans “Rethugs.” Google “brooks brothers riot” and “thugs” and you’ll see plenty of results.
(And before anyone freaks out: I have no doubt that the same goes for any left-wing rioters or demonstrators in various instances who pissed off Republicans.)
ANYWAY. All this said, I’ll continue to use “thug” for bullying types such as supporters of certain politicians, but avoid it for any rare instances where I’d be kvetching about black folks. You know why? Because it’s now considered offensive in that context, and unlike people like MrDibble and Grotonian–and for that matter, Scandia as Fenris rightfully mentions–I’m not looking to offend a group at large and I’ll take people’s word for it that something is hurtful.
I’ve never considered it a hardship to refrain from causing insult. But then, I’m not the type who intentionally tries to slide a slur past the mods.