# Why do anti-Semites say "Jew" instead of "Jewish"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371 "2011-01-12T18:54:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/21 "2011-01-12T20:35:31Z")
Joke answer: Because “-ish” means “sort of.” The people they’re talking about aren’t just Jew-ish; they’re full-on Jews! ---
**Author:** ![Walton\_Firm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@Walton\_Firm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walton_Firm)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/22 "2011-01-12T20:48:48Z")
“A Jewish banker”: a banker who happens to be Jewish. His Jewishness is just one of his many attributes, not necessarily very important (although presumably somehow relevant to the discussion, otherwise why would it be mentioned at all). “A Jew banker”: a Jew who happens to be a banker. The fact that he is Jewish overshadows any other attributes which that person might have. It’s like the difference between “a drug-addicted person” and “an addict”. The former acknowledges that the person’s addiction is just one of the many facets of who he is. The latter turns the addiction into the defining characteristic of that individual. So the form “a Jew X” is more likely to be used by people who believe that if you’re Jewish, that is the most important thing that needs to be known about you, and any other characteristics you may have are secondary to that. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/23 "2011-01-12T20:55:27Z")
I think the noun use parallels, “nigger lawyer” & “woman lawyer.” It’s a qualification that someone of one of these odd groups, rather than a respectable man, is doing a thing. And I would say that it’s not necessarily personally anti-Semitic to use “Jew” as a qualifier in that way–esp. if one doesn’t append it all the time–just a sign of coming from a culture where such use is normal. \_ fool’s guinea, proud member of teh Democrat Party ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/24 "2011-01-12T21:06:16Z")
I used to avoid “Jew” even when using it as a noun. I would say “David is Jewish” instead of “David is a Jew,” because I wasn’t sure whether the latter could cause offense. I’ve since settled on the idea that it’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/25 "2011-01-12T21:06:52Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Republicans are trying to be political, but not patently offensive. The explanation for this usage is that the Republicans do not want to have any part of furthering the impression that the Democrats are any more in favor of democracy that the Republicans. The Republican party is a democratic party too. And the constitution says the U.S. will guarantee each stat a republican form of government. Presumably we wouldn’t want to convey the impression that the Republican party was any more in favor of that than the Democratic party, so we shouldn’t use that term either? It’s really hard to believe that those who refer to the Democrat party do it for any reason other than as a put-down. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/26 "2011-01-12T21:07:37Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Or Tea Partiers “teabaggers”. I was unaware that “teabagger” was the noun form of “tea partier”. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/27 "2011-01-12T21:29:00Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Republicans are trying to be political, but not patently offensive. The explanation for this usage is that the Republicans do not want to have any part of furthering the impression that the Democrats are any more in favor of democracy that the Republicans. The Republican party is a democratic party too. > > This is an interesting analysis and may be correct, but I’m not sure you can use it to point to a conscious an deliberate intent to offend through grammar. What\*\* OldGuy \*\*said > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Or Tea Partiers “teabaggers”. Yes, I’m a bagist > [@Malthus](#): > > “Racist” isn’t really correct though, as Jews are not a race … the best general term would be “bigot”. > > Myself, I like “Jew hater”. Specific and not politicized. I consider racists to be people who believe there are ‘races’ of people. Many of them believe Jews are a ‘race’. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/28 "2011-01-13T00:30:21Z")
cf. “Alice is a schizophrenic” vs. “Alice is a person with schizophrenia” or “Bob is an autistic” vs. “Bob has autism.” The former uses are depreciated by mental health organizations. Also, we might say “Carol is black” (YMMV), but “Carol is a black” sounds odd and potentially offensive. ---
**Author:** ![wmfellows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@wmfellows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wmfellows)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/29 "2011-01-13T01:28:22Z")
> [@These are my own pants](#): > > … Often racists are ignorant of that which they hate. For example the term “Paki” is considered extremely offensive, but I’m sure the term simply arose out of an incorrect derivation of the demonym from Pakistan. Over time those who used “Paki” instead of “Pakistani” probably tended to be more on the racist side allowing the term to build up offensive connations. Now it is used delibrately by racists There’s nothing incorrect about the term Paki, perfectly fine derviation in English, shortening up a national name. But yes, in the UK it took on a racist / pejorative sense because of who tended to use it. You’ ll find Americans innocently using it now and again, where it has no such connotation, and as far as I can see, only has a playful sense me, like “my Paki mates” Manner of usage created the meaning. > [@Malthus](#): > > I disagree. “Jew banker” is both offensive and incorrect, because the English language has settled on the use of the other form in reference to Jews. Right. Incorrect in the sense the other form - Jewish - emerged as proper, although it could not have. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/30 "2011-01-13T03:20:16Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I agree that from a biological POV, there are no human “races”. However, from a social and anthropolgical POV, the term “race” has a meaning, even if biologically incorrect. > > No doubt many Jew haters believe in there being a Jewish “race”, but this belief is not universal among them, and nor is this belief correct even in common social and anthropoloigical usage of the term. My Grandmother, who was a military nurse in WWI, told stories of patients, especially WWII POW’s, who would demand that their desperately-needed transfusion be entirely _‘non-Jew’_ blood. She said that even happened into the late 1950’s, here in America. It was even more common here in America for white patients to demand only _‘white’_ blood. (Even, very, very rarely, for a black patient to object to _‘white’_ blood.) Of course, our local blood bank actually aided this – they segregated donated blood into black and white sections. (Ironically, the blood bank gives the same excuses today to justify refusing to accept\* ‘gay’\* blood to contaminate their _straight_ blood supply. The bigot’s mindset never changes – just moves on to new targets.) Grandma said that nurses were taught to respond to this by looking at the label on the blood, and then reassuring the patient that this was the correct blood for them. Sometimes, they actually took the blood out to another room, and came back in with a new one (or the same one), and told the patient that this blood will be good for you. They were told not to argue about this – that would upset the patient and slow down healing. Just pretend to comply. But then, their mission was not “fighting ignorance”, but just curing sick people. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/31 "2011-01-13T05:41:20Z")
Perhaps because the word Jew can be said in the same for as “ew”? As in, “Ew, he just picked his nose.” It seems that most words that are derogatory to the point of being vulgarisms are only one syllable. The only exception I can come up with off the top of my head is “nigger,” and the -er prefix is a pretty short second syllable, to the point where I’ve heard it elided into one. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/32 "2011-01-13T05:50:44Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Grandma said that nurses were taught to respond to this by looking at the label on the blood, and then reassuring the patient that this was the correct blood for them. Sometimes, they actually took the blood out to another room, and came back in with a new one (or the same one), and told the patient that this blood will be good for you. They were told not to argue about this – that would upset the patient and slow down healing. Just pretend to comply. But then, their mission was not “fighting ignorance”, but just curing sick people. This was an episode of MASH (a white soldier specifically requesting no black blood (something’s telling me he may have used the n-word - while I’m sure they might have In Real Life, I doubt they would have in a TV episode of MASH) and what you described above is pretty much how the 4077th handled it. MASH always took great pride in researching its stories fully to present the “real” Korean War. Nice to know this one is based on reality too. (Well, the reality wasn’t nice, but you know what I mean.) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/33 "2011-01-13T06:30:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes, I’m a bagist Baggot. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/34 "2011-01-13T06:33:44Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes, I’m a bagist [If that’s your bag.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagism) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/35 "2011-01-13T06:44:07Z")
😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/36 "2011-01-13T07:01:19Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Or Tea Partiers “teabaggers”. Let’s not forget that was what they called themselves when they first decided that they didn’t want to be known as Republicans. Then they found out that teabagger had a dirty meaning and now want to be known as “tea partiers”. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/37 "2011-01-13T13:18:23Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > MASH always took great pride in researching its stories fully to present the “real” Korean War. Nice to know this one is based on reality too. But they propagated the legend that Charles Drew was denied a blood transfusion that would have saved his life because he was black. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/38 "2011-01-13T13:32:50Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > (Ironically, the blood bank gives the same excuses today to justify refusing to accept\* ‘gay’\* blood to contaminate their _straight_ blood supply. The bigot’s mindset never changes – just moves on to new targets.) I think this bit is a little unfair to blood banks. At the time tere was very good medical reason for not accepting donations from gay men (just like donations aren’t accepted from people who’ve recently been to malarial regions, have recently had transplants, have lived in England long enough to be at risk for Mad Cow disease, or other similar reasons). Better safe than sorry is the right approach for blood donation. [I say that having been rejected twice for just barely meeting one of the reasons, even though it was completely clear my blood was as safe as anyone elses]. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/39 "2011-01-13T18:19:11Z")
**Why do anti-Semites say “Jew” instead of “Jewish”?** I believe the correct term is “anti-Semitic individuals”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/40 "2011-01-13T18:42:30Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > cf. “Alice is a schizophrenic” vs. “Alice is a person with schizophrenia” or “Bob is an autistic” vs. “Bob has autism.” The former uses are depreciated by mental health organizations. Also, we might say “Carol is black” (YMMV), but “Carol is a black” sounds odd and potentially offensive. I don’t think I hear the former, but I do hear “Alice is schizophrenic” and “Bob is autistic” i.e., using adjectives not as nouns but as predicate adjectives. That sounds quite natural to me – much more than either the potentially offensive or "person with … " version you suggest. Is this construction frowned upon? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371.md?page=3)