# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/41 "2011-01-13T19:46:36Z")
I get that “Jew bankers” is inappropriate, but I don’t know where the line is drawn. I refer to myself (and have been referred to) as a Jewban. More emphasis is placed on the intent and the non-verbal part of communication anyways, so that’s obviously more important. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/42 "2011-01-13T19:52:51Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > 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? I think the reason it’s frowned upon is that with mental health issues it can often be unhelpful to label and it’s better to make the clear distinction between the person and their illness simply from a therapeutic point of view. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/43 "2011-01-13T20:08:03Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > 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. In my experience, David would proudly self-identify as “a Jew” if he is anything like the majority of my Jewish friends. ---
**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, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/44 "2011-01-13T21:42:37Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > 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? It’s tricky, but generally, the more unwieldy the construction, the more preferred it is. [An example from the American Psychological Association stylistics](http://www.owled.com/apa1.html) (scroll down to the bottom section). Of course, I’m sure there’s more in the official guide, but I don’t have access to it. Giving labels is thought to dehumanize, as in, “I’d like you to meet Schizo-Alice,” as if that was her entire personality. Of course, there is also a strong PC element, but it also occasionally has the effect of clarifying language. ---
**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, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/45 "2011-01-13T21:50:00Z")
> [@Uncertain](#): > > But they propagated the legend that Charles Drew was denied a blood transfusion that would have saved his life because he was black. Well, it’s partly true – he was denied the transfusion. But it wouldn’t have saved his life; his injuries were fatal in any case. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/46 "2011-01-13T23:37:34Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > 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”. Why shouldn’t we forget that? Do you think that makes it OK? Am I supposed to believe that you don’t “intend to be offensive to the targets of [your] prejudice” when you say “teabagger”? You apparently think me naive. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/47 "2011-01-14T00:49:41Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Nouns objectify. Using a noun as an adjective serves to de-personalize the target and make them into object. the reverse can be done too - using an adjective as a noun in order to reduce and dehumanize the object - i.e. “illegals.” While I find that insightful (if not, as requested, inciteful), I don’t agree in this instance. I think the intent to **emphasize the subgroup** (race, religion, whatever), and thereby imply the group (and their associated world domination conspiracy) is of more importance to the individual(s) than the profession. I think this is completely different from ‘women’, ‘black’, or ‘Jewish’ bankers; that is just insulting and dismissive, implying such bankers are different from regular, non-adjectivized, bankers. (Well, unless one is discussing the issue of banking on the first day of Yom Kippur …) ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/48 "2011-01-14T06:37:21Z")
If I were in a position to need blood to keep my existence going, I’d probably take it from a heroin-addicted prostitute with a variety of diseases. That said, Tatooing isn’t always done with sterilization in mind; homosexual sex carries a higher incidence of HIV due to tissue degradation; steroids are also a disqualifying factor if after xx year. Trying to keep the recipients (who are already in a vulnerable state) doesn’t strike me as discriminatory. They could also add, “have you ever f’d someone and found out they f’d around with someone else” as criteria… but that would significantly reduce their candidate pool. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/49 "2011-01-16T03:35:17Z")
I taught for several months in an Orthodox Jewish private school. Boy, was that some cognitive dissonance. Every other time in my life I heard someone refer to “that Jew” instead of “that Jewish person”, the context was always bigoted. Yet, the people I worked with prided themselves on being Jews. Not Jewish, but Jews. Posters by the kids declared “The Jews Shall Prosper!” and other such slogans. I’d twitch the first time I saw one, then realize it was positive, not negative, then have to remind myself that other groups (Christians, Americans, Yankee fans) made identical proclamations, and I really needed to relax. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/50 "2011-01-16T06:01:25Z")
Bear in mind that in Hebrew, adjectives can always be used as nouns; thus “Yehudi” means both “Jew” and “Jewish”. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371/51 "2011-01-16T20:09:51Z")
> [@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. (Well, the reality wasn’t nice, but you know what I mean.) Actually, they got a key element of the storyline wrong, promoting an Urban Legend, (unless there were two episodes with a similar theme). In the one I saw, they swabbed the patients hands and face with something to darken the skin, then gave him a hard time about Dr. Charles Drew, a black man who developed ways to transport plasma and created the “blood bank,” dying because he was refused “white” blood after a traffic accident. Dr. Drew was real and did die in a traffic accident, but he did not die because he was denied medical services or blood because he was black. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-anti-semites-say-jew-instead-of-jewish/567371.md?page=2)