# Why is "Jew" not a slur? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782 "2014-08-17T21:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/41 "2014-08-18T17:59:22Z")
Is it a singular and plural form? ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/42 "2014-08-18T18:13:50Z")
singular. jehudi, jehudim It is almost the same in arabic, jehud, jehudine ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/43 "2014-08-18T18:16:59Z")
For what it’s worth, I don’t feel the same way as **Alessan**. Quite the opposite, in fact. Steven Pinker has an excellent section in _The Stuff of Thought_ on this matter. If someone says about me, “He’s a Jew,” he’s putting me in an all-inclusive category that comprises all the beliefs and stereotypes that go along with that category and is describing me in a one-size-fits-all term. And I don’t really like that. If, on the other hand, someone says, “He’s Jewish,” I have been given a descriptor that is limited and that doesn’t attempt to make an overall judgment about me. And I don’t mind that. It’s very subtle, I grant, but I know many people who feel the same way. And, incidentally, if someone says “He’s a Jew lawyer,” the offense is NOT grammatical, contrary to an assertion above. It’s an attempt to characterize a person with a totally irrelevant but clearly meaningful stereotypical term. It’s as ugly as it gets because the people who use that type of language frequently would say that they’re “simply” describing someone in non-judgmental terms. B.S. That’s the subtlety and invidiousness of prejudice. Who me?? Some of my best friends are… ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/44 "2014-08-18T18:21:27Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Of course it takes more than shortening the word to make it a slur. Unless “Swede” is a slur now too, which wouldn’t surprise me actually. > > The one that really caught me off guard was “midget”. My whole life it was a neutral term, then suddenly it’s an awful slur. Swede’s not a slur in American Pastoral (Philip Roth). Neither is Jew. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/45 "2014-08-18T18:24:54Z")
> [@CC](#): > > If someone says about me, “He’s a Jew,” he’s putting me in an all-inclusive category that comprises all the beliefs and stereotypes that go along with that category and is describing me in a one-size-fits-all term. And I don’t really like that. If, on the other hand, someone says, “He’s Jewish,” I have been given a descriptor that is limited and that doesn’t attempt to make an overall judgment about me. And I don’t mind that. It’s very subtle, I grant, but I know many people who feel the same way. For lack of a better way of phrasing this: what are the additional elements of “being a Jew” that are not implied by “being Jewish”? Are you saying the latter is solely a religious descriptor, while the former is ethnic and religions? ---
**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:** [August 18, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/46 "2014-08-18T18:53:09Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > singular. jehudi, jehudim And when a jehudi takes on an apprentice, he/she is called a pahudawan. They are opposed by the sihuith. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/47 "2014-08-18T18:59:56Z")
One of my best friends is Jewish. It sounds wrong to say, “He is a Jew.” It sounds much better to my ear to say, “He is Jewish.” Note that both sentences are four syllables long, so there is no efficiency gain one way or another. Another friend is a non-practicing Jew. He’s Jewish-ish. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/48 "2014-08-18T19:04:14Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It’s probably meant to be offensive when someone says “Hey, Jew!”. I suppose it really depends on where the Jew goin’ with that gun in his hand. I said it depends where he goin’ with that gun in his hand. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/49 "2014-08-18T19:49:19Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Quick question- is the term Moslem just another way to transcribe the same word as Muslim from the Arabic original, or is it actually something different? Same thing, just a little more archaic. Since Muslim is closer to the normal pronunciation in English it tends to be preferred. I’ve had in my life older teachers that insisted on the spelling Moslem based on them being old, but they were wrong ;). Mohammedan is even more archaic. However that one is considered borderline offensive since as an analog to Christian it loosely implies actual worship of Mohammed, a technically heretical notion to Muslims. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/50 "2014-08-18T20:33:08Z")
> [@CC](#): > > … > And, incidentally, if someone says “He’s a Jew lawyer,” the offense is NOT grammatical, contrary to an assertion above. It’s an attempt to characterize a person with a totally irrelevant but clearly meaningful stereotypical term. It’s as ugly as it gets because the people who use that type of language frequently would say that they’re “simply” describing someone in non-judgmental terms. B.S. That’s the subtlety and invidiousness of prejudice. Who me?? Some of my best friends are… Essentially you’re saying the same as me - “people who use that type of language…” The choice of language is deliberately chosen by the speaker to be offensive. I don’t think there’s any attempt at justification or “Simply descriptive”. People who use that language are being deliberately offensive, intend to be so, and intend everyone to take it that way. It’s not grammatical, any more than “Jew” as a verb is simply grammatical; it’s a deliberate insult base on language usage and its perceived baggage, like calling a black man “boy”. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/51 "2014-08-18T20:40:05Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Essentially you’re saying the same as me - “people who use that type of language…” The choice of language is deliberately chosen by the speaker to be offensive. I don’t think there’s any attempt at justification or “Simply descriptive”. People who use that language are being deliberately offensive, intend to be so, and intend everyone to take it that way. It’s not grammatical, any more than “Jew” as a verb is simply grammatical; it’s a deliberate insult base on language usage and its perceived baggage, like calling a black man “boy”. But there’s nothing inherently offensive about the word “boy,” it’s just the usage. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/52 "2014-08-18T20:40:27Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > It depends on how you say it: [http://www.cc.com/video-clips/wzsdq0/stand-up-louis-ck--uncensored----jew--is-a-funny-word](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/wzsdq0/stand-up-louis-ck--uncensored----jew--is-a-funny-word) Crap. Ninja’ed by almost 24 hours. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/53 "2014-08-18T20:57:09Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > For lack of a better way of phrasing this: what are the additional elements of “being a Jew” that are not implied by “being Jewish”? Are you saying the latter is solely a religious descriptor, while the former is ethnic and religions? Not at all. Here’s a stretch from Pinker’s book that makes it a little more clear (I hope). “The reason [for the common reaction similar to the one I mentioned in my earlier post] is that a noun predicate appears to pigeonhole [people] with the stereotype of a category rather than referring to them as an individual who happens to possess a trait. Logicians would be hard-pressed to specify the difference, but psychologically it matters a great deal. You can innocuously describe someone’s hair as\* blond, brunette\*, or\* red\* (adjectives), but it’s a trickier business to refer to the whole person, particularly a woman, as _a blonde, a brunette_, or _a redhead_ (nouns). The terms seem to reduce the woman to a sexually attractive physical feature, and to typecast her, according to old stereotypes, as flighty, sophisticated, or hot-tempered.” etc. Similarly, referring to someone as a Jew seems to reduce a person to a stereotype, and saying that they’re Jewish says only that among all other characteristics and factors about that person, that’s just another thing to be noted. As he says, more psychological than logical. That help? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/54 "2014-08-18T22:01:03Z")
Personally, I’d rather be referred to as a Jew, than “a Jewish person,” so there’s another data point. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/55 "2014-08-18T23:54:57Z")
> [@CC](#): > > And, incidentally, if someone says “He’s a Jew lawyer,” the offense is NOT grammatical, contrary to an assertion above. The offense is grammatical. It might be something else beyond, but “Jew” is a noun. In the sentence “He’s a Jew lawyer”, “Jew” is modifying lawyer, which means it takes an adjectival form, and the adjectival form of “Jew” is “Jewish”, so “He’s a Jewish lawyer” is grammatically correct. It’s the same reason that while you might say, “He’s Jewish”, you’d never say, “He’s a Jewish” (unless you were Chico Marx, who was a-Jewish). ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/56 "2014-08-19T01:14:35Z")
There’s also the nuance that is introduced if the way in which the word “Jew” is employed differs from the way other national/community labels are employed. “I’m Irish”, “she’s American”, “you’re French” but “he’s a Jew”? If somebody uses “Jew” inconsistely this way, it sounds . . . off. But if their normal mode is to say “he’s an Irishman”, “he’s a Frenchman”, etc, then “he’s a Jew” fits right in. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/57 "2014-08-19T01:54:48Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > The offense is grammatical. It might be something else beyond, but “Jew” is a noun. In the sentence “He’s a Jew lawyer”, “Jew” is modifying lawyer, which means it takes an adjectival form, and the adjectival form of “Jew” is “Jewish”, so “He’s a Jewish lawyer” is grammatically correct. It’s the same reason that while you might say, “He’s Jewish”, you’d never say, “He’s a Jewish” (unless you were Chico Marx, who was a-Jewish). From \* Animal Crackers: \* CHICO: How did you get to be Roscoe W. Chandler? SORIN: Say, how did you get to be an Italian? CHICO: Never mind–whose confession is this? ---
**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:** [August 19, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/58 "2014-08-19T02:02:23Z")
Hijack time: I was once at a party for a Jewish coworker. No one was eating the birthday cake, so she cuts me a piece. I didn’t want it, but she starts shoving it at me. “Eat the cake. Eat the cake! Cake eater! CAKE EATER!!” she’s shouting at me. We’re all drunk, btw. There’s a pause. One more time, she goes “CAKE EATER!” So yelled back, “…JEW!” Brought. The house. DOWN! Hysterical laughter for at least 3 minutes solid. I was king of the moment. So, no. Not offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/59 "2014-08-19T05:00:21Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > There’s also the nuance that is introduced if the way in which the word “Jew” is employed differs from the way other national/community labels are employed. “I’m Irish”, “she’s American”, “you’re French” but “he’s a Jew”? If somebody uses “Jew” inconsistely this way, it sounds . . . off. But if their normal mode is to say “he’s an Irishman”, “he’s a Frenchman”, etc, then “he’s a Jew” fits right in. But you’re mixing cultural and national identifies. I’m Basque and a Spaniard. One is my cultural/ancestry identifier, one my nationality, and they use different grammar. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782/60 "2014-08-19T06:04:38Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > But you’re mixing cultural and national identifies. I’m Basque and a Spaniard. One is my cultural/ancestry identifier, one my nationality, and they use different grammar. Nationality _is_ a cultural identity, Nava. I think you’re offering a false dichotomy here. I was conscious, when I wrote my earlier post, that instead of national identifiers I could equally have used religious identifiers (also cultural identifiers, of course) - I’m Catholic, you’re Protestant, he’s Jewish. That’s fine. But if the usage was I’m Catholic, you’re Protestant, _he’s a Jew_ - that seems just a bit off to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jew-not-a-slur/695782.md?page=4)