# Would you inmediately peg this handle as antisemitic? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176 "2011-05-08T18:03:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176/41 "2011-05-08T23:46:39Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > I’m sure it was not meant to suggest 1,000 Jews. Well, of course not. That would be “kiloJew”, equivalent to 100 minyanim in the Hebrew system. ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176/42 "2011-05-08T23:48:12Z")
I wouldn’t find them all that antisemitic. I mean they only want to kill one jew. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176/43 "2011-05-09T01:33:25Z")
I think you’re all making too much of this. After all, there was a famous baseball player who [despite his name](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmon_Killebrew), was not anti-beer. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176/44 "2011-05-09T03:03:59Z")
While leaning towards offensive, and still considering ignorant trying to be badarse, I wouldn’t discount something from out of left field and the “jew” being totally incidental (and not even intended to be read as “jew”) Classic example - people here assume the short form of my handle is “Ben” but infact it should be read as Beng Ang Mo (literal translation would be petrol head white guy). I have also use Username88 and hadn’t considered the negative connotations until a thread here (88 is a lucky number here, where I grew up there wasn’t a big nazi / jewish / war culture etc) I would think the best would be to see how he behaves or simply ask him before taking any further actions. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176/45 "2011-05-09T03:24:39Z")
I’d strongly suspect antisemitism, but would allow for the possibility of some other meaning I hadn’t considered. I’ve been happily proven wrong on a couple of occasions. A few years ago I encountered someone on IRC with the nick “kike”. He turned out to be from a Spanish-speaking country and was using it as a diminutive form of Enrique (pronounced “kee-kay”). I explained the word’s uglier meaning and he agreed to change it to avoid misunderstandings. More recently a co-worker from India came to the office wearing a wristband with a right-facing swastika on it. Now I know that it’s an ancient symbol used by many different cultures and was, in this case, a Hindu one, but I likewise recommended he cover it or pick a different symbol to wear to work. Someone was bound to misinterpret it at some point, and it could have led to troubles with HR. Context is everything. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176/46 "2011-05-09T09:20:59Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Name someone was using in a first person shooter, which i guess could still go either way. I’m pretty sure I encountered a player with this handle on online PS3 Black Ops Zombies, and felt I should blow them up (in the virtual world), call them a ‘w\*nker’ and leave the game, just to be on the safe side. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2011, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176/47 "2011-05-09T09:59:06Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I think you’re all making too much of this. > > After all, there was a famous baseball player who [despite his name](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmon_Killebrew), was not anti-beer. Quite right. Here in Minnesota, we’d just think it was a fan of the 1960’s Twins baseball – an old guy, obviously, given the typos. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176/48 "2011-05-09T16:26:09Z")
Woah. Gives Harmon Killebrew’s name a whole new dimension. And damn you all for making my joke, already. I’m posting it anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-inmediately-peg-this-handle-as-antisemitic/581176.md?page=2)