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Is the Term "Jew" Offensive?

Is the Term "Jew" Offensive

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 3.1%

  • No

    Votes: 49 51.0%

  • Depends on how it's used

    Votes: 44 45.8%
  • Total voters
    96
X Factor said:
It's come up in a thread that some people might consider the word "Jew" to be offensive or insulting. Is "Jew" offensive? I ask this in all sincerity because I do use the word and it hadn't occurred to me that it might be a bad thing to do.
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The Jewish friends that I know find it offensive, so I don't use that word anymore.
Not to change the subject but just look at the latest news also about using the word "illegal" while describing people who are here illegally. Now the press is thinking about not using that word because it is offensive to those who are here illegally. The words "undocumented" should be used instead. Go figure....
Some people are very sensitive.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
As always, depends on context. We had a poster here that called me "Jew" with absolute intent to be offensive. Other times I've been called "a Jew" with no offense intended. If you think about it though, calling someone "a Jew" sounds aggressive. Usually better to call someone Jewish.
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Is that because they may not actually be a Jew..... only a little Jewish? :cool:

.
 
I think the term can never be offensive, but rather it is entirely based on something else communicated at the same time. If someone says "Jew" like that's a bad thing it is really the fact someone is saying it like it is a bad thing as opposed to the term itself being used. It is not like calling someone a fishhead or a porch monkey, words whose sole meanings are pejorative.

Catz Part Deux said:
Zionist Occupational Government (the idea that a shadowy cabal of Joos control the world's governments and particularly that of the U.S.). It's frequently put forward by neo-nazis, Islamists, and a couple of posters on this forum.

IMO, it's a red flag that is a dead tip-off that you're dealing with someone that is actually anti-semitic.
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Really? Which ones?

X Factor said:
Yes, I've encountered this here and on some other forums.
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O RLY? Where have you encountered it on this forum?
 
If I called one of my Jewish friends a 'Jew", they'd probably call me a 'Christian'. I don't use the term at all. Jewish is an acceptable adjective. Jew is a bad noun. Jew is a terrible verb.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
Zionist Occupational Government (the idea that a shadowy cabal of Joos control the world's governments and particularly that of the U.S.). It's frequently put forward by neo-nazis, Islamists, and a couple of posters on this forum.

IMO, it's a red flag that is a dead tip-off that you're dealing with someone that is actually anti-semitic.
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so the real question is: Do the Zogs and the Freemansons get along?
 
I never really thought about it much because I almost never use the term “Jew”, I instead say “Jewish”. Not sure why really. I’m not offended by either word but I can see how others might be, depending upon how it’s used.
 
GPS_Flex said:
I never really thought about it much because I almost never use the term “Jew”, I instead say “Jewish”. Not sure why really. I’m not offended by either word but I can see how others might be, depending upon how it’s used.
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It's actually just awkward - verbally and technically - to use a consonantly sharp term when describing something when all other terms of the same ilk are stylish.

Irish
Chezoslovakian
Greek
American
Spanish

All these are pluralized referencing one of said origin or association . . and are put into a sentence like so:

"He is Greek"
"She is Spanish"
"They are both Irish"
"She is not an American"

But to use the term "jew" - though it's in the same linguistic catagory as "Greek" (sharp - one syllable) you would have to say "He is *a* Jew"

And - all in all - it's odd and untraditional to say "He is *a* Greek" - or "She's A Frank" . . . it sounds more ideal to the ear and it's just more fluid when speaking to say "She is Jewish" - more so than "She is *a* Jew"

Because most other terms don't come across that way - it just seems out of place.

Nothing wrong with it, grammatically - but humans are creatures of verbal habit.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
It's actually just awkward - verbally and technically - to use a consonantly sharp term when describing something when all other terms of the same ilk are stylish.

Irish
Chezoslovakian
Greek
American
Spanish

All these are pluralized referencing one of said origin or association . . and are put into a sentence like so:

"He is Greek"
"She is Spanish"
"They are both Irish"
"She is not an American"

But to use the term "jew" - though it's in the same linguistic catagory as "Greek" (sharp - one syllable) you would have to say "He is *a* Jew"

And - all in all - it's odd and untraditional to say "He is *a* Greek" - or "She's A Frank" . . . it sounds more ideal to the ear and it's just more fluid when speaking to say "She is Jewish" - more so than "She is *a* Jew"

Because most other terms don't come across that way - it just seems out of place.

Nothing wrong with it, grammatically - but humans are creatures of verbal habit.
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Great points. That makes perfect sense.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
It's actually just awkward - verbally and technically - to use a consonantly sharp term when describing something when all other terms of the same ilk are stylish.

Irish
Chezoslovakian
Greek
American
Spanish

All these are pluralized referencing one of said origin or association . . and are put into a sentence like so:

"He is Greek"
"She is Spanish"
"They are both Irish"
"She is not an American"

But to use the term "jew" - though it's in the same linguistic catagory as "Greek" (sharp - one syllable) you would have to say "He is *a* Jew"

And - all in all - it's odd and untraditional to say "He is *a* Greek" - or "She's A Frank" . . . it sounds more ideal to the ear and it's just more fluid when speaking to say "She is Jewish" - more so than "She is *a* Jew"

Because most other terms don't come across that way - it just seems out of place.

Nothing wrong with it, grammatically - but humans are creatures of verbal habit.
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But is Jew an ethnicity or is it a description of a person of a particular religion? When we describe someone by religion we do say he is "a Christian", "a Mormon", "a Jedi"...
 
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X Factor said:
But is Jew an ethnicity or is it a description of a person of a particular religion? When people be religion we do say he is "a Christian", "a Mormon", "a Jedi"...
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I asked my brother in law that - because he is "Jewish" and I was confused and under the belief that it's a religion *only* and not a culture . . . he said "it can be both - always ask someone if you're not sure."

So - he is of Jewish decent, and he is religiously Jewish.

My sister, having married him, she is Jewish (religiously) but is not Jewish by decent. (she converted - I'm not sure if she converted before or after they married, though - but that doesn't matter).
 
X Factor said:
It's come up in a thread that some people might consider the word "Jew" to be offensive or insulting. Is "Jew" offensive? I ask this in all sincerity because I do use the word and it hadn't occurred to me that it might be a bad thing to do.
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It depends, my wife is Jewish, doesn't like the term.
 
Gentile is not offensive and I've always heard "Jew and Gentile" used together - so I don't think the word "Jew" is offensive. Now Goy or Goyim can be disparaging... but Jews never call others Goy's unless they're talking to another Jew. :wink:
 
Aunt Spiker said:
so the real question is: Do the Zogs and the Freemansons get along?
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Do not compare those two things. Not only is Freemasonry a real thing the impact of Freemasonry on history has been well-documented and its importance in shaping major world events is indisputable.
 
Demon of Light said:
Do not compare those two things. Not only is Freemasonry a real thing the impact of Freemasonry on history has been well-documented and its importance in shaping major world events is indisputable.
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If they were to come to a party what would they bring?

Free beer and pollywogs?

:D
 
I once called a neo-nazi a Jew, I think he found it offensive, but other than that, no-one else has been offended when I use it.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
This is a common dodge of Jew-haters. "Oh, I don't hate all Jews," they'll say. "Just the ones who want to have a country and exist."
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and then they find the writings of a person who was born Jewish, but hates Jews and they hide behind that as well.

Look -- I can't be antisemitic. I agree with Norm Finklestein that Jews are conniving, manipulating deceitful creatures who get others to do their bidding, but he's a Jew, so it's all o.k.
 
Gardener said:
and then they find the writings of a person who was born Jewish, but hates Jews and they hide behind that as well.

Look -- I can't be antisemitic. I agree with Norm Finklestein that Jews are conniving, manipulating deceitful creatures who get others to do their bidding, but he's a Jew, so it's all o.k.
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If he ever actually said anything even remotely like that you might have had a legitimate talking point for once.
 
X Factor said:
It's come up in a thread that some people might consider the word "Jew" to be offensive or insulting. Is "Jew" offensive? I ask this in all sincerity because I do use the word and it hadn't occurred to me that it might be a bad thing to do.
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I think there are a lot of different opinions of what "Jew" actually means. For example, is it a religious term? Is it a racial term? Is it a community or family term? Can you be a non-religious Jew? I've heard Christian Jews called completed Jews. Is that offensive? Some people find Jew used as a racial term to be very offensive because they believe it started with Hitler. I don't know.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
Who suggested this post was about you? Are you feeling singled out?
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guilty conscience perhaps? I have seen another poster here jump to the assumption that people are talking about her for that reason.
 
X Factor said:
But is Jew an ethnicity or is it a description of a person of a particular religion? When we describe someone by religion we do say he is "a Christian", "a Mormon", "a Jedi"...
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In the Soviet Union, Jew was a nationality.
 
X Factor said:
It's come up in a thread that some people might consider the word "Jew" to be offensive or insulting. Is "Jew" offensive? I ask this in all sincerity because I do use the word and it hadn't occurred to me that it might be a bad thing to do.
Click to expand...

As with any other word it all depends on how it is used.
 
Chappy said:
In the Soviet Union, Jew was a nationality.
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Technically the term 'nationality' in Russian translates to ethnicity. But the term is sort of mixed and ethnic groups had different passports for their respective regions. For example a Russian born in Ukraine would have Russian passports and Ukrainians had Ukranian passports.
 
OscarB63 said:
guilty conscience perhaps? I have seen another poster here jump to the assumption that people are talking about her for that reason.
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That would be my guess. No names were named in this thread, but DOL automatically assumes that it's about him?

Curious.
 
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