jayjg wrote:
On 2/8/07, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
On 2/5/07, Cool Cat wikipedia.kawaii.neko@gmail.com wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2007_Fe...
I proposed a rename as per wikipedias categorization scheme, we add "people" to any ethnicity. There appears to be a number of panic "oppose" votes. What do you think?
For what it's worth, I do find the formulations "Jews", "American Jews" etc rather awkward and find they have unfortunate connotations.
"It is widely recognized that the attributive use of the noun Jew, in phrases such as 'Jew lawyer' or 'Jew ethics', is both vulgar and highly offensive. In such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a practice that carries risks of its own. In a sentence such as 'There are now several Jews on the council', which is unobjectionable, the substitution of a circumlocution like Jewish people or persons of Jewish background may in itself cause offense for seeming to imply that Jew has a negative connotation when used as a noun."
The American Heritage(r) Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
"Jew" is not a dirty word.
Excellent analysis. There are still some situations where Jew might be used attributively, like "jewfish", but these are mostly uncommon, and in a context which would be recognized by those concerned. Using "Jew" to refer to an ethnicity is dangerous. That practice has allowed certain governments to call anyone with a Jewish great-grandparent a Jew, even if the person has left the Jewish community and converted to some other faith.
Devising politically correct euphemisms often only serves to exacerbate the problem.
Ec