The New York Times today carries a story about a couple of local Republican functionaries in rural South Carolina who got in trouble for offering a theory about how wealthy Jews got rich. They were genuinely shocked to find that anyone objected to their sharing a bit of folk wisdom. It reminded me of a story told by a flight attendant friend who grew up in southern Appalachia. She was talking to a fellow flight attendant about renting a new apartment in northern Kentucky. “The landlord wanted $650 per month, but I Jewed him down to $500.” Her friend said, “You do realize that I’m Jewish, don’t you?” Our southern gal said “Of course. Why are you asking?” Her friend had to explain to her that the expression, “to Jew down”, which she had been blithely using for 30 years, was considered offensive by actual Jews.
[For those who are truly passionate on the subject of Jewish wealth, there is a new book coming out, Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle
For those who are upset by Jewish wealth, I guess they can take comfort in the U.S. government’s strenuous efforts toward making us all equally poor.]
Another vernacular issue that I’ve also always found interesting is how many of my allegedly enlightened friends have absolutely no issues with the phrase “They gypped me”.
Including some who, back in 1999, were up in arms over the DC official who used the word “niggardly”.
reinharden
For a different perspective on this, you should read “The Lonely Days Were Sundays: Reflections of a Jewish Southerner” by Eli Evans. He grew up in Durham, North Carolina, where his father, E.J. Evans served six terms as mayor in the 1950s and early 1960s. Evans Senior was not shy about his religion: he included his work with his synagogue in his campaign literature because he felt that Southerners respect church activity.
I grew up in the south and the exact same thing happened to me. I used that term all the time until someone got angry at me and clued me in. I learned the hard way how offensive it is to Jewish people and I never said it again. It also helped me try to be more sensitive to people from all backgrounds
I’m not sure if the irony is intentional but how well would a blog entitled “Southern sterotypes and Jews” go over? You’re lambasting our stereotypes by doing the same thing!
I had never heard the expression growing up until I attended private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and it was used again and again by Jewish students around me.
They had to explain it to me.
It wasn’t until college that someone explained the stereotypes about Long Island to me, including Lon Giland.
I’m an actual Jew who actually lived in South Carolina.
I highly doubt that these two men had anything but a compliment in mind. In any sane world, people who do a good job at saving would be honored. Cultural habits that encourage you to be thrifty rather than a spendthrift would be widely imitated.
We don’t live in a sane world. We live in a world where everyone is eager to take offense. Beyond a certain point, people who are eager to take offense when none was intended are complete morons. I spit on such people.
South Carolina has a very proud Jewish history. Did you know that the city of Columbia, the capital, has had six Jewish mayors? Did you know that (I believe) the second oldest shul in the United States is in Charleston? Etc., etc.
Nice wikipedia article here.
When I lived in South Carolina I interacted with many people and never once recognized even the slightest anti-semitism.
There’s more anti-semitism in Boston (owing to a certain segment of ignorant-yet-radical political activists).
ck, Bob: I wasn’t offering an opinion about whether attitudes toward Jews differ substantially in Boston versus the South. The Times story just reminded me of my flight attendant friend’s cheerful ignorance that “to Jew down” might be considered offensive (she has a pronounced Southern accent) and I thought that the story was funny so I shared it.
The commonly used phrase, “He welshed on the bet” is also pretty annoying…