Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Miscellaneous and References (11/12) Previous Document: Question 19.5: Is "shvartze" offensive? Is "goyim" offensive? Next Document: Question 19.7: I am going to be in (name your city), where can I eat, stay for Shabbat? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Answer: Shiksa and Shaygetz are the Yiddish derivative of the respective feminine and masculine Hebrew words for something unclean, dirty. The appellations are customarily applied to gentiles who do things inimical to Jewish interests, such as vandalizing Jewish buildings, robbing Jewish kids of their lunch money, or becoming romantically involved with Jews :-). The root is "sheketz", which refers to house rodents and lizards. They impart ritual impurity, and therefore the term lends itself to the same kind of idea. Some have taken to using the term to refer to Christian women in general. If Christians were using the term against Jews in English, they would be saying "Filthy Jews" or "Dirty Jews", and we Jews would rightly be offended. Hence, use of these terms should really be avoided; it is insulting and inappropriate, even if no bad intent was behind the usage. It is always better to use neutral, less pejorative (judgemental) terms, such as non-Jew or Christian. Note: In Israel, shaygetz is sometimes used to refer to a misbehaving child. Note: There are other words for non-Jewish women, "nachriah", and "goyah", that are more properly used in less judgemental situations. User Contributions:Top Document: soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Miscellaneous and References (11/12) Previous Document: Question 19.5: Is "shvartze" offensive? Is "goyim" offensive? Next Document: Question 19.7: I am going to be in (name your city), where can I eat, stay for Shabbat? Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: SCJ FAQ Maintainer <maintainer@scjfaq.org>
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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