you're getting Jewed out of this post
First let me start with the standard "some of my best friends are..." disclaimer that comes with crap like this from average white guys like me. My Aunt is Jewish. My college roommate (yeah, at a Catholic university, go figure), who is still one of my best friends and was the best man at my wedding is Jewish. No, I have no issues with Jewish people.
It just hit me about a month ago, and then again yesterday when I was reading blogs. I heard the expression, growing up, "getting Jewed out of" something. The place I first heard it was when we moved to Pennsylvania, when I was starting 7th grade. Someone had to explain it to me, and I found out it meant you were getting cheated, or getting squeezed for money in some way. Of course, being the socially conscious kid that I was, I fell right in line with everyone else and used the expression, so I was fitting in nicely. I don't know how long it was before I realized where it came from, but also being the lightning quick kid that I was, I eventually I made the connection with Jewish people.
What made it hit home yesterday was it was the dramatic point of a blog entry. The blogger's mom has a new boyfriend (whose approval rating already appears to be low on many levels) and he used the phrase. The blogger appears to be in a major quandry over how to tell mom her boyfriend is a racist. I'm not about to pass judgement on the guy over one sentence (and as a friend who is Jewish reminded me, Judaism isn't a race, so has nothing to do with racism, anyway), but that whole thing isn't my story. So much for background.
What I didn't realize until yesterday, is that it had been forever since I heard that expression in conversation. I got to thinking how long, and it was pretty much when I left Pennsylvania, joined the Navy and headed of all directions, south. It just isn't part of the lexicon here. I realized that whole prejudice thing when it comes to people of the Jewish faith really doesn't connect in the South like it does in the Northeast. I don't know if it's prevalent going west, because I haven't spent a lot of time there. At first I thought, maybe that because the population here has a very small percentage of Jewish people, but that's not true anymore. People are moving here regardless of race, color, creed or favorite flavor of ice cream.
I started thinking about the reputation the South gets in other places. We're all intolerant Red States, full of hatred for everything that isn't exactly like us. Then I remembered one of my neighbors who moved here from....Chicago, who remarked on one of our neighbors being black, and I shrugged. She said, "You know, back in Chicago, that would never happen. People would be moving out."
Now, I know I'm filling this post with generalities and stereotypes, and they don't hold everywhere. I also know we have our problems, too. I still hear the 'N' word now and again to describe black people, and it grates on me like nails on a chalkboard. (I'm sorry, but I'm not nearly politically correct enough to use the terms 'African American' or 'people of color'. I'm not one to change how I refer to people because they used to like this term but now they want this term. The 'flavor of the week' method of referring to anyone doesn't appeal to me at all.) That "Hertiage not Hate" line doesn't carry that much weight, either. I see the stars and bars plastered across the back window of pick-em up trucks, and I don't think it's because great granddaddy was Robert E. Lee. He wasn't that prolific. The wife lost one of her childhood friends because her friend's husband used the 'N' word in a discussion about possible presidential candidates, and I let it be known that I thought Colin Powell would make a great candidate and I didn't appreciate the word. Prior to that day, we saw them once a month or so. Never heard from them after that day, and that was over 10 years ago. I doubt that's coincidence.
I'm not sure where I'm going with all this except the South has a nasty reputation for being backward, intolerant and more racist than the rest of the country. I think that reputation is a leftover from George Wallace trying to single handedly stop segregation and the events of the 60's. I think the South is no less tolerant and accepting of people of all races, colors and creeds than any other part of the country and in a lot of cases, we're doing better than a lot of y'all. Then again, I may be living in a dream world, protected from the realities that exist outside my little piece of suburbia, but that's how I see it.
It just hit me about a month ago, and then again yesterday when I was reading blogs. I heard the expression, growing up, "getting Jewed out of" something. The place I first heard it was when we moved to Pennsylvania, when I was starting 7th grade. Someone had to explain it to me, and I found out it meant you were getting cheated, or getting squeezed for money in some way. Of course, being the socially conscious kid that I was, I fell right in line with everyone else and used the expression, so I was fitting in nicely. I don't know how long it was before I realized where it came from, but also being the lightning quick kid that I was, I eventually I made the connection with Jewish people.
What made it hit home yesterday was it was the dramatic point of a blog entry. The blogger's mom has a new boyfriend (whose approval rating already appears to be low on many levels) and he used the phrase. The blogger appears to be in a major quandry over how to tell mom her boyfriend is a racist. I'm not about to pass judgement on the guy over one sentence (and as a friend who is Jewish reminded me, Judaism isn't a race, so has nothing to do with racism, anyway), but that whole thing isn't my story. So much for background.
What I didn't realize until yesterday, is that it had been forever since I heard that expression in conversation. I got to thinking how long, and it was pretty much when I left Pennsylvania, joined the Navy and headed of all directions, south. It just isn't part of the lexicon here. I realized that whole prejudice thing when it comes to people of the Jewish faith really doesn't connect in the South like it does in the Northeast. I don't know if it's prevalent going west, because I haven't spent a lot of time there. At first I thought, maybe that because the population here has a very small percentage of Jewish people, but that's not true anymore. People are moving here regardless of race, color, creed or favorite flavor of ice cream.
I started thinking about the reputation the South gets in other places. We're all intolerant Red States, full of hatred for everything that isn't exactly like us. Then I remembered one of my neighbors who moved here from....Chicago, who remarked on one of our neighbors being black, and I shrugged. She said, "You know, back in Chicago, that would never happen. People would be moving out."
Now, I know I'm filling this post with generalities and stereotypes, and they don't hold everywhere. I also know we have our problems, too. I still hear the 'N' word now and again to describe black people, and it grates on me like nails on a chalkboard. (I'm sorry, but I'm not nearly politically correct enough to use the terms 'African American' or 'people of color'. I'm not one to change how I refer to people because they used to like this term but now they want this term. The 'flavor of the week' method of referring to anyone doesn't appeal to me at all.) That "Hertiage not Hate" line doesn't carry that much weight, either. I see the stars and bars plastered across the back window of pick-em up trucks, and I don't think it's because great granddaddy was Robert E. Lee. He wasn't that prolific. The wife lost one of her childhood friends because her friend's husband used the 'N' word in a discussion about possible presidential candidates, and I let it be known that I thought Colin Powell would make a great candidate and I didn't appreciate the word. Prior to that day, we saw them once a month or so. Never heard from them after that day, and that was over 10 years ago. I doubt that's coincidence.
I'm not sure where I'm going with all this except the South has a nasty reputation for being backward, intolerant and more racist than the rest of the country. I think that reputation is a leftover from George Wallace trying to single handedly stop segregation and the events of the 60's. I think the South is no less tolerant and accepting of people of all races, colors and creeds than any other part of the country and in a lot of cases, we're doing better than a lot of y'all. Then again, I may be living in a dream world, protected from the realities that exist outside my little piece of suburbia, but that's how I see it.
Labels: Philosophy
John put this out here at 8:54 AM
2 Comments:
Interesting to me that I heard the term just this morning on another site, carelessly tossed in by someone who haggled to get a bargain. Found your blog by Googling "jewed". Remember hearing it often as a child, I'm now 71, and haven't heard it for years. Also a lot of other offensive ethnic labels, kike, dago, wop, Kraut, polack, I thought people had pretty much ceased using those terms but maybe old habits die hard. I doubt you would hear it from anyone of my grandkids.
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