Heard at work: We got a pretty good price because my husband "jewed the guy down".

[milestogo]

My co-worker said this about a recent purchase. I felt shocked but I didn't say anything.

Was she being racist or is my reaction "politically correct"?

I keep hearing about how so many people are sick to death of political correctness. They want to be free to make statements like this without getting a lecture. After all, one person old me, is it so terrible to accuse an ethnic group of having great negotiating skills?

I think its time to speak up about statements which stereotype a whole group of people. And I think a lot of people are not going to like it, and the culture wars will keep escalating.

[Beakybird]

1. I'm Jewish and generally unflappable.

That's offensive.

[Cha]

17. Of course it is and I'm not.

[bdamomma]

68. the days of people

being civil and tolerant towards other ethnicity's are out the window since this POS tRump is poisoning those who have less grey matter in their heads.

[dameatball]

2. You are not incorrect. That tem has been around for decades and it is a slur. How you react is up to

you.

In my mind it is sort of the equivalent of "Hey, that's mighty white of you." Ever heard that one?
I'm not judging you, just trying to add some perspective. I doubt you would have posted this to begin with unless you felt uncomfortable. You at least recognize the problem.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

13. It's a slur. I'm Jewish and heard a co-worker say it. I immediately called him out on it.

I was trying to explain why it was offensive. He didn't understand why...

You can't always educate stupid but you can speak up for what's right.

PS. The guy was a co-owner at one point. Not the brightest bulb in the pack obviously.

[dameatball]

20. IMHO you did the right thing. One of the weird things I have always found in the work environment is

how people try to feel you out about your views. It begins somewhat innocently and escalates. I had to do the same thing when I received some racist e-nails about Obama. I merely informed everyone in the chain that I was offended and if they thought I was kidding the next time I received something similar it would go the the CEO. Never got any more....lol.

It happens all over the place.

[stopbush]

39. Not the equivalent at all.

“Mighty white of you” is a phrase that says you are acting better than you normally would, ie: acting as a white person would act, not like a (bad) black person. It is not negative towards whites.

“Jewing down a person” is negative towards Jews, ie: the person being Jewed down is on the losing end of the deal, a deal made because Jews are evil/dishonest/scam artists. It doesn’t get more antisemetic.

[radical noodle]

53. Mighty white of you

is negative against non-whites and is as bad as jewing down a person. I've heard both for decades and they are often said thoughtlessly and without malice, but they are nonetheless hurtful to others.

[dameatball]

63. Wil have to disagree. It is a slur towards black people. Not sure why you think otherwise.

Regardless, both are offensive.

[magicarpet]

3. Thank you,.. but I would appreciate if you did not attempt to normalize that sort....

.... of ethnic & racist talk around me. I know you don't mean to be offensive,.. and neither do I,.. but please to not do that again.

[JI7]

4. its fucked up

[Croney]

5. I grew up hearing that, but haven't heard it in a long time.

It would be as jarring to the ear as the n-word. If someone you know says it, you should correct them.

[irisblue]

6. It's antisemitic. If she says that again

Ask what does she mean by that?

[unblock]

12. Do we ask about intentions when a white person uses the n-word?

It's anti-Semitic and offensive and it should not be repeated, period.

[Ms. Toad]

47. Occasionally, people use a phrase without recognizing its meaning

A few years ago, there was a debate here about the perjorative "Spaz." Despite the similarity of the perjorative to spastic (e.g. the movements of someone with cerebral palsy), a lot of people denied it was derived from spastic (or offensive).

The source of "jewed" is obvious to me - but there are other things that are obvious that people say incorrectly in a way that indicates they have incorporated the phrase in their vocabulary, but not the meaning. For all intensive purposes - for example -is a frequent misstatement (and near homonym) of for all intents and purposes. Intensive makes absolutely no sense - and the person using it is using it correctly as if they were actually saying "for all intents and purposes." So I could imagine that if the speaker in this case wrote the phrase down they might write, "jude the guy down," still meaning talked him down in price - without realizing that the word was jewed, not jude, and came from a stereotype of jews.

(The N-word is pretty blatant - so I wouldn't ask a white person using the N-word what they meant. But I might ask a person using a phrase where the origin is less clear and the word is a homonym of the word used offensively - to alert them if they would not have used a derogative word had they been conscious that is what they were using.)

[Dorian Gray]

57. This is true

I lived in England in the 90s, where I heard various people refer to a liquor store as a "Packie."

I 100% thought it was short for a packaged goods store. I used it in conversation with a friend. In which I was informed that it's short for Pakistani, bc a lot of Pakistanis run liquor/convenience stores in the UK.

I was stunned.

There are also phrases that are thrown around without people really thinking about them. Obviously that's systemic racism. If the person is called out on it so she/he realizes what he is saying, she/he may realize how inappropriate or hurtful it may be. It's obnoxious and ignorant. so you're doing the person a favor in trying to educate them to make better choices and realize what they're saying.

[GoneOffShore]

69. Lots of people in Paris refer to small, late night, convenience stores as 'les petits arabes'

Usually because they are run by North Africans.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. People used to commonly say that, but starting in the 1960s it started

going away. Someone saying that in 2018 is being offensive. If "politically correct" means not throwing around ethnic slurs, then yes, you're being politically correct. As we all should be about such things these days.

Too bad you didn't say anything.

[milestogo]

8. I wanted to bring it up here as kind of a reminder for all of us to speak up.

There are people who repeat things they have heard without ever thinking about what they are saying. I did not grow up hearing this expression, and I don't hear it very often now. I think this woman probably has no particular negative view of Jewish people - she just never thought about what she is saying and the fact that it is offensive.

From now on I will speak up.

[Wounded Bear]

9. It's racist, and like many of those kinds of sayings...

it used to be quite common to say shit like that.

I would like to think we have grown beyond that, but of course, not everyone has.

[lapfog_1]

10. The year was 1986

I was working for a small high tech company in Denver... I was a manager of a small team of computer graphics programmers and I worked for a Director of Software Development. Nice guy...

In one meeting he was telling me (and a few others) about a meeting that he and some others had with a hardware vendor and he said that our VP "Jewed the guy down to a price we could afford". Now I was a bit naive at the time and what I heard was "chewed" and not the anti-semitic thing he said. Anyway, our company VP and President heard about the comment... an all company meeting was held and my Director made an abject apology for using that word. I'm sure they threatened him with his job.

In any event, that was 32 years ago... and it wasn't acceptable then. It sure as hell isn't acceptable now.

[True Dough]

11. It's worth pointing it out because she may be ignorant of its true meaning

If she grew up in a household where her parents said it all the time, she may have picked it up without giving much thought to how offensive it is.

I don't use the term "jewed" as a verb. But in my home as a child, I heard relatives refer to Asians as "Orientals." I still used the latter term up until several years ago, until someone brought to my attention that it's no longer acceptable. I really had no idea and I'm generally pretty PC.

[connecticut yankee]

14. I always thought it was "chewed."

Maybe that's what the people saying it said.

As far as "Oriental" goes, I think certain words go out of common usage, such as "colored" becoming "Negro," then "Black," and presently "African-American." I worked with a young Chinese-American woman in the 70's. She referred to herself as "Oriental."

[True Dough]

19. I think you're right

It fell out of favor. It's not like I was using "Oriental" on a regular basis. I might have said it once a year or something. But nobody mentioned it to me until several years ago. I avoid using it now, of course.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

62. Ha! I worked with a guy who thought it was "chewed" - So maybe someone changed it years ago.

It’s kind of a funny story. Years ago, I worked for a firm that was Jewish owned. This coworker and I were among a handful of non-Jewish employees.

One day my coworker was on the phone with a customer discussing how he was going to get a better deal from a third party on behalf of the customer. It was an open floor plan office with a cubicle set up and his voice was pretty loud and carried. So he’s on the phone saying “I’m going to chew him down and don’t worry I will chew him down” etc. etc. So I emailed him “dude have you lost your god damned mind!?”

So i explained to him what it sounded like. He said “ah yes no wonder people are emailing me to tell me my voice carries”

[marble falls]

15. If the question needs to be begged, its a racist anti-Semitic slur without actually ...

needing any confirmation required.

[LiberalFighter]

16. Don't see how that group has the lock on being the best bargainers.

[still_one]

33. The meaning is worse than that. It means that "the Jews are always out there trying to

screw you"

I know, I grew up with that bullshit being hurled at me, so much so that I overcompensated in being overly generous.

It was years later that I observed that those that hurled such slurs, were actually the least generous, and most selfish

[MaryMagdaline]

18. My family was sensitive to that phrase, as were all of my teachers.

That would not have been permitted at any school I attended or any office where I worked. I did catch myself, in my teens, I think saying “you were gypped.” I had a sudden realization of what I had just said. There weren’t any gypseys within a thousand miles but I should have known better. It’s another word to “other” someone.

[milestogo]

25. Wow, I never even thought about "gypped" as having to do with gypsies.

I have heard the expression "indian giver". In fact, there was a song with that title.

[MaryMagdaline]

27. I heard that one, too

that one needs to die out, too.

[d_r]

40. Gyped is one

Going Dutch is another .

I didn't know they were offensive until I figured out what they meant.

The Jewish one seems pretty obvious to me that it is offensive but I guess somebody could use it without thinking.

[EffieBlack]

41. I didn't see your post before I posted about the same thing

I had no idea it was a slur and when someone called me on it, I was mortified. And, of course, I never said it again. I appreciated having someone educate me and am always fascinated when I see people - especially so-called progressives - complain about being accused of being insensitive and claiming they should get a pass because their "intentions" were good.

That happened right here on DU - I posted a while back about the term "gyp" and got a rush of whining and defensiveness about the use of the term.

[MaryMagdaline]

66. Yes, I don't think we were told about that word; we had to learn the hard way

I am glad I learned; I don't like piling on with respect to a group of people demonized for centuries.

[comradebillyboy]

21. My sainted mother used that phrase regularly.

[still_one]

34. That phrase means that "Jews are out always trying to screw you". It is a bigoted slur

[comradebillyboy]

48. I know what it means. My mother didn't like Jews.

She was born and raised in WV and had a lot of prejudices.

[still_one]

50. oh, I was thinking she might have been unaware

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. Racism must be called out whenever you see it.

[pnwmom]

23. I never heard that term growing up. It was only as an adult, and probably

in an article talking about terms that were slurs.

I know people were using it, but not people around me.

[still_one]

35. It was hurled at me all the time, and they knew I was Jewish, and knew exactly what they were saying

[pnwmom]

36. I am sorry, still_one. Everything that has been and is going on makes me sorry! n/t

[still_one]

43. I grew up in Iowa in the 50's and 60's. That was the heyday of that crap. It was more than

just words also. African Americans had it far worse.

That was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, and the tragedy is the progress that had been made through the Civil Rights movement is slowly being undone before our eyes

[Hoyt]

24. Honestly, I don't even like word "Jew." Where I grew up, white wing

candidates used slurs like, “N——s and J—s” to attract votes. I know the term is acceptable and is used often, but grew up associating it with vile hatred from racists/bigots.

Ironically, I’ve become a bigot when it comes to white wing haters.

[brokephibroke]

26. Yeah, that was popular back in the 60s/70s

If you must say something like that, I use “Lutheran” them down. It’s a wee bit more polite...

[Kurt V.]

28. Political correctness is necessary and has been around a long, long time.

It's simply a tool society uses to make course corrections.

[LisaM]

29. My boss's wife said this to a Jewish co-worker once.

It was years ago (late 80s) andy friend had bought a ring at an art fair. Boss's wife said, "how much did you Jew him down for?" I had never even heard the phrase before and said something to my friend later about it. She wasn't bothered by it, but times have moved on, so wonder how she'd react now, or if my boss's wife stopped saying it.

[Blue_true]

30. She may not be racist.

She may be mindlessly using a term that she has heard all her life. Some people use other racist terms in a similar vein.

You missed the chance, but you should have taken her aside and explained what the term means to many people. Then see what her reaction was, if dismissive, yes she is racist. If shocked and apologetic, most likely she was dumbly using a term that she did not understand the origins of.

[rickford66]

31. I'm Polish and Italian and got it from both sides.

[still_one]

32. It is a bigoted statement that says "Jews swindle/screw people"

and yes people should speak up when they hear phrases like that

[pnwmom]

37. Six years ago, one of my son's friend's from college shocked me with something

she said. She called Brazil nuts "N**r Toes."

She's from the red part of my state and was raised by a rightwing family, so she'd grown up all her life hearing that word and thinking nothing of it.

I took her aside and explained that she had to call them Brazil nuts from now on, and why, and she was mortified.

I really don't think she'd ever thought about what she was saying before. It made me sick to think that an otherwise nice person could use a word like that and be so clueless. Of course, it would have been worse if she'd said it on purpose.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

44. That's another word I remember hearing during my childhood, maybe from an older relative?

But that would have been in the '50s or early '60s. I should think by now people would know better.

[pnwmom]

45. I know! It was shocking to hear this, just six years ago.

But I think, till the dawn of the DT era, it's been too easy for people in blue cities not to have any idea what was still going on in red areas.

[leftyladyfrommo]

64. I grew up in the 50's.

We n. toes for Brazil nuts and we had n. babies that were little licorice candies.

And we read Little Black Sambo.

We were totally unaware.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

67. I don't remember the licorice candies,

but I do remember Little Black Sambo. Interestingly, the character wasn't intended to be AA at all but was supposed to be south Indian (of course, because there are tigers), and he's the hero of the story. The book came to be considered racist more because of the illustrations and the names of the characters than because of the content of the story. There have been some modern revisions that changed the names and/or the illustrations. When I was a clueless little kid in the '50s it was one of my favorite stories.

[Maeve]

60. My husband's grandmother used that term for a flower

Along the black-eyed susan variety...this was back when he was a child (50+ years ago). She caught herself and was ashamed, but it was what she had grown up saying. She warned him that it was a bad term and should never, EVER be used but he remembers when it happened and is now a fond memory of how she tried to be inclusive even back then.

[EffieBlack]

38. That's an old and very common antisemitic slur

I can't count how many times I've had to check people who've said it in my presence - and I always do. That's not being politically correct. That's expecting people not to speak like bigots and perpetuate negative and often dangerous ethnic and religious stereotypes. We used to call that common decency.

Occasionally, the person saying didn't even realize it was a slur or that it referred to Jews.

I had that experience with the term "gyp" (as in "I got gypped&quot , which I didn't know was a racial slur against gypsies until someone pointed out to me, so I get that. But once you're educated that a term is a slur and you still use it, in my view, you're just a jerk.

[leftyladyfrommo]

65. I didn't know that about gyped. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

42. I haven't heard that expression since maybe the '60s when I was a kid

and even then I knew it was wrong. It relates to the old anti-semitic canard about Jews supposedly being tight-fisted. There's nothing wrong with being "politically correct" if it means objecting to racist or otherwise offensive language.

[Initech]

46. I'd go straight to management.

Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny have 0 place in the workplace. It's not political correctness, it's being an asshole vs being a decent human being. I really want this unfiltered hate to be a fad but after Brazil's election today I am afraid we're in it for the long haul.

[Solly Mack]

49. Did you really even have to ask? It's offensive. It's bigoted. It's anti-semitic.

There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Your co-worker? To use that phrase so casually?

Let's you know she has always used it.

Call her out. Don't allow it to stand.

[YOHABLO]

51. It's inappropriate. It's offensive. Don't say it.

[StarryNite]

52. Racial and ethnic slurs - no longer acceptable

So many of us grew up hearing that sort of thing and have said it without really thinking about what we're saying or who we are hurting.

Maya Angelou — 'I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.'

[Hermit-The-Prog]

54. how about the pot and the kettle?

"The pot calling the kettle black" has always seemed a racial slur, IMO, yet I've caught hell every time I've suggested that to people. It seems to me that the "calling" part implies that being black is a bad thing. Am I nuts?

[Behind the Aegis]

55. You aren't nuts, but you are mistaken.

That phrase has nothing to do with racism, anymore than "behind the 8-ball" or "blackballed" does. They are phrases which originated outside of the spectrum of racism. However, it isn't to say there aren't those who are trying to be "cutesy" and use it in a racist manner. Take the word "niggardly", it has zero to do with racism or the word for which seems to be similar, yet, it is an archaic word and someone using it is either being a pompous ass or using a dog-whistle. I am sure there can be a few exceptions, but, IMO, generally, someone using that word is being a dick one way or the other.

[Dorian Gray]

56. They used a SLUR

You're reaction isn't "politically correct." I wish you had said something to them. Or at least asked them "wait? What did you say?"

It's a Slur that implies that Jewish people are cheap. And that they are the bartering class, controlling trade and prices.

It's obnoxious AND ignorant, at best! And completely racist.

[PJMcK]

58. The Scrabble app

When I got my first iPhone, a 3G model, one of the first apps I got was the game Scrabble. Amazingly, that early edition of the game allowed the use of the word "jew." Since "Jew" is a proper noun, I could only surmise that the game's dictionary was defining "jew" as a verb.

Several updates later, "jew" was removed from the app.

[peekaloo]

59. A friend of mine from long ago used to respond to that phrase with

"Oh, so your asshole is an arbitrator".

It's most definitely anti-Semitic.

[betsuni]

61. First time I heard that slur was on a rerun of "Beverly Hills, 90210."

The Tory Spelling character overheard a potential client of a Jewish character say on the telephone that he wasn't going to be jewed down about his contract. I didn't get it the first time but he repeated it. I am embarrassed to admit that I learned something new from "Beverly Hills, 90210," but there it is.