Re: American Jews and religion

On Jul 18, 10:12 am, Eliyahu <lro...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jul 17, 11:31 am, flav...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:



On 17-Jul-2008, Ken <threeriversguy_2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jul 4, 9:01 am, Q <quond...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Jew·ess (js)
n. Offensive
A Jewish woman or girl.

I just checked a bunch o' dictionaries and some say offensive, some
don't, but none say archaic. Maybe I'm the one who is archaic.

I can't remember where I've seen it, but I've always seen it
as "archaic", & never offensive.
But I'm sure plenty of people thiink it is. I always go on
context in that case.

Susan

The more basic question is whether the use of a word which some find
offensive will accomplish the goal of effective communication, or
whether it will distract from the message. If the words we use call
attention to themselves, rather than conveying the ideas we're trying
to share, we've chosen the wrong words.

Eliyahu7


That's a very good point. If usage has come to cause a word to be
offensive or derogatory, then it's probably better to use a different
word rather than use a word whose spare baggage might cause it to be
misunderstood. In this case, "Jewish woman" works fine for just about
everybody.

-- Q
.

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