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[maddoggirl]

First off, a very tiny bit of introduction, seeing as I just got accepted into this community, which, by the way, I think is brilliant and crazy interesting.
I'm a 17 year old goyeh living in the south of England. The Jewish community around here totals approximately zero, but I am completely in love with the Jewish religion and culture. Add to

Comments

[linaerys]

Thanks for linking that article!

I also wanted to mention that "shiksa" can be a pretty cruel word. It literally means "blemished" as in meat that is ritually unclean or defiled.

I'm a blue eyed, red headed convert to Judaism, and I've had this word whispered about me, when people thought I couldn't hear. It's entererd the popular language as something cute, but it can be used in very not-cute ways. I'm not personally offended because I've seen the word used in the non-pejorative way plenty, but I did want to make you aware that in many circles it is quite derogatory.

[maddoggirl]

Thanks for the warning. I was aware of the etymology, but I guess that seeing it bandied around on the Internet has made me a little hardened to it's offensiveness. I'm going to change it to be on the safe-side, especially while the parameters of what's cool and what's not are still being defined around here

[maddoggirl]

I don't know about ally, to be honest. It sounds kind of... confrontational. As though everyone who isn't with us is against us. Anyway, I certainly don't have the sort of background which will lead me to be bandying around obscure bits of Yiddish.

I can't think of another phrase, although I do see your point. I am definitely enamoured of Judaism as a religious and cultural idea, but I see how it might look a little patronising to put it that way. I just didn't give it any context because this isn't a religious comm and I wasn't sure if secular fandomites might roll their collective eyes.

[roga]

Thanks for the link! I admit I'd never thought Rachel was Jewish, but I totally identify with the disappointment you feel when you discover a character you were sure was Jewish isn't - ie JD in Scrubs, and Ted in HIMYM. (However, those two haven't disappointed me too badly, if only because there are a lot of mostly-unstereotyped Jewish characters on TV that I love, some of them which came as a total surprise - like Rube on Dead Like Me, and, well, Kutner and his whateverness :-))

[shayheyred]

That's a FASCINATING article, and I thank you for linking it. It's right in line with the discussions we've been having here, for sure. Welcome, and hope you enjoy it here. We're glad to have you.

[eveningblue]

Thank you for posting that link--the article was very interesting, and it touches on that same sense of disappointment that many of us have mentioned when we learned that a character we thought was jewish (for whatever reason) turns out not to be.

[vilakins]

That's a great link! And you know, I thought Rachel was Jewish. I mean, the name (both of them), the princess behaviour, the nose job when she was a teenager (I didn't make that up, right?) [is slow]