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“Shiksa” is a Nicer Word When Followed by a Cheerful Emoticon
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“Shiksa” is a Nicer Word When Followed by a Cheerful Emoticon

by
July 18, 2007

Apropos to my last post (How a Southern Gentile Learned About Judaism from Sassy Magazine and Horny Teenage Boys), I'll also confess that I managed to get through an entire high school career of dating Jewish boys exclusively (to recap: I was an atheist in a town dominated by evangelical Christians) without realizing that "shiksa" was an offensive word.

From the soc.culture.jewish FAQ (I can't imagine much has changed since 1996):

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.

Is that not the most passive-aggressive happy face ever? Filthy bitch :-)

A quick Google search of this post's keyword brings up the blog of one Shiksa from Manila,

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Jennifer Dziura is a New York-based comedian and writer best known for orchestrating the Williamsburg Spelling Bee, a real spelling bee for adults, as featured in the New York Times. A fixture in Williamsburg, Jennifer also produces the biweekly "Monday Evening Stand-Up" at Pete's Candy Store. Jennifer was filmed as an expert on "how to be witty" for VH-1's reality dating show "Can't Get a Date," has written for McSweeney's, appeared on the nationally syndicated Bob & Tom radio show, and is a contributor to "The Idiot's Guide to Jokes" (Alpha/Penguin 2006). She just returned from an East Coast tour of her solo show, "What Philosophy Majors Do After College," including sold-out shows in D.C. and Norfolk. She writes a blog at www.jenisfamous.com

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