What does 'Jew down' mean, and why do people find it offensive?

[Behind the Aegis]

“Jew down” seems to be making a comeback — or maybe it never left the lexicon.

In April, a City Council member uttered the term at a meeting in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

This month, council members in two New Jersey cities — Paterson and Trenton — used it in government forums.

In Paterson, Michael Jackson apologized for using the term to criticize developers looking to buy land for less money. Jackson said it was used as a “term of endearment” when he was growing up.

---snip---

The term to “Jew down” was born out of stereotypes formed during medieval times about Jews being cheap or prone to hoard money. Often they were forced into financial occupations and thus were best known as money lenders, leaving them vulnerable to anti-Semitic misrepresentations. Think of portrayals such as Shylock, the villainous lender in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.”

more...

[dawg day]

1. My Indiana aunt used to say that

She meant bargain... but she would say it with a sneer.

[True Blue American]

2. Bargain, negotiate price.

I do it all the time. You can not get by in this world if you do not negotiate.

Buying a car, house. You can even negotiate Medical expenses.

Probably came from people who think Jewish people are close fisted, another word that is out of style, stingy.

[marybourg]

3. I'm a Jew, and I never do it at all.

Neither did my parents, grandparents or aunties. When an auntie came back from a trip to the south where a fellow shopper had whispered into her ear: “ Jew him down”, she was shocked and horrified. Having lived in NYC, no-one in our extended family had ever heard the expression and my father flat out refused to believe that my aunt had heard such a thing. I was always a reader and had come across the expression on books. It’s extremely offensive, not to mention inaccurate.

How many people know that the word “gyp”, as in “he gypped me” is a similar slur about gypsies.
Funny, WASPs don’t seem to have any stereotypical money-related slurs attached to them. I guess they’re models of moral rectitude, compared with us outsiders.

[True Blue American]

7. You are telling me you never negotiate prices?

I would never use the words that were in the posts, just discussing the origins of the different world.

But I do live in a world that everything is negotiable. It has nothing to do with Jews.

[marybourg]

9. Not in my world. I'm 77. I've

negotiated for a car 2 or 3 times, since that seems to be the way that business is set up. Other than that, no, nothing in my experience leads me to negotiate price with anyone else.

[True Blue American]

10. What if I told you I was older

Experienced in Sales and would never buy anything without negotiating. My Husband and I worked together. We bought a new car every two years. I would hate to give you the first date of our new car, but it is the most popular car ever.

I would never pay full or top price for anything. My Mother called me stingy when I was young, just starting out. Later she called me smart.

That does not mean I am not very generous, I am. But also know when some one is taking advantage. I actually work to stop the elderly from getting ripped off. That makes me angry.

If a person treats me right I let them know. Bad, or cheat me I spread the word.

[marybourg]

11. Your life is your life and my life is mine.

Negotiating prices downwards is clearly not a Jewish trait. To portray it as such is a slur. Thats all

[True Blue American]

13. I never said it was.

My Grandparents came from Hanover Germany. Chances are pretty good that we have Jewish blood. Getting the best price possible has nothing to do with Jews. That is a German trait, iIrish, my other side.

[TlalocW]

4. Life is a learning process

My mom used that term one time. I didn't call her on it. Don't want to excuse her, but she wasn't being maliciously racist, and she was from a generation or two older than most of my classmates' parents, and it entered her vocabulary at a young age.

My brother-in-law, who is 20-years-older than I am, is not that great either. He'll help anyone who needs it, but if you're going to date his daughters, you better be the "right" race. He stopped to help an older Black man who was having problems with his car (BIL is good with cars), and while he couldn't fixed it completely, he got it working enough for him to get home and told the man such, saying, "It won't last, but I've <n-word>-rigged it pretty well." He realized what he said and was mortified, but the gentleman excused him saying, "It ain't the first time I've heard it - won't be the last." I'd like to think it had a lasting effect on him.

I just learned that cotton-pickin' has racist overtones in the last couple of years. Not that I ever used it - I tend to use real swears. I just thought it either referred to the harshness of the chore, or it was a politer substitute for something like, "motherf***er."

TlalocW

[comradebillyboy]

5. My mother used that expression frequently as did other members of her

family. Growing up I never thought of it as a slur.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. And yet...it is a slur.

Another poster here tried to convince us (Jews) that "yid" wasn't a slur because he heard it growing up.

[comradebillyboy]

12. Yes, my mother was an anti-semite...nt

[True Blue American]

14. Prejudice is mostly

Ignorance engrained in families over centuries.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Interesting. nt

[True Blue American]

8. My Irish ancestors

Had slurs thrown at them. Do not kid yourselves, WASP, which is actually a slur against whites were used.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs_by_ethnicity

[Behind the Aegis]

15. Many people did as your link shows.

But, it isn't a competition. The article I posted was to give a history of an anti-Semitic slur which is seemingly having a "rebirth" of sorts. I had no idea it would trigger people. I guess the idea that Jews are victimized is offensive to some, but not in the way one would think.

[Nitram]

17. The term refers to tough negotiation when prices are being discussed. It suggests the buyer unfairly

forces the seller to reduce the price below profitability. It is in the same class of pejorative terms as the expression "I was gypped," meaning to cheat someone, because that is a slur on the Romani people, who used to be called gypsies (a pejorative term). English is full of such pejorative terms such as "Dutch date", "Indian giver", "Scotch whistle", etc. Our language carries our racist baggage with us.

[BigDemVoter]

18. It plays on ugly stereotypes. . .

And it isn't a term of endearment by any means. Long ago, Jews were not allowed to own land and depended on usury (charging interest on money lent) as well as selling merchandise, hence the term, "Jew down", as Jews were seen to be "obsessed" with money and as "controllers" of money.

These types of stereotypes led to nasty tales of "Rich Jewish bankers who control the world" kind of bullshit or that Jews are somehow always trying to take advantage of others by paying less than they should.

I grew up in a small, farming community in the south, and our congregation had approximately 70 families. To the present day, whenever I make the very, very rare trip down there, I am still seen as one of "those people." Does it bother me? No, as I suppose it's true-- I am NOTHING like them, and THAT pleases me a LOT.