Is "gypped" a racist term?

[INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU]

IMO, these are not racist terms, but the person using them is prejudiced.

Merriam Webster: 1. preconceived judgement or opinion

2. an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge

3. an instance of such judgement or opinion

4. an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics.

A racist is definitely prejudiced, but being prejudiced doesn't automatically make you a racist. Just an ignorant (in the sense of not knowing better) person.

And, my mother was called "froglady" when she worked in the cabarets. Eet eez tres offensive.

 

[froglady]

And, my mother was called "froglady" when she worked in the cabarets. Eet eez tres offensive.

Did she think up her name herself, or did other people just start calling her that? It makes a difference.

BTW, I collect frogs. You know, the little green/brown hoppy things?
And I didn't capitalize it, so it's not a slang term for a certain nationality.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Perhaps it's easy to say you'd be proud of a derogatory phrase like "Beanied him down" being aimed at the Beans, because for the Beans it would be nothing more than a derogatory phrase. But historically the sentiment that Jews are cheats and money-grubbers has not been simply a derogatory stereotype. Rhetoric about Jews as cheats and money-grubbers was a large part of the Nazi propaganda that led to the Holocaust; it is part of the attitude toward Jews that led to massive genocide against them. Surely no one could be proud of a stereotype that helped lead to the extermination of 2/3 of the Jews in Europe.

Yeah, the nazis said a lot of bad things about Jews. I'm familiar with it.

But that particular stereotype didn't begin with Hitler. It goes farther back than I even know. Shylock made a whole speach about it in "The Merchant of Venice", for Pete's sake.

Again, although I don't consider it a derogatory phrase, I don't use it because I realize that the people who do use it are trying to be insulting.

But none of that has anything to do with Hitler. Hitler didn't like the Jews simply because they were Jews. He'd use the word "Jew" in a derogatory fashion. Doesn't mean being one is anything to be ashamed of.

 

[themarquis]

Yeah, the nazis said a lot of bad things about Jews. I'm familiar with it.

But that particular stereotype didn't begin with Hitler. It goes farther back than I even know. Shylock made a whole speach about it in "The Merchant of Venice", for Pete's sake.

Again, although I don't consider it a derogatory phrase, I don't use it because I realize that the people who do use it are trying to be insulting.

But none of that has anything to do with Hitler. Hitler didn't like the Jews simply because they were Jews. He'd use the word "Jew" in a derogatory fashion. Doesn't mean being one is anything to be ashamed of.

You may want to do a little reading up on why exactly the Nazi party tried to exterminate the Jews before you start claiming to be an expert. And no, it had nothing to do with them "just being Jews", and everything to do with *exactly* that sort of rhetoric in which Jews were assumed to be cheats, money hungry, etc.

edited to add: maybe you are trying to argue that because the Nazi party didn't invent the stereotype themselves, it is okay, what they did had nothing to do with it and it is okay for us to do the same? I'm sorry, the argument does not work. It doesn't matter where the stereotype came from originally -- it almost lead to a whole people being wiped out. You're saying it really is perfectly fine for others to participate in exactly this kind of rhetoric?

 

[ConcKahuna]

All of 'em, huh? They aren't individuals, each with their own strengths and weaknesses?

That was my point LOL

 

[Free4Life11]

No it's not.

 

[Cool-Beans]

You may want to do a little reading up on why exactly the Nazi party tried to exterminate the Jews before you start claiming to be an expert. And no, it had nothing to do with them "just being Jews", and everything to do with *exactly* that sort of rhetoric in which Jews were assumed to be cheats, money hungry, etc.

No. You're caught up in words. The words were the excuses they used to kill the Jews. The reason they wanted them dead is because they just hated them. It is irrational and there is no making sense of it. The words they used should not lead you to believe there was anything to them.

When a person starts claiming an entire group of people is bad because of this, that and the other thing, you can be damn sure that those aren't the reasons for their statements. They simply don't like those folks.

People get caught up in the words and fail to see the hate. It's simply not seeing the forest for the trees. Don't get sucked in.

That sort of thing didn't start with the Nazis and it didn't end with them.

All I said was that the stereotype of Jews being cheats or money hungry (the latter of which I don't even consider derogatory) didn't begin with the nazis. I'm not sure why you insist on going on about the nazis.

edited to add: maybe you are trying to argue that because the Nazi party didn't invent the stereotype themselves, it is okay, what they did had nothing to do with it and it is okay for us to do the same? I'm sorry, the argument does not work. It doesn't matter where the stereotype came from originally -- it almost lead to a whole people being wiped out. You're saying it really is perfectly fine for others to participate in exactly this kind of rhetoric?

I never said or implied that. You are looking for things to argue or be offended by. I won't address the rest of the crap you posted here because it is baseless and goofy.

 

[themarquis]

No. You're caught up in words. The words were the excuses they used to kill the Jews. The reason they wanted them dead is because they just hated them. It irrational and there is no making sense of it. The words they used should not lead you to believe there was anything to them.

I'm sorry, but this is just plain not true. That's why I said you might want to read up on it. It is not the case that Nazis killed the Jews for no reason. It is not the case that they were just caught up in irrational hatred and that there was nothing else behind it. It's just not. I'm not trying to attack you, but you just can't go around saying things like this that are not historically correct and expect people to go along with you.

 

[crazytp93]

nAH

 

[Cool-Beans]

I'm sorry, but this is just plain not true. That's why I said you might want to read up on it. It is not the case that Nazis killed the Jews for no reason. It is not the case that they were just caught up in irrational hatred and that there was nothing else behind it. It's just not. I'm not trying to attack you, but you just can't go around saying things like this that are not historically correct and expect people to go along with you.

You want to believe that Hitler really thought the Jews were all the things he said they were, you go right on believing it.

But the fact is that it isn't true. He didn't believe it. His henchmen didn't believe it. They said it to whip people into a frenzy and give them a justification for their hatred and all the atrocities committed.

Lots of people say things they don't believe simply to justify their hatred and their actions. The nazis were just one group of people who did that.

I've done my reading and I'm not an idiot. You are actually the first person I've heard that actually believed the nazis were telling the truth as they saw it. There weren't a whole lot of people who believed they weren't lying then and there are even fewer who believe it now.

 

[MzDiz]

I'm loving the people who are strictly answering the question with a "no" seemingly without reading the rest of the thread. Go find a gypsy and ask if they are offended by the term. They're all over the place.

 

[ashjohnson80]

i'm such an airhead. i've never made the connection. i always thought it was "jipped" and never knew what it meant. i also thought people said "chewed them down" like they were going to eat them...

 

[Charade]

I'm loving the people who are strictly answering the question with a "no" seemingly without reading the rest of the thread. Go find a gypsy and ask if they are offended by the term. They're all over the place.

I've never met one. That's a self admitted gypsy that is.

So I guess they really don't like that Cher song. "Gypsies, tramps and thieves...)

Yanno what I find insulting? That the stereotypical white male cannot understand the struggle of minorities because they haven't "lived" it.

his-story...

 

[Charade]

i'm such an airhead. i've never made the connection. i always thought it was "jipped" and never knew what it meant. i also thought people said "chewed them down" like they were going to eat them...

You didn't know that "being jipped" or "got jipped" was the equivalent to being "ripped off" or "tricked out of something"?

Pretty soon we're going to find out that "ripped off" is offensive to someone (probably criminals...)

Some people find the term "illegal alien" offensive. I don't. "Undocumented resident" sounds so much less... criminal. I like to call a spade a spade. (apparently Hillary likes the term "spadework" cause she used it when talking about Obama. Did the people who typically get their shorts in a knot over this stuff have a reaction? If they did, it wasn't widely reported that I recall)

 

[ilisao]

I say "got gypped today" and "jewed em' down" but never really thought about the connotation. I seem to be very UN PC lately (like the last 10 years, lol). I never want to offend anyone yet it seems that so many people are wired to be "offended". I happen to be Native American and DD is Portugeese but we don't get offended as easily as some (not at all really), even when some people ask DD why she's so light skinned so she says, hey: Moms' Indian and Dad's Portugee, my skin is nearly perfect! In reality, I'm only 50% Indian and her Dad is what is considered "white portugeese". Now, calling people "white portugeese" is what I think should be offensive -- why make the differentiation?

See as a Jewish person, if you said Jewed 'em down to me, I would completely rip you a new one. That is a completely offensive, and anti-semitic term, going back to the stereotype that Jews are cheap and stingy with money.

 

[ashjohnson80]

You didn't know that "being jipped" or "got jipped" was the equivalent to being "ripped off" or "tricked out of something"?

Pretty soon we're going to find out that "ripped off" is offensive to someone (probably criminals...)

Some people find the term "illegal alien" offensive. I don't. "Undocumented resident" sounds so much less... criminal. I like to call a spade a spade. (apparently Hillary likes the term "spadework" cause she used it when talking about Obama. Did the people who typically get their shorts in a knot over this stuff have a reaction? If they did, it wasn't widely reported that I recall)

yeah i knew that it meant ripped off but i didnt know where "jipped" came from because i had never seen it written being "gyped", i don't know if i'm making any sense.

 

[ilisao]

You want to believe that Hitler really thought the Jews were all the things he said they were, you go right on believing it.

But the fact is that it isn't true. He didn't believe it. His henchmen didn't believe it. They said it to whip people into a frenzy and give them a justification for their hatred and all the atrocities committed.

Lots of people say things they don't believe simply to justify their hatred and their actions. The nazis were just one group of people who did that.

I've done my reading and I'm not an idiot. You are actually the first person I've heard that actually believed the nazis were telling the truth as they saw it. There weren't a whole lot of people who believed they weren't lying then and there are even fewer who believe it now.

My father in law, a German and a non-Jew, spent his childhood on the run from the Nazis. He father was put in a labor camp for refusing to join the army. His brother was hauled away, never to be seen again because of his refusal. And let me tell you, my father in law is on most certainly attested that Hitler believed every word of hate he spewed, every stereotype.

I don't know where you get your information that the Nazis really didn't believe their own words, because you are incorrect.

And before you go on, let me tell you that those Nazis killed off at least 40 members of my family in Auschwitz. My uncle came out of there at 14 with no family, after having been taken there on the eve of his Bar Mitzvah.

I will contend to my dying day that Hitler truly believed his own words. And I can find you many, many other people who believe the same thing.

 

[babieemelly]

My father in law, a German and a non-Jew, spent his childhood on the run from the Nazis. He father was put in a labor camp for refusing to join the army. His brother was hauled away, never to be seen again because of his refusal. And let me tell you, my father in law is on most certainly attested that Hitler believed every word of hate he spewed, every stereotype.

I was just going to mention something similar. Hitler and the Nazis believed every word of what they said, and their hatred ran rampant. What a lot of people don't know, though, is that while it was primarily the Jews being targeted since they were seen as the easiest targets, Hitler had thousands and thousands on non-Jews killed as well... if you were different from him and his army, or you rebelled against them, they hated you just as much. It was a sick situation all around, which I'm sure we all know.

 

[JennyMominRI]

My father in law, a German and a non-Jew, spent his childhood on the run from the Nazis. He father was put in a labor camp for refusing to join the army. His brother was hauled away, never to be seen again because of his refusal. And let me tell you, my father in law is on most certainly attested that Hitler believed every word of hate he spewed, every stereotype.

I don't know where you get your information that the Nazis really didn't believe their own words, because you are incorrect.

And before you go on, let me tell you that those Nazis killed off at least 40 members of my family in Auschwitz. My uncle came out of there at 14 with no family, after having been taken there on the eve of his Bar Mitzvah.

I will contend to my dying day that Hitler truly believed his own words. And I can find you many, many other people who believe the same thing.

I'm sure I could find plenty to agree with you too

 

[Macca1111]

There are quite a few sayings and expressions that have negative origons...how about "Welched" or "Indian Giver"

Which is why we don't say those either...gypped is racist, and I don't use it or anything else that has been mentioned on this thread.