Jew/Jewish

[Laurence Horn]

>My father (a gentile) worked as a lifeguard at the Jewish Community Center
>in Des Moines in his late teens or early 20s.  He once heard one of his
>younger charges mutter to another one, "What's HE doin' here?  He ain't no
>Hebe!"  I always assumed this was a normal self-reference among Jewish
>youth at that time and place, but I suppose it could have been an
>appropriation of a derogatory term used by gentiles at the time.
>
>Peter Mc.
>
I never encountered "Hebe" growing up, anymore than "M.O.T.", and of
course "Hebrew" had the opposite (euphemistic) value.

   But I did experience an interesting misunderstanding once in Paris,
when my (very much non-Jewish, and no doubt bigoted) French landlady
asked me apropos of nothing whether I was "israëlite".  Never having
heard the word, I processed it as 'Israeli', and said that no, I was
américain.  Only later did I realize she was asking (euphemistically)
if I were Jewish.  Not that I'm sure I'd have answered honestly even
if I'd realized what she was asking me...  Since then I believe I've
encountered "Israelite" as a fellow-euphemism of "Hebrew" (as in
"a(n) ... gentleman") to avoid referring to Jewishness directly.
Possibly somewhere in "Gentleman's Agreement" or some such cultural
relic.


larry