Jew/Jewish

[Alice Faber]

Bethany K. Dumas wrote:
>On Wed, 3 Jul 2002, Alice Faber wrote:
>
> >of Jewish immigration to New York, there were various social clubs and
> >mutual aid societies for immigrants from particular areas, called
> >"landsmanshaften" (or some such). So, in the immigrant usage, a "landsman"
> >was someone from the same home town as you in the old country. I'm not sure
> >at what point the term was extended to mean a fellow Jew. Your mother's use
> >sounds more like a mutatis mutandis of the original meaning.
>
>Like homeboy/homegirl?

Pretty much. The only difference is whether the place of origin is in the
same country or another country.

Alice


--
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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
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