kosher = according to prescribed rules

[Benjamin Barrett]

Exactly! The speaker was Egyptian, and whether he was accommodating, joking or struggling to find an equivalent to "halal" isn't clear, but I think this usage exists, such as with vegetarians.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Aug 11, 2012, at 3:56 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

>
> I can take "kosher" as "according to the prescribed (approved,
> sanctioned) rules", which can be dietary, moral, or legal.  But
> perhaps the house where four Muslims live should be described as a
> "halal" frat house, where alcohol is prohibited.  (It's kosher for
> Jews to drink.)  And the existence of a frat house where there's no
> alcohol is certainly news.
>
> Joel
>
> At 8/11/2012 06:18 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>> This doesn't sound quite right. The most common use of Kosher in
>> non-Jewish context implies something like "above board" (especially in
>> police-speak)--matching the "Correct, genuine, legitimate"--and
>> "approved" or "sanctioned"(presumably by some authority, but this can
>> be left vague). But the meaning here appears to be closer to "strict".
>> There is an overarching category of "following rules", but that seems
>> too broad.
>>
>> VS-)
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 3:43 PM, Benjamin Barrett
>> <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> In today's episode of "This American Life" =
>>> (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/471/the-convert),
>>> =
>>> there is a discussion about a house where four Muslims live, and a =
>>> comment that it's like a "kosher" frat house because they didn't drink =
>>> alcohol.
>>>
>>> The OED has "Correct, genuine, legitimate," but this seems to mean "in =
>>> accordance with (Muslim) rules" or probably more specifically, =
>>> "excluding prohibited activity." I think this use applies to vegetarian =
>>> food in a vegetarian household, etc.
>>>
>>> Wiktionary (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kosher) has "In accordance =
>>> with standards or usual practice," which is closer, but still seems =
>>> slightly off.
>>>
>>> I did a search on the ADS archives and did not see any mention of this =
>>> meaning, though I looked only at the bits presented in the search =
>>> results.
>>>
>>> The episode also has "surveil," which the OED covers, but was new to me.
>>>
>>> Benjamin Barrett
>>> Seattle, WA

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