Had to get back some fun to y'all- my life is utter shit right now and FT is the only person who can really make me feel good.  I KNOW, however messed up I might be- that I am a freakin' paragon of sanity compared to him!



Sully, inspite of my continued bashing, I never want anyone on this board, and I mean anyone, to have their life turn to shit...
I hope whatever problems you are going through, may they come and go quickly, and your life returns to its normal self...Best to you Sully...

But Funtime appears to be more correct than you are in describing how the terms are used in the most accepted form.  Your personal experience nonwithstanding, the general use of the terms appear to be derogatory, although not to the extreme (what is new?) that Funtime implied.  The terms Goyim and Shaygetz seem to be used in a similar context as Shiksa.

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  The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.

shiksa

SYLLABICATION: shik•sa
PRONUNCIATION:
  sh k s

VARIANT FORMS: also shik•se
NOUN: Offensive Used as a disparaging term for a non-Jewish girl or woman.
ETYMOLOGY: Yiddish shikse, feminine of shegetz, shegetz. See shegetz.

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Question 19.6:
What does "shiksa" and "shaygetz" mean? How offensive are they?

Shiksa and Shaygetz are the Yiddish derivative of the respective feminine and masculine Hebrew words for something unclean, dirty. The appellations are customarily applied to gentiles who do things inimical to Jewish interests, such as vandalizing Jewish buildings, robbing Jewish kids of their lunch money, or becoming romantically involved with Jews . The root is "sheketz", which refers to house rodents and lizards. They impart ritual impurity, and therefore the term lends itself to the same kind of idea. Some have taken to using the term to refer to Christian women in general. If Christians were using the term against Jews in English, they would be saying "Filthy Jews" or "Dirty Jews", and we Jews would rightly be offended. Hence, use of these terms should really be avoided; it is insulting and inappropriate, even if no bad intent was behind the usage. It is always better to use neutral, less pejorative (judgemental) terms, such as non-Jew or Christian.
Note: In Israel, shaygetz is sometimes used to refer to a misbehaving child.
Note: There are other words for non-Jewish women, "nachriah", and "goyah", that are more properly used in less judgemental situations.
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The FAQ is a collection of documents that is an attempt to answer questions that are continually asked on the soc.culture.jewish family of newsgroups. It was written by cooperating laypeople from the various Judaic movements. You should not make any assumption as to accuracy and/or authoritativeness of the answers provided herein. In all cases, it is always best to consult a competent authority--your local rabbi is a good place to start.

of the user!  More to the point, I've rarely heard Jews I know use those terms in a derogatory manner, so I guess those definitions you quoted don't apply to all!

Other Yiddush terms have different meanings depending on the user.  The classic one, of course, is schmuck.  I've always used it to descibe a jerk (like Scumtime) that you really don't like.  But a lot of people I know use it do describe someone when he does something stupid, but not necessarily in a mean manner.  And there are certainly people out there who still use the term in its original meaning, which is penis.

-- Modified on 12/11/2004 8:16:42 PM