(http://www.jpost.com/GreenIsrael/Home.aspx)
* _JPost.com_ (http://www.jpost.com/)
‘Jew’ is the new ‘cool’ in Dutch, linguist says
By JTA
01/15/2013
Teenagers use the word "jood" as an expression of enthusiasm; Dutch also
use Yiddish word "tof" as "good."
Professor Marc van Oostendorp wrote Monday on his blog that he heard the
new usage of the word “jood” (pronounced yode) at a high school in Leiden
shortly after learning about the phenomenon from an online forum about the
Dutch language.
“One is at first unsettled by it. The word Jew is still a slightly
sensitive issue if used improperly,” van Oostendorp wrote, adding an example
of
how soccer fans use it as a pejorative.
Van Oostendorp notes that Dutch already has one positive exclamation
connected to Judaism in “tof,” which was borrowed from Yiddish and means
“good,”
but he writes that “it’s not clear if those two are connected. I don’t
believe too many people are aware of the etymology.”
He notes that “the ideal word to express teenage enthusiasm would make
parents raise their eyebrows” but would not invoke disciplinary intervention.
“The word ‘Jew’ is apparently suitable in that regard,” van Oostendorp
wrote.
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