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Help[Opinions] Re: Can someone tell me why this is offensive to Jewish people?
in reply to a message by SJayne
Years ago, my sister had a boyfriend who was Jewish and whose surname was Cohen. She dated him for three years. My father was awful to her about it. He was really awful. He never referred to this guy in any way other than "the miserable Jew". At that time, I was in my early to mid-twenties and I had never had any idea previous to that that my father was so anti-Semitic. In fact, when I'd told my husband that my sister had a new boyfriend and that he was Jewish, he asked me what my parents would think of that. I said, "Oh, they won't care at all." That's what I really believed because neither of my parents had ever said anything at all anti-Semitic all during my growing up years. It sure came out when my sister started dating this guy. My mother cared, too, she just wasn't as vocal about it as my father.
It was the only really bad character trait that my father had and the way he treated my sister regarding her boyfriend was the only really bad thing I had ever seen him do. I witnessed him say to her, once when she was in a petulant mood, "You're so crabby, no wonder you can't get a Christian guy." It made my sister cry, and I actually yelled at my father, but he only laughed.
Anyway, forgive this off-topic (I suppose) and long digression, but it explains why I very strongly associate the name Cohen with Jewishness (is that the right word? I don't mean Judaism, because that's the religion, and this guy was not an observant Jew). I do believe that I knew before this that the name was Jewish, as far as I can recall. And I know that my mother thought so, because my sister told me that one of the things she'd said to her when she began dating him was, "He's not Jewish, right? He just has a Jewish last name?" No, Mom, he's Jewish lol.
It would seem odd to me to see it as a first name on a gentile child, that's how strongly I associate it with Jewish people.
And besides that, I find it very clunky and unattractive.
It was the only really bad character trait that my father had and the way he treated my sister regarding her boyfriend was the only really bad thing I had ever seen him do. I witnessed him say to her, once when she was in a petulant mood, "You're so crabby, no wonder you can't get a Christian guy." It made my sister cry, and I actually yelled at my father, but he only laughed.
Anyway, forgive this off-topic (I suppose) and long digression, but it explains why I very strongly associate the name Cohen with Jewishness (is that the right word? I don't mean Judaism, because that's the religion, and this guy was not an observant Jew). I do believe that I knew before this that the name was Jewish, as far as I can recall. And I know that my mother thought so, because my sister told me that one of the things she'd said to her when she began dating him was, "He's not Jewish, right? He just has a Jewish last name?" No, Mom, he's Jewish lol.
It would seem odd to me to see it as a first name on a gentile child, that's how strongly I associate it with Jewish people.
And besides that, I find it very clunky and unattractive.
This message was edited 10/31/2013, 8:50 PM
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