To yid or not to yid?

[aspursfan]

I find this debate very interesting. I was talking to my girlfriend about it and she completely disagrees with me. I think that something like Yid Army represents overcoming racism rather than supporting it.

This was her response:
Let’s just say Tottenham had Vietnamese instead of Jewish roots, and the word in question was “Charlie,” and you, a Vietnamese person visiting England for the first time, attended a Spurs game and had to sit there and listen to the pro-Spurs crowd screaming about how much they love Charlie and how Peter Crouch is our favorite Charlie and Charlie’s gonna stomp them Ars*nal boys, then had to hear the anti-Spurs crowd caterwauling about filthy Charlie with his slanted eyes, Charlie lives in the jungles.  You would be pissed off and offended as s**t, and rightfully so.

I think she has a valid point, but the thing is if you say that yid cannot be used by Spurs supporters for any reason then you make it a bad word again! That simply provides ammunition and more incentive to use it!

Has  your girl  friend got learning difficulties ?

She's American and she's black. She certainly sees things from a different perspective than me, an English Caucasian male who is obsessed with football.

She couldn't really get past the Auschwitz chant. Obviously I explained that is an entirely different usage of yid than Spurs supporters use, as well as the fact that you could substitute "yid" in that chant with any other word and it would still be anti-Semitic, but I can certainly understand why she feels that way.

If you had very little knowledge of football or the history of any of this I'm sure you'd be less steadfast in your opinion.

[ugs]

Thought this was to yid or not to yid !!!!!
 
As far as I can tell the WHL crowd don't chant the N word !!!!!
 
 

[aspursfan]

Thought this was to yid or not to yid !!!!!
 
As far as I can tell the WHL crowd don't chant the N word !!!!!
 
 

Nid army? 

[yidmafioso]

We`ve always been a jewish club and we`ve always been happy and proud to say so . Most older jewish people speak , or are at least aware of a language known as "yiddish" so why all of a sudden is yid an offensive word ? .I think it`s just another example of the do-good , tree hugging , politically correct arseholes that have totally ballsed up this country trying to justify their place in the world .

[WilsonJet]

End of Argument I think see below
 
In Yiddish, the word "Yid" Yiddish: ייד is neutral or even complimentary, and in Ashkenazi Yiddish-speaking circles it is frequently used to mean simply "fellow," "chap," "buddy," "mate," etc., with no expressed emphasis on Jewishness (although this may be implied by the intra-Jewish context)
 
 

That's actually spot on. One of my counseling mentors is a Jewish woman and I asked her opinion about the use of the word 'Yid' or 'Yiddo' as it relates Tottenham's culture. I even showed her the 'Defoe is Yiddo' t-shirt with the double Star of Davids. She chuckled and thought it was interesting. After I explained to her how the term relates to the club she endorsed its use, and said that it didn't bother her in the least because it was being used authentically by the native culture. She explained that if, on the other hand, the terms were used in a perjorative fashion with malicious intent or as a slur her reaction would be different.

This really isn't hard to understand. I can tell my brother he's being an asshole, but if someone outside the family makes such a remark - we have a problem.

[WilsonJet]

I find this debate very interesting. I was talking to my girlfriend about it and she completely disagrees with me. I think that something like Yid Army represents overcoming racism rather than supporting it.

This was her response:
Let’s just say Tottenham had Vietnamese instead of Jewish roots, and the word in question was “Charlie,” and you, a Vietnamese person visiting England for the first time, attended a Spurs game and had to sit there and listen to the pro-Spurs crowd screaming about how much they love Charlie and how Peter Crouch is our favorite Charlie and Charlie’s gonna stomp them Ars*nal boys, then had to hear the anti-Spurs crowd caterwauling about filthy Charlie with his slanted eyes, Charlie lives in the jungles.  You would be pissed off and offended as s**t, and rightfully so.

I think she has a valid point, but the thing is if you say that yid cannot be used by Spurs supporters for any reason then you make it a bad word again! That simply provides ammunition and more incentive to use it!

Has  your girl  friend got learning difficulties ?

@baldbloke - Dude, where the hell did that come from? Pretty s**tty thing to say - and entirely unprovoked. ASF - you're way more tolerant than me, my man...

I also just wanted to point out that this reminds me of the use of the word 'Yank'. Might as well tell us we're f**kin' awesome.

[aspursfan]

No worries, Wilson. I brought up her opinion on the matter so I'm not going to get too bothered about anyone's reply. Especially on the internet. Plus if I showed her that she'd just say something like, "so Spurs fans make fun of handicapped people as well now?"
 

[Holtspur]

Come on you superyids!

[scotspurs]

End of Argument I think see below
 
In Yiddish, the word "Yid" Yiddish: ייד is neutral or even complimentary, and in Ashkenazi Yiddish-speaking circles it is frequently used to mean simply "fellow," "chap," "buddy," "mate," etc., with no expressed emphasis on Jewishness (although this may be implied by the intra-Jewish context)
 
 
Spot on mate. It is not a racial slur in any way, its interpretted that way because most people have'nt bothered to check their facts. Its a shame that our pride in being a 'yid' is looked upon in a derogatory way. Why not embrace it and come together instead of demonising it and dividing us??

[Holtspur]

Think someone need to get hold of the chant leaders at WHL and sing about being SuperYids or "come on you yids". Lets throw the insults back at the oppo!

[Spurs218]

Think someone need to get hold of the chant leaders at WHL and sing about being SuperYids or "come on you yids". Lets throw the insults back at the oppo!

Do you know how hard it is to start new songs at the Lane? The new Lennon chant has only just got going and we started that in Milan!

[Chelmsford_yid]

I live 5 doors away from a Jewish temple, I have some spare before the game tonight, I'll ask for there views.

[Spurs218]

So the club made two messages about this tonight. Both were met with a chorus of boos, followed by chants of "yid army" from all corners of the ground.

[Holtspur]

So good to hear the crowd chanted Yid Army - thats the way to deal with all this as we have said before! 

[Spurs218]

Good to hear but some very bad scenes in the shelf side last night. 10 man + brawl, not good to see.