‘Jew’ is the new ‘cool’ for Dutch youths

Friday, 18 January 2013

Dutch teens are now using the term “Jew” to mean “cool.” (Reuters)

 

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By Al Arabiya

“Cool,” “awesome,” and even “sick” are words that have been used by teenagers to define what is “cool.” But recently, a new word, “Jew,” has been added by young Dutch teenagers to mean “cool.”

The word ‘Jew’ has long been used for anti-Semitic invective that implied a negative connotation or associated with avarice, according to Leiden University’s Linguist Professor Marc van Oostendorp. Recently, however, the use of the word ‘Jew’ indicates something “beautiful and very pleasant,” the Dutch website Pow Ned reported.

“Apparently the time has come for the Jew-generation,” said the language professor in the report.

Oostendorp wrote on his blog that in Netherland’s city of Leiden, high schools students have been using the Dutch word “jood,” with a positive undertone, which confirmed what the professor had earlier read on a Dutch-language based Internet forum.

The Urban Dictionary site, which is known for its ability to record the coined words and phrases, defined the term “jood” as meaning “cool.”

But according to the dictionary’s statistics, “jood” has received a mixed reaction, with nine people identifying the phrase as accurate, while 22 others expressed doubt over the definition.

The use of the word ‘Jew’ hails a controversial debate in any context even when pro-Jewish Ajax Amsterdam football fans chanted “we are the super Jews” during the match.

A Dutch anti-racism campaign group, BAN, has sued the sports club for using the pro-Jewish chant.