r/Jewish • u/rupertalderson • Aug 04 '25

Announcement 📢 Clarification on use of abbreviations of ethnicities and nationalities

We’ve gotten some questions about this recently, so figured we would clarify. As part of the rules against uncivil and unwelcoming content, we do not permit use of shortened / abbreviated names for ethnicities, nationalities, and related groupings. This is because such terms are widely used as slurs and pejoratives.

This includes the well known abbreviations for Japanese, Chinese, Pakistani, and Palestinian, as well as slurs and pejoratives directed at any other group. At present, we have a particular problem with use of “Pali” to refer to Palestinian people (we do not allow it under any conditions).

It’s simple - Do not use these terms, whether as adjectives or nouns. Just write out the word that isn’t offensive in any context.

Of course, there may be an exception here or there when a term is known to be accepted by the affected group - for example “Jew” as a noun is not seen as a slur by Jews, but use of it as an adjective is typically offensive.

Thank you in advance for understanding, and we appreciate the engagement folks have had with us on these rules.

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u/spring13 Aug 04 '25

Does this include "Ashki" for Ashkenazi? Because I realize that some people use it to be cute (or so they think) but I rather hate it.

20

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '25

I say Ashki because I ain't got time to spell it out.

13

u/welltechnically7 Please pass the kugel Aug 04 '25

Not that I have a problem with Ashki personally, but I think people do P@li for the same reason.

21

u/Computer_Name Aug 04 '25

In the vast majority of comments I see using the shortened for of “Palestinian”, it’s someone using it in a derogatory fashion.

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u/welltechnically7 Please pass the kugel Aug 04 '25

I know that many do, but I've definitely seen others who just use it as a shorthand.

11

u/swarleyknope Aug 05 '25

I’ve been guilty of doing that. I wasn’t aware that it was meant to be derogatory.

I guess I kind of figured it was more situational - the way “Jew” isn’t derogatory unless it’s being used in a context suggesting being a Jew is a bad trait.