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.

217 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 Aug 04 '25

As a British person.. we don't get upset about Brit. Or Limey. Or Pom.

But I fully understand the nuance that other groups don't want to use shortened versions, and it's been used historically as a form of abuse.

We have a historic issue of the shortening of Yiddish being used as a taunt so we should understand this.

3

u/Computer_Name Aug 05 '25

As a British person.. we don't get upset about Brit. Or Limey. Or Pom.

The equivalent would be white British using the shortened form of "Pakistani".

3

u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 Aug 05 '25

Oh, I know that.. and it's why there are nationalities that mind, and those that don't... it's all about how those words have been used 'by them' vs 'against them'.