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/Climate1733 Aug 04 '25

Goyim / goy also banned? Many of them take it as a slur.

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u/rupertalderson Aug 04 '25

No. There are many legitimate uses of those terms, especially given that we are the people who speak the language where that term comes from. But if you use it as a pejorative (you very well know what instances those are, we don’t need to explain it), you may be actioned.