Mediaboss Marketing

27 September 2013 Last updated at 16:28

The use of the word "Yid" in football chants by Tottenham fans has attracted comment from the FA, the police and even David Cameron, but should its use be stamped out?

Most Spurs fans are not Jewish but the club has an historical association with London's Jewish community and adoption of the Y-word by Tottenham fans is an attempt to deflect anti-Semitic abuse by rival fans, according to the club.

But what are the origins of the word and should its use be considered offensive?

...any Jewish person with any relative that experienced the Holocaust would not easily walk around anywhere shouting "Yid"

The term in itself does not have anti-Semitic connotations explains Helen Beer, a lecturer in Yiddish at University College London and a native Yiddish speaker.

"It's a very straightforwardly Yiddish word," Dr Beer says.

"So you would say 'Der Yid' which among Yiddish speakers simply means 'the Jew'.

"You also have expressions where men might greet each other informally and say 'Gut morgn Reb Yid' which simply means 'Good morning, mister'."

However, Dr Beer warns the word only retains this neutral meaning when it is used by speakers of Yiddish and, in contemporary Britain, only a low percentage of secular Jews can speak the language.

Go here to read the rest:
The Y-word: Pride or prejudice?