As a follow-up to my last post, in which I talked about what was considered "goyish" in my house growing up, I want to ask my readers:
What did YOUR family consider goyish?
I am especially interested in what may be outside the normal stereotypes (those stereotypes would include playing football and eating bologna on white bread with mayonnaise).
So, is there anything weird in your "goyish" past?
15 comments:
white horseradish in a jar & sweet pickles that aren't refridgerated are considered goyish by my family.
White horseradish in a jar? Really? Even if you call it "chrain"?
chrain is what you call it when you mix it with beets!
Softball, denim jackets, Kool-aid/Sunny Delight, and Chevys are considered goyish in my family....
pierced ears!
@SM: I have definitely heard of the pierced ears thing, though it was not an issue in my house.
@Maidel: Now that I think about it, my grandfather, z"l, who was the only person in my family who called it "chrain," only ate the kind with beets.
@k: denim jackets, really?
Putting the napkin under the knife + spoon instead of under the fork, according to my grandmother a"h.
Cards. We kids would play Go Fish or War and my father would say we shouldn't play with 'cooten' like the goyim. If he was still around he'd be so disappointed to see that some of his grandchildren are Texas Hold 'Em addicts.
Boy Scouts.
TV.
Oh, and baby showers. Whenever someone mentions a baby shower, my mom goes on about how Jews never used to have them.
Jill--totally. My mom says baby showers are bad luck. Before I was born, the nursery didn't have any furniture in it. I do not blame people at all for being nervous before a baby is born.
I used to skeet shoot and work in a metal shop, uber goyishe
"Chapel caps/doilies," depending on your neighborhood. When I was growing up in South Jersey, chapel caps (called doilies in New York City) were so closely associated in my mind with the ladies of the local Catholic church that, to this day, I can't bring myself to wear one. Hence the obsession, on my blog, with the question of what I should use to cover my head in synagogue, a kippah being deemed by many to be a male garment, but just about anything else being, for lack of a better description, not identifiably Jewish.
Congratulate me--I finally figured how to post a comment on your blog. The trick is to access your blog by typing Conseradox and Single into a search window. For reasons unknown, I can't see the Word Verification letters when I click on the link to your blog in my own sidebar. Go figure.
Nu, so when are we getting together, Ms. New New Yorker?
white horseradish in a jar
I think I know where this came from! Maidel's family probably has a messed up tradition, mixing up white horseradish in a jar (Jewish, usually stronger than the kind with beets) and horseradish sauce (goyish, because it's horseradish weakened by cream or mayo). The latter also has a label that says "horseradish" and comes in a jar.
Mayo in itself is not goyish. It's only goyish when used to weaken something that's otherwise Jewish (such as deli meats and horseradish). Jews often overuse mayo in Jewish things like tuna salad.
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