The Word "Kike"

My father is a Family Doctor who does Hypnotherapy for people who need it. He just told me that recently a patient of his got very angry with him and called him a "Kike". I know that the term is supposed to be a derogatory word for Jew, but wasn't sure what it REALLY meant.

The following information, found on Google, comes from http://kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu/Dictionary/kike.htm . A website maintained by someone named Kim Pearson.

kike (kaIk) slang. Also kyke.

1. n. An offensive name for a Jew.

2. adj. Something Jewish in origin or ownership (also kikey).

3. n. A grasping, dishonest if also shrewd person (irrespective of race).

The etymology of kike is hotly contested, although it is commonly agreed that the word dates back to the late 19th century. Many plausible theories have been advanced:

a) To borrow from Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish, "The word kike was born on Ellis Island, when Jewish immigrants who were illiterate (or could not use Roman-English letters), when asked to sign the entry-forms with the customary 'X,' refused -- and instead made a circle. The Yiddish word for 'circle' is kikel (pronounced KY - kel), and for 'little circle,' kikeleh. Before long the immigration inspectors were calling anyone who signed with an 'O' instead of an 'X' a kikel or kikeleh or kikee or, finally and succinctly, kike."

Rosten explains that for the Jewish immigrants, an 'X' was an evil sign, representing both the horrors of crucifixion and the sign of their (Christian) oppressors. Jewish - American merchants continued to sign with an 'O' instead of an 'X' for several decades, spreading the nickname kike wherever they went as a natural result. At that time kike was more of an affectionate term, or used by Jews to describe other Jews, and only developed into a racial slur later on.

It's funny that this label started off as something empowering, but ended up being so offensive. It strikes me that the new meaning connotes "otherness". "You are a kike" seems to mean "You are an unwanted outsider", "You do not belong with me", "It is shameful to be what you are". It is the 10 foot pole which keeps one human at a distance from the other.

The thing which really gets me is that labels made for other groups do the exact same thing.

Is this something good or bad? There is no easy answer.

With that thought I must leave :)

- Inkhorn