A few years back, I was working with a sales guy for a major medical imaging equipment company who was trying to sell my hospital some C-arms(live moving xray imaging device). We were shooting the shit before his demo of the new equipment and he was talking about a certain segment of doctors that he isn’t really fond of because of how they negotiate prices. So he said, “I really can’t stand pain management doctors. They are always trying to Jew me down on the price of these things.” So I was like, “Say that again for me? I don’t think I heard you right.” He said, “They constantly try to Jew me on the price, ya know, like negotiate real aggressively!?” But he said it much louder like I was hard of hearing. I said, “Ya know, as a Jewish person, I don’t really love that phrase man. Are you serious right now?” His eyes got huge and he started profusely apologizing to me. But his possible sale was gone in that moment. The sad thing for him was, we were trying to buy like 6 of these devices and it’s the only thing this particular company produces. So he fucked up big time. I was just shocked at how casually he threw that out there like it was okay and normal.
Sales is an interesting field because the overwhelming majority of them failed their way into the job, but some of them are able to make a shitload of money.
For the longest time, growing up, I thought it was "chew people down". If ever I've used the phrase, that's what I've said. Not that it probably makes a difference, the way I would pronounce, the roots of the phrase are obviously offensive.
That’s interesting because you weren’t saying Jew so in your mind, you weren’t being antisemitic. But maybe the people who heard you thought you were. Or maybe didn’t care depending on where you were from.
I can say it is something that, if I have said it, it was incredibly rare. If my schools were any indication of the likelihood I was around Jewish people in that community, the chance is even more infinitely small that I said it in front of a Jewish person. I can't remember a single Jewish kid in our school. We had Hare Krishnas. I hung out with them, smoked weed with them. My family cut hay on their land.
I was in my mid-twenties when I learned that the word "gyp" meaning an unfair deal was a reference to gypsies. Up to that point, I probably would have spelled it "jip." Doesn't really ever come up because there aren't exactly many Romani in Ohio.
my cousin is a car salesman. There's at least half a dozen dealerships within 5 miles of us, and he's worked at all of them. I got into my truck because he used to work with the now sales manager and Dodge, made a call and got me a deal. From what I've seen and heard from him directly, everything you've read about car salesmen is true and more. He'll only be able to work for like 5-6 months at a time because then his body needs a break from both the hours and the drugs. So he'll go work for a dealership as essentially a mercenary for a few months, then take a break to recover and just blow through all these wads of cash. Rinse and repeat. Sounds like the money and lifestyle truly is an addiction for some, and there is a severe "keeping up with the jones's" mentality. Literally saw this dude show up to a family gathering when he was in his mid 20's with a Rolex. He just shrugged, "well, everyone else was buying a rolly this month so I figured I needed one too." A about a month ago he got rhabdo and was hospitalized. He partied all weekend and "forgot" to drink water.
I think everyone over like their 30s has. Things just weren't as offensive, and we weren't as socially aware as we are now. If Blazing Saddles was made today, it would be like 4 minutes long.
Which is stupid, as the whole point of the racist words used was to point out how ignorant racists are.
My completely baseless speculation is that American soldiers learned the word "gyp" from their British counterparts during the world wars and brought it back. I'm pretty sure that I remember the phrase "what a gyp" showing up in children's cartoons well into the 90s and early 2000s.
Things change, that’s for sure. If you’re a transplant to the Midwest, and you’ve gone to a party where there were Brazil nuts on the table…things can be kinda awkward.
Just saying, when a ninety-year-old grandma is telling you what sort of snacks are available, things can get quickly and surprisingly racist.