Information AboutJewdar |
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Jewdar is a Portmanteau of '' Jew '' and '' Radar '', used to describe an alleged ability to determine that another person is Jewish. The slang term ''Jewdar'' is a borrowing from the similarly formed neologism '' Gaydar '' which is in more common usage. A description of someone having ''Jewdar'' is often used ironically and/or as a minor insult, suggesting a capability that the speaker does not herself believe exists. However, often this ironic sense is used as a mild self-deprecation. The parent term ''gaydar'' is less likely to carry a similar critical attitude towards the detection abilities claimed. Usually ''Jewdar'' is attributed to people who are themselves Jewish or who interact largely in Jewish cultural environments. However, sometimes the attribution of ''Jewdar'' is to perceived anti-semites, for whom detection that someone is Jewish would be a condemnation. Jewdar refers generally to indirect senses and intuitions rather than direct questions ("Are you Jewish?") or fact-finding (like researching family history or religious observance). Its operation is sometimes claimed to depend on sensitivity to a wide variety of clues: anything from mannerisms, to speech inflections, cultural or food preferences, to subtleties of facial features. It can also be conceived simply as intuition. Some people claim (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) that their ''Jewdar'' is so finely tuned that they can tell whether or not a person is Jewish (i.e. by ancestry) even if that person does not know himself/herself. Usage: My ''Jewdar'' is going off. We must be near a synagogue. |
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