Re: CHAT: Self-Use of Ethnic Insults

On Mon, 17 Jan 2000, Daniel Seriff wrote:

>Jeffrey Henning wrote:
>
>> I often heard "Jew's harp" as a child.  It's "a small instrument consisting
>> of a lyre-shaped metal frame that is held between the teeth and a projecting
>> steel tongue that is plucked to produce a soft, twanging sound." [AHED]  One
>> of my next-door neighbors, a surrogate grandfather to me, played it.
>>
>> As an adult, I've assumed it was offensive, but maybe that's because "Jew"
>> alone is so often seen as offensive.  My dictionary doesn't list it as
>> vulgar -- is it?
>
>As a musician and a Jew (hee, hee), I don't find "Jew's harp" an
>offensive title. I have no idea why it's called a jew's harp, tho. Most
>people call it a "mouth harp" nowadays.
I've always known it as a jaw harp. Alas I don't know which came first
(jaw or jew); nor whether "jews harp" even has anything to do with
Jews.

Padraic.

>
>--
>Dan Seriff <microtonal@...>
>
>"Mozart is just God's way of making the rest of us feel inferior."
>        - David Barber
>