The Y-Word and Spurs

 

NOTE: Some readers may find the following comments offensive.

Who decides when a term or word, particularly one derived from an old and established word, becomes offensive?

Tottenham Hotspur FC has spent the past three years conducting a survey of its fans, including on-line questionnaires, focus groups and all the other opinion-forming tools used by consultancy firms (that were no doubt closely involved in the process) to decide whether using the.....errr....Y-Word in the stadium or in other forums to describe themselves was acceptable, and if not what term to replace it with.  Leaving aside the costs involved (consultants of any description don't come cheap) this seems a frankly ridiculous exercise driven by a need to be seen "politically correct" - something imported from the US that is in my view equally ridiculous.

Look in any dictionary to see the definition of the word - if it offends you, please look away now - "Yid" and it will invariably describe it as deriving from the word "Yiddish", and then announce that the long form has been in use for several hundred years, particularly in Europe, to describe the Jewish people and their ancient language.  It also sometimes says that the term has been used by those people to describe themselves. This all seems perfectly reasonable to me, and is what I had always understood for both the long form and its abbreviation.  And yet these same dictionaries now flag the term often in bold type and capital letters - even before its definition - "This term is offensive".

Now Spurs has always been considered to have a strong connection with the Jewish community, so that in the grim old 1970s football era hooligans from other football clubs, as was the way back then, took it upon themselves to taunt the Spurs faithful with some appalling chants and songs referencing the Holocaust - offensive and unacceptable in so many ways, both then and now.  To combat this and show their solidarity, both with themselves and their club, the Spurs supporters started calling themselves The Yid Army, as has been the case ever since.  Fans of other clubs use similar actions to signify their own bonds: Liverpool's Red Army, for instance, or Newcastle's Toon Army.  Essentially, it's part of being a football fan.

But over the last ten years maybe, the Spurs fans find that suddenly their Army is somehow more offensively named than anyone else's.  High profile Jewish supporters, notably the alleged comedian and author David Baddiel, have been very vocal about how offended they are by the term, how it's a racist slur and should never ever be used under any circumstance, sporting or otherwise.  And so we come to today's announcement by the club that the results of the consultation are in and can supporters please "move on" (the club's term) and "refrain from using the Y-word".  OK, Mr.Levy - what term should we use now - give us a clue?  No answer.

This is also frankly ridiculous, in my humble opinion.  I get that some words are offensive in any context these days - the N-word being a prime example, although I once knew a man, not that long ago, who owned a black Labrador dog and happily called it "N*****" - and no-one in his neighbourhood took too much notice.  But that word has always been used in an insulting and derogatory way, harking back to the slave trade, and is now rightly considered beyond the pale.  

But the term "Yid" doesn't seem to me in the same vein.  If it is offensive, then why isn't "Brit" (the most common abbreviation for British)?  Or Pole (Polish)? Aussie (Australian)?  They are all commonly used abbreviations for a nationality, rather than a racial slur, surely?   Who decided it was an offensive word, and on what basis?  I simply don't understand it......  In the context of Spurs and its supporters, it seems to me more a badge of honour, something to be proud of rather than ashamed.

Of course the world has changed, and is doing so every minute of every day.  I get that.  But it seems to me there are far more important things to worry about and be offended by than a term used to describe a group of people.  This whole fracas seems way more offensive than the term itself.

Am I the only one?