Alphabetical Entries: J

there is nothing wrong with this popular and familiar name, but be aware of how many such expressions are male-based. Balance their use with female-based expressions, creative expressions of your own, or sex-neutral alternatives: the Frost Goblin, Jack and Jill Frost, the Frost Fairy. Also: frost, winter. See also sex-linked expressions.

this expression is nearly impossible to replace; it's familiar, pithy, and rhythmic. If the sex-specificity and the "master" are jarring, consider: good at everything, expert at nothing; good at all trades, expert at none; generalist; many-talented. Where appropriate, the shortened "jill of all trades" has been used. For discussion of "master" words, see master (n.). See also handyman.

leave as is to refer to several genuses of large hares. However, to mean a male rabbit, be sure it is male and that its sex is relevant to your material.

there is nothing wrong with this phrase, but be aware of how many such expressions are male-based. Balance their use with female-based expressions, creative expressions of your own, or sex-neutral alternatives: in two shakes of a lamb's tail, on the double, in a jiffy, immediately if not sooner, before you can say "knife," right off the bat, in one fell swoop, in a pig's whisker, pronto, straightaway, lickety-split, in the same breath, in the wink/twinkling of an eye, at the drop of a hat, in double-quick time, on the spot, at once, immediately. See also sex-linked expressions.

the clown that pops up in the box is male; the toy has no inclusive name.

although the word, prefix, and suffix "jack" came from Jacob and often meant a man/boy, they have come to refer without any particular gender overtones to certain tools (for example, bootjack, hydraulic jack, jackknife), plants and animals (jack-in-the-pulpit, jack mackerel), nouns (apple jack, blackjack, jackpot), verbs (ball the jack, hijack), and adjectives (crackerjack). These can be used as they are, but one wonders: has any woman's name ever influenced dozens of words?

although this word is defined as a foolish or stupid person, it means male donkey and is almost always reserved for men. It's doubtful that people shouting "jackass!" want alternatives, but more neutral-sounding terms exist: donkey, fool, nitwit.

not sex-linked; originally called jackstones, the "jack" from a corruption of "chuck" meaning "pebble.

the use of this term implies a certain victimization and unwilling cooperation on the part of the man, and obscures the fact that the man is engaging in criminal activity (and laying the foundation for a statutory rape charge).

Pauli Murray said this term "refers to the entire range of assumptions, attitudes, stereotypes, customs, and arrangements which have robbed women of a positive self-concept and prevented them from participating fully in society as equals with men. Traditionally racism and sexism in the United States have shared some common origins, displayed similar manifestations, reinforced one another, and are so deeply intertwined in the country's institutions that the successful outcome of the struggle against racism will depend in large part upon the simultaneous elimination of discrimination based upon sex." Politician Shirley Chisholm said, "Of my two 'handicaps,' being female put many more obstacles in my path than being black." See also Jim Crow.

acceptable legal term; use with John Doe. See also John Doe.

acceptable terms; use with John Q. Citizen/John Q. Public. See also average man, common man, John Q. Citizen/John Q. Public, man in the street.

janitor. See also feminine word endings, maintenance man.

not interchangeable with Japanese American, and never shortened to the offensive "jap." See also shortened forms of words.

acceptable term. See also Asian American (n.), hyphenated Americans, Issei, Kibei, Nisei, Sansei, Yonsei.

jazz musician/player, member of jazz band.

this alteration of the Hebrew "Yahweh" is never used by Jews, is most often seen in Christian translations of the Old Testament and used by Jehovah's Witnesses. See also Yahweh (YHWH).

although technically available for both sexes, a Men's Rights, Inc., study of hundreds of advertisements in which both women and men appeared, every perceived jerk was a man. Since the advent of the women's movement, it has become riskier to advertisers to make women look feeble, but since much lowbrow humor depends on putting someone down, men have become targets.

jerry does not refer to a man's name but to the nickname for Germans (originally Gerry), to reflect the can's German design. Even though it involves an ethnic reference, the term is not functionally ethnocentric.

although its origins are unclear (either a builder named Jerry known for his poor work or the apparently flimsy walls of Jericho), this term is functionally nonsexist. If a more neutral-looking term is needed consider shoddy/flimsy/careless construction, cheaply/hastily/shoddily built.

when writing about Christ, the masculine pronouns are, of course, correct. However, some people suggest eliminating unnecessary ones because "theological tradition has virtually always maintained that the maleness of Jesus is theologically, christologically, soteriologically, and sacramentally irrelevant" (Sandra M. Schneiders, Women and the Word). There have been few individuals in history as completely androgynous and inclusive as Christ, and it seems to do his message a disservice to over-insist on his maleness—or his usual and improbable whiteness. Theologian and biblical scholar Cain Hope Felder says the African origins of the people of the Holy Land have been ignored by European scholars. The image of Jesus as a white person was grafted onto the truth by European church leaders as a way of selling their theology to white people; "We're not saying he came from the Congo. But we are saying he was an average African-Asian man of his time." See also Christianity, God (Christian).

this is always a noun, never a verb, never an adjective. The American Heritage Book of English Usage says the "attributive use of the noun Jew, in phrases such as Jew banker or Jew ethics, is both vulgar and highly offensive. In such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility." Author and scholar Osha Gray Davidson (in Des Moines Register) has observed people torturing their syntax to use "Jewish person/people" when "Jew/Jews" clearly would fit the sentence structure better. He suspects that people know "Jew" is sometimes used as an epithet and so, with the best intentions, they reject that perversion. "But in the process they have cut out the word altogether, like a doctor who treats an infected finger by amputating the arm. The result: The perfectly acceptable name for a people with a 4,000-year history has, in certain circles, become the 'J-word.'" Irving Lewis Allen (Unkind Words ) points out that the same thing has happened to "Poles" and "Swedes"; because of old derogatory uses that tainted these perfectly good proper names, they are replaced by circumlocutions. Davidson adds that "Jewish" is an adjective; "It suggests an inessential quality, a trait cobbled on and easily dismissed. Worse, the '-ish' form is the 98-pound weakling of Grammar Beach; even other adjectives kick sand in its face. It denotes tendency rather than a full-blown characteristic, a wishy-washing retreat from beingness. She is tallish. It is warmish out.... One doesn't need to be a Holocaust scholar to grasp that once a society considers it uncouth to say 'Jew,' eventually—inevitably—it will become unsafe to be a Jew. What are words, after all, but the womb in which tomorrow's deeds slumber?" See also anti-Semitism, jew boy, jew down, Jewish-American Princess (JAP), Jewish mother, Jewish question, Judeo-Christian.

unbelievably offensive.

this unacceptable expression is always derogatory and debasing to Judaism and to Jews. It is surprising how many people still use it unthinkingly. Alternatives include: bargain, deal, barter, haggle, dicker, negotiate, talk down, make an offer.

Jew. "I am not a Jew in the synagogue and a feminist in the world. I am a Jewish feminist and a feminist Jew in every moment of my life" (Judith Plaskow, a professor of religious studies at Manhattan College). And from Vicki Baum: "To be a Jew is a destiny." Some people feel "Jewess" is "nicer"; if you know someone who prefers being so named, do comply. But feminine word endings are unnecessarily sex-specific, belittling, and show again that the male is the norm and the female is a subset, a deviation, a secondary classification. The recommended guideline is to use the base word for both sexes (thus, "poet" instead of "poetess," "executor" instead of "executrix"). Online dictionaries generally classify "Jewess" as offensive. A reader wrote The Economist : "The commentator in this piece uses the extremely offensive term 'Jewess' to refer to Jews who are women. Shame on him, and shame on The Economist for not catching it." A similar attempt at "politeness" occurs when people circumlocute "Jew" to arrive at "Jewish person." One might as well say "of the Jewish persuasion." Ira Spiro wrote to the Los Angeles Times : "Unique among actual names of a people or religious group, 'Jew' makes people uncomfortable and sounds contemptuous. I'm a Jew. I'm proud to be called a Jew, not a Jewish person, but a Jew. I'm insulted that 'Jew' is insulting.... let's call a Jew a Jew." See also feminine word endings.