Excuse the long-read reply, but this was my questionnaire response I sent into the club a few years back when asked about fans' thoughts on the subject...
*THE YID DEBATE*
My honest opinion is that I think the TRUE origins of the word have been either lost, forgotten, or ignored by modern Society...
Yid was never originally an offensive word, it really wasn't!
"Reb Yid" was a word that means/meant 'Friend/mate' when said by someone Jewish to someone Jewish, who may not know the other one's name...
..."a nice YIDDESHE boy/girl" was a phrase I used to hear MY Grandparents and older Jewish relatives use regularly when growing up.
I am Jewish, I have heard the word used (within my own family) with only positive connotations in the past...
but yes, I am well aware, and understand that the latter-day use of the word has been taken fom it's original meaning, and warped into something wholly unsavoury by those who choose to abuse Jews.
But let's face it, those same people can still vent anti-Semitic feelings (be it at Spurs fans, or Jews in the street) by hissing at us like a Gas chamber, or 'Seig Heilling' or by calling someone a 'dirty Jew'... all of which are arguably more offensive, yet miraculously don't contain the word 'Yid'.
You only have to look at the true Indian origins and PEACEFUL MEANING of the Swastika to see how a symbol or a word can be turned into something unsavoury and offensive, by those wanting to warp something originally good into something that represents pure evil.
It is no more the job of Indian or Eurasian religions to 'reclaim' the Swastika symbol as their own, than it should be for Jews to reclaim the word YID.
It was ours in the first place, and we were using it just fine before the anti-Semites and racists came along.
If you want to eradicate anti-Semitism and racism, focus on the anti-Semites and racists perhaps!
It's always been about context.
In a football context, (and as a Jewish Spurs fan) I don't see anything wrong with non-Jewish Spurs fans standing alongside Jewish ones, who are prepared to identify with a racial/religious minority by using the word in solidarity and representing togetherness, regardless of race, colour or creed (in keeping with its origins.)
By using it in a positive context for long enough, then maybe one day, its darker historical meaning will start to be eroded and diluted, and who knows, it might even return to it's positive roots as meaning 'mate' or 'friend'?
I know it's a minefield, and a real can of worms that one questionnaire can't really solve... and I get that people who ARE offended by it, have maybe only ever heard it in a negative sense.
But surely it's the job of modern society to turn past negatives into positives, by choosing NOT to bow to small minded bigots who decided that a perfectly decent word was to be redefined, forcing future generations to work out how to change it back.
Eradicating the word from modern day usage won't stop anti-Semitism, (they'll still hate Jews, whether Spurs fans use the word YID or not) you can't stop them THINKING it!
All it will do is merely suspend that words' negative meaning forever in future history...
The word will still 'exist', as it's part of language... unlike swear words which we are told 'not to use', they still exist, and will do, as long as language exists.
When you stub your toe and it hurts like hell, most likely you'll swear... you wouldn't do normally, but in the context of the situation, many people just do!
Some of the most educated, well spoken people I know swear like f#@&ing troopers! Doesn't make them bad people, or ignorant!
It's just up to us, as civilised people, to know when and where to use certain words, and in the correct context.
Funny how this always crops up on the eve of Spurs v. Chelsea/West Ham games... It's almost as if they're anticipating it!
