1. The following is NEITHER SUPPORT NOR ENDORSEMENT OF ELAINE BEING JEWISH. I am not "grasping at straws." I actually THINK that Elaine is not Jewish! All I did was state a simple fact about how someone COULD say "I'm not Jewish" and yet be Jewish.
2. I was accused recently of being racist/anti-Semitic because I referred to Jews as a "race/ethnicity." I accept the apology, though the party did decide to do it only privately through email and not publicly through Usenet. However, I did a little research. According the Webster's New World College Dictionary, Third Edition, Macmillan (1996):
JEW: 1. a person descended, or regarded as descended, from the ancient Hebrews of Biblical times, 2. a person whose religion is Judaism.
There are 2 ways to use this word. They are related, but not synonomous, obviously. Therefore, stating "I'm not Jewish," as Elaine did, is not PROOF that she is not Jewish. It COULD be her denial of definition 2. above. I happen to think that she is NOT JEWISH, LIKE SHE SAID. However, the definition of "Jew" does LEAVE ROOM for the possiblility. That's all.
I was also ridiculed for using "race/ethnicity" to describe Jews. No, adding a slash between two words does not make them mean the same thing. It indicates that the terms are SOMETIMES used interchangebly in CERTAIN situations, and I did not care to decide which to use at the moment.
However, I did some more research, and came up with this (emphasis added):
RACE:
1. any of the different varieties or populations of human beings distinguished by
A) physical traits...; traditionally, the three PRIMARY divisions are Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid, although MANY subdivisions of these ARE ALSO CALLED RACES B) blood types C) genetic code patterns D) all their inherited characteristics which are unique to their isolated breeding pattern
This is only one usage of "race." However,
a) any geographical population b) any population sharing the same activities, habits, ideas, etc. c) any group of people having the same ancestry; family; clan; lineage
are also acceptable uses according to the dictionary. Jews CAN BE called a race, therefore. If you don't want to call Jews a race, then don't. But calling Jews a race is not racist or anti-Semitic. It is standard usage of language according to a 1996 dictionary.
ETHNIC: designating or of a population subgroup having a common cultural heritage, as distinguished by customs, characteristics, language, common history, etc.
As one can plainly see, describing Jews as a "race/ethnicity" is not incorrect, contradictory, etc. It is simply correct usage. And as clearly showcased by the two definitions above (race and ethnicity definitions), the two terms CAN BE used interchangebly in many situations.