I received an announcement from Jennifer Berkshire, aka EduShyster, that she is changing the name of her blog. It seemed she got too many complaints that the word “shyster” has anti-Semitic overtones, and in this new era, where so much hatefulness has been let loose into the climate, she decided to drop the name.
http://haveyouheardblog.com/why-im-saying-farewell-to-edushyster/
In the future, the blog will be Have You Heard, and we can be sure that it will be as informed and as witty as in the past.
I can’t help but add, as a Jew, that I was never offended by the name of the blog and always enlightened by what I read. Keep writing, Jennifer, under any name or title you want. There are many who love you and are grateful for your humor and smarts.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Understandable.
Maybe some people think it’s spelled EdJewShyster.
LikeLike
One of those names on this blog that always calls to mind insightful research and thoughtful commentary.
What next….SomeDARN Poet ?
Looking forward to your new site, Jennifer.
LikeLike
Well, in my defense DAM actually stands for Devalue Added Model
..And I don’t care what anyone thinks (in case you hadn’t noticed)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good for you, DAM!!! You’re a “nasty ‘little man,'”* which I attribute to you as an honor!
*See my comment on Diane’s Elizabeth Warren post of today.
LikeLike
Also, as a Jew, I was never offended by that name. It’s more in the spirit of what one means and in this instance the jab was at the unscrupulous people who are trying to destroy our children’s education. Looking forward to the newly named blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I always liked the name for the same reason: for me it struck a chord with the endlessly furtive manipulations going on in the name of “helping” kids.
LikeLike
I’m also saddened by the name change. The name was as poetically descriptive as I’ve ever seen.
LikeLike
As a jew, I sorta was. I wanted to write to her about this but wasn’t comfortable because after asking our school district to pull down a world religion video that included classic negative biases about Jews and being brushed off, I couldn’t go through another round of being told there was nothing wrong with that world religion video. My 11yo student, being the only Jew in the class, was told by other children they don’t like jews… “just kidding”. They started spreading rumors about us. And this was during Obama’s administration. Diversity seems to be picking the carrots out of the salad rather than all together making a beautiful dish. You might not think this is a compelling reason to want to switch schools, but when your child is miserable, parents hopefully won’t have to make a legal case to switch school districts. Of course if you are the other 90% of diversity (not a member of a group – athlete, drama, ELL, country club, African American – rich or African American – poor school is perfect) It’s bad being the only one when the school doesn’t teach unity. Just saying.
LikeLike
As a Jew a term that didn’t offend me but I can understand the concern as a derogatory term for a people. I found it so right on point when Jennifer called out those who went after schools, education and children as “shysters”
LikeLike
As a Jew, it didn’t offend me either. I appreciate the extra sensitivity during these times, though. It was very thoughtful to change the name.
LikeLike
Here’s the background on the word: http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=900005387204/Is-Shyster-AntiSemitic
No Jewish connection, but to some people, that just doesn’t matter; what is in their mind should be in everybody’s mind. We have the income gap, the information gap, the test-score gap, now we have the dictionary gap….. apparently.
LikeLike
Pbarrett,
Some people see anti-Semitism when it is not there.
I am not one of those people.
I know what the real thing looks like.
I grew up in Houston, and there were very few Jews.
I was called a kike when I was in elementary school. When I was in Albert Sidney Johnston Junior High, the students were maybe 3% Jews. I heard the school called Jewstown junior high.
Then when I was in San Jacinto High School, again the small proportion, but the deplorables called it San Jew Center high school.
Did that stop me? Nah.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
LikeLike
Thanks, but facts don’t mean anything.
Reality is totally subjective, doncha know?
LikeLike
Pbarret
Regarding the dictionary gap it’s bound to get worse because search engines like Google are now acting as censors to screen out words, photos, sites, etc that their “algorithms” have determined to be offensive.
Google now “tailors” a search based on what they “believe” the searcher would most like to see.
It’s actually the antithesis of what a good search engine should do because it’s like a big echo chamber where people are protected from things that might not conform to their world view.
Talk about “alternate universes” with alternate facts.
Most people are not even aware that there is a whole REAL world out there on the web that search engines like Google completely miss – quite purposely.
LikeLike
I had always thought that shyster was of German origin as it was used by my dad who used a few German sayings (his mother used to sit around with friends speaking German). So from Online Etymology Dictionary:
“shyster (n.) “unscrupulous lawyer,” 1843, U.S. slang, probably altered from German Scheisser “incompetent worthless person,” from Scheisse “shit” (n.), from Old High German skizzan “to defecate” (see shit (v.)).
It is the last meaning as to the one I always believed it meant. Shyster was my dad’s way of cussing in front of the kids as adults back then weren’t supposed to curse. I’d use “bullshitter” as a synonym.
I know nothing of a Jewish connection. Any help as to that connection will be appreciated.
LikeLike
Put me in the “confused” category because when I saw the term I thought, “Isn’t that a slur?” but then I decided I was misinformed. Now I know the word can be taken in different ways. If some people are offended, it’s probably best not to use it.
LikeLike
This is really tough for me to read, Linda. What do we do when we use the word Mexican in class to refer to a citizen of Mexico and the students shush you, saying that’s not nice to call someone a Mexican, just because in their homes the word Mexican is used as a slur (a common occurrence in my school here in AZ)? My response was to explain to them that Mexican and Mexicano refer to citizens of Mexico, whether they live there or here or anywhere. It may not make a dent in this hyper-bigoted environment we live in now, but we have to fight this at every step. So my question is why give in? Why not stand for what the word means. The article I gave a link to mentions the sad case of an administration official using the word niggardly, which has no relation to the so-called N word, yet he was forced to resign but stupid, ignorant people who don’t own dictionaries. How far will we slide into the yawning abyss before us? Who will stand for facts and the meanings of words?
LikeLike
“Shysters have feelings too”
The shysters are offended
When shyster they are called
Their world has been upended
They really are appalled
We mustn’t call them shysters
But “a-holes”, “cheats” and “crooks”
We really must be nice here
To those who cook the books
LikeLike
This is one of the reason Drumpf won. This extreme political correctness is unbearable. It is the thought police. It smacks of communism and is about silencing those whom you don’t agree with.
It is a witty name and if you didn’t like it don’t support her blog. I, for one, will continue to refer to it as EduShyster.
LikeLike
Same take–it never offended me as a Jew, & I thought the name clever. That having been said, I applaud Jennifer (who has done so much in the name of public education, kids, parents & educators) for being so sensitive to others, whereas so many others are not.
Congratulations & best wishes as always, Jennifer!
LikeLike
rbmtk,
See my post above. I had never heard/seen that shyster was a negative reference to a Jew (until now). For me it has always meant something to the effect of a “shitheaded bullshitter” and would be applied to anyone. Any help in historical meaning that you can give us to help us learn more will be appreciated! TIA, Duane!
LikeLike
Many years ago I studied dead metaphor as a part of a linguistics class. One author opined that a huge portion of language might be dead metaphor, words that used to inspire connections, but are now just noise. Like other phenomena, words are across a spectrum of how metaphorical they are. This word appears to be in another category, one in which some see connections and others do not.
I am of the opinion that we all need to get along. I wonder if there are some who invent things to be sensitive about for the exact purpose of devaluing those who protest real slurs. Sensitivity these days seems extreme both ways. Some are offended at almost anything, and others seem to think you can say anything you want and no one should bat an eye.
I would like to think I might live in a world where all ethnic and cultural slurs were dead metaphor. Man does not give me hope for this as I study his history.
LikeLike
I love Jennnifer Berkshire no matter what she calls herself.
LikeLike