Ask Unorthodox: How Offensive is the Male Equivalent to 'Shiksa'?

Unorthodox, the world’s leading Jewish podcast, takes questions from its listeners about all aspects of Jewish life, from the religiously profound to the utterly inconsequential. Every week, we discuss one of these questions in “Ask Unorthodox.” If you have a question, please send it to unorthodox@tabletmag.com.

Lately on Unorthodox, one of our hosts has twice been caught—and chastised for—using the word “sheygetz.” Don’t know it? You are not alone. Unlike its female counterpart, “shiksa”—and unlike “schmuck” and “tsuris” (which just popped in The New York Times)—the Yiddish word for a Gentile boy never leapt across Delancey into the American vernacular. On occasion, Tablet has used the word: In 2012, we referred to Rachel Weisz’s husband Daniel Craig and Natalie Portman’s Benjamin Millepied as “trophy sheygetzes.” But in general, the word remains the province of the elderly, the language buffs, and the Hasidim.

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