"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Vito wrote:
"Dave" wrote
That's one of those expressions that truly highlights cultural
differences.
Most Jews I know, including my wife, think it most odd that haggling
over
price offends Wasp sensibilities. Conversely, a lot of the folks using
the
term "Jewing him down" likely never met a Jew in their lives.

It's biblical and at the root of both faiths, as well as a fine joke.

Abraham is lazying in his tent in the noon heat when who should come
hiking
across the desert but God himself. Abie quickly invites him in for a veal
sandwich and inquires his destination. "To Sodom and Gomarrah to check
out
rumors that the people there are disobeying me, and it that's true to
smite
them!" "Oy!" thinks Abie "My slums" and asks God if he would spare his
slums
for 50 good souls. God agrees, but Abie knows he can't find 50 so he
proceeds to
"jew" God down from 50 to 5 IIRC. But then he can't even produce the 5!

God tells Abie that he really likes him and plans to give him and his
descendents all the land between the two great rivers (most of what's now
Iraq)
.... but Abie needs a badge or mark to show that he is God's favorite.
Then God
has Abie cut off the end of his penis - and all his sons penises, and so
on.
And to this day .....

Thus the perchance for God's chosen People to bargain. It's an integral
part of
their beliefs.

Thus, you have no idea what you're talking about. Ever been to Mexico?
They bargin like crazy and expect it. Are they Jews?

It's a racist comment... jewing down. Disgusting.

It's not a racist comment. Jews aren't a race. Mexico has a barter economy,
so haggling is prevelant. So does the Middle East, where Jews originated. I
believe the propensity for some Jews to haggle comes from tradition, passed
down from their ancestry in the Middle East.

Think of the Jewish tailor robots in the Woody Allen movie "Sleeper". "You
want velvet? We got velvet. We got simple, we got complicated. What are you
worried? Drop dead, can't you see I got a customer!"