Zmirak

Zmirak is on fire this morning at Taki (be patient with the link, it appears to be malfunctioning). Flippin' slayed me:

I'm reminded of my first weeks at Yale, when I cheerfully introduced my affable if liberal roommates–all very nicely brought up young men from presentable schools–to the catalog of unexamined attitudes I'd inherited, via my parents, from Hell's Kitchen, circa 1940. In the course of my first semester, I had it patiently explained to me that:

· It's rarely polite to use the word “Jew” as a verb.

· When someone asks you to perform a domestic task that he rightly ought to do himself, you should simply point that out with courteous firmness. It really isn't necessary to ask, “What am I, three shades darker than you?” No, it really doesn't matter that there aren't any black people in earshot.

· There are more courteous terms to indicate that someone is a Protestant than “heretic.”