Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(gay) as a mode of transport, on foot.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 212: When walking, a gay takes the Jewish [Italian, Polish, etc depending on personal bias] airlines (kwn SF, late ’60s).
1986–7		Maledicta IX 58: Jewish airlines n [R] Walking; homosexual slang.

1. (US) Washington Heights, New York City, home of many successful Jews.

1921		Country Life 39 51: [He] must continue to dwell in a small compartment in the foothills of the Jewish Alps.
1927		F. Riesenberg East Side, West Side 331: They lived up on the heights secured by Washington with powder and shot, the heights known locally as ‘the Jewish Alps’.
1930		M.L. Luther Card 13 149: ‘They live on Morningside Heights.’ ‘First peak of the Jewish Alps, eh? Some rise in the world!’.
1937		Footner & Floherty N.Y. City 271: On Washington Heights the apartment houses and the stores, a little less opulent [...] are ‘the Jewish Alps.’.
1982		(con. 1920s–30s) I. Katznelson City Trenches 79: Jews outnumbered the Irish in Inwood, but only West Washington Heights came to be regarded as ‘the Jewish Alps’.
2001		(con. 1940) E.C. Schneider Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings 85: Washington Heights was bisected by Broadway with the Irish living to the east of it and Jews to the west, especially in the apartment buildings near the heights overlooking the Hudson River (known as ‘the Jewish Alps’).

2. (US) the Catskill Mountain resort area, patronized by Jewish New Yorkers.

1947		Billboard 25 Oct. 3/2: WHY DO THEY FALL IN FALLSBURG A hilariously funny hit from the heart of the Jewish Alps. A vacation in itself, with laffs from start to finish.
1959		W. Kelley Gemini 102: This was Greene County, in the heart of the Catskills, otherwise known as the Jewish Alps.
1966		J. Adams Borscht Belt 24: There were several modes of transportation to the Jewish Alps. If you were rich you went by car.
1970		G. Jacobs Participant Observer 203: Viewers of late night television [...] are used to seeing entertainers reminisce about their early careers in the ‘Jewish Alps’ or the ‘borscht circuit’.
1984		D. Smith Steely Blue 158: The Concord Hotel, high up in the part of the Catskill Mountains he called the Jewish Alps [HDAS].
1992		R. Marcinko Rogue Warrior (1993) 34: Summer vacations in the Catskill Mountains — the Jewish Alps.
2001		A. Deutschman ‘Gefilte fish from the “Jewish Alps”’ Salon.com 🌐 Grossinger’s resort hotel, a bastion of gastronomic excess during the post-World War II heyday of New York’s Catskill Mountains resorts (aka the ‘Jewish Alps’).
2005		M.E. Cohen There Was Always Room at My Mother’s Table 65: The Mountains [...] Not in Switzerland, not in Norway or Sweden, not in the Alpines, not in India, but in New York State, ‘upstate’ that is, are the ‘Jewish Alps’.

see Jewish princess

see Jewish lightning

(US) any form of seltzer, e.g. the celery tonic, Dr. Brown’s Cel-ray Soda.

1939		W. Winchell On Broadway 6 May [synd. col.] Description of celery tonic: Jewish champagne.
1983		J.F. Mariani Dict. Amer. Food and Drink 360: In New York seltzer was sometimes called ‘Jewish champagne’ because of its popularity among Jews, who called it grepswasser, ‘belch water’.
2007		(con. 1890s–1930s) L.J. Epstein At the Edge of a Dream 54: The immigrants loved seltzer. This carbonated water soon became known as ‘Jewish champagne’.

see Jew’s compliment under Jew adj.

a circumcised penis.

1986–7

Maledicta IX 58: Jewish corned beef n [D] Circumcised penis of a Jew.

(US) a currency note.

1913		Clay-Worker 59-60 268: He felt that teaching offered plenty of honor, but very little of the green stuff—or what some folks call Jewish Flags.
1920		Outdoor Recreation 62 142: Bet you fer five cents if that sunfish woz sold fer a cent a pound the guy wot ketched him gets about nineteen bucks, dollars, or them Jewish flags .
1926		J. Van A. Weaver In American 37: Four Jewish flags I blow, four lovely bucks.
1937		Frater of Psi Omega 37-38 118: You send the three jewish flags to the Grand Recorder not the Editor. The money pays for the membership dues.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 805: jew flag – A dollar bill; any paper money.
1966		K. Porter ‘Still More Ethnic and Place names as Derisive Adjectives’ Western Folklore XXV:1 38: Jew flag. A greenback. [...] Central Kansas [...] ca. 1922–1924.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 220: A great many more or less disparaging phrases, e.g., Jew boy (or girl or man); Jew(ish) flag, a dollar bill; Jewtown.

(US) the man pleads for sex, his partner refuses all physical contact.

1979		Esquire 92 410: ‘Do you know,’ I asked finally, ‘the definition of Jewish foreplay?’ ‘No — what?’ ‘Three hours of pleading’.
1982		L. Epstein Regina 138: ‘What’s Jewish foreplay? Answer: Thirty minutes of begging.’ ‘By whom?’ said Regina, quick as a flash.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 58: Jewish foreplay n Extended pleading without any physical contact.
2002		C. Davies Mirth of Nations 80: What is Jewish foreplay? Thirty minutes of grovelling.

in poker, three threes.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 618: [...] C.20.

a cash register.

1977

D. Powis Signs of Crime 189: Jewish Joanna [...] Ironic term for a cash register.

deliberate arson in order to gain the insurance on an otherwise unprofitable business.

1974		F. Ianni Black Mafia 133: ‘You mean it wasn’t no Jewish lightning.’ ‘Nah, not any neighborhood lightning either. Who around here wants to burn down a bar?’.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 58: Jewish lightning n [R] Fire insurance; an insurance term for a payment made to someone suspected of torching his own establishment.
1991		R.G. Barrett Between the Devlin 118: The block [of flats] would have to be hit by Jewish lightning.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 10: He was the master of the Jewish Bonfire. In other words, he was an expert torch, who helped people to collect on their fire insurance. [...] Solly was the best at organising the Jewish Fire Sale. He became the Chopper Read of arson.
[1998		R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] And vot’s vit the cameras? The fire’s not till next veek’].
2007		Guardian CiF 20 Sept. 🌐 Attention focused on people ‘of the Jewish persuasion class’ [...] They were alleged to be responsible for insurance frauds: houses destroyed by fire, or ‘Jewish lightning’.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Coorparoo Blues [ebook] ‘Do one of them jew-boy stocktakes, maybe’.

shoulder-padded jackets.

1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 93: Sallow young men with tailor-made shoulders or ‘Jewish muscles,’ as they are known in Soho.
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 191/1: Jewish muscles. Padded shoulders.

(US gay) a circumcised penis.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 58: Jewish National n [R] Circumcised penis; homosexual slang.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 237: ‘We could bill you as “the Lion of Zion”.’ ‘I prefer “Hebrew National”.’.

a foreskin.

1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 618: late C.19–20.
2000		Sex-Lexis 🌐.

(US) freewheeling down hills to save petrol.

1968		Western Folklore 27-28 51: The practice is called ‘Jewish overdrive’ and ‘Mexican overdrive’.
1978		S.C. Review 11-13 85: When you go down a long steep hill [...] you shut off the engine and coast and that's Jewish overdrive.
1979		Maledicta III:2 165: Jewish overdrive n [Cray 1955] Driving in neutral, coasting.

money.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 618: [...] later C.20.

(US) chicken soup.

1962		S. Longstreet Flesh Peddlers (1964) 231: The sacred racial chicken soup (that Jewish penicillin).
1968		in DARE.
1977		New York Mag. 16 May 45: The chicken soup was second only to the ‘Jewish penicillin’ made by our Grandma Molly. It was rich with chicken ‘schmaltz,’ filled with nuggets of fresh carrots and noodles.
1989		S. Asher Little Old Ladies 64: Chicken noodle, good for what ails you. [...] You’re laughing, but it has an enzyme. They don't call it Jewish penicillin for nothing anymore. Studies have shown —.
1999		Weekly World News 30 Mar. 50/2: Chicken Soup — JEWISH PENICILLIN! SILMAR, Calif. — It’s true! Chicken soup medicine at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, really does help you get well.
2008		J. Cohen Jewish Holiday Cooking 63: From Maimonides on, much has been made of the curative powers of Jewish chicken soup — ‘Jewish penicillin’.
2012		J. Cohen Around the Shabbat Table [ebook] From Maimonides on, much has been made of the curative powers of Jewish chicken soup—‘Jewish penicillin,’ ‘the doctor that makes house calls,’ and so on.

1. a cash register.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1951		Coventry Eve. Teleg. 23 July 4/2: ‘Jewish piano’ — a cash register.
1974		C. Loken Come Monday Morning 154: Andy [...] reached over by the jewish piano an’ handed over a small pad an’ a ballpoint pen.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 32: Jewish Piano Cash register.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1997		C. Logan Counterbalance 259: When accounting is dubbed Jewish engineering, a cash register a Jewish piano, and a dollar bill the Jewish flag, the term Jew is unmistakably being used as an insult.
2003		A. Bukoski Time Between Trains 22: Seeing Joe Rubin, someone would yell to Ogy, the bartender, as he rang up a cash register sale, ‘Play that Jewish piano, Ogy. Make the Jewish piano sing’.
2014		J.L. Burke Wayfaring Stranger 298: You know what the Jewish piano is, don’t you? The cash register. You're a kike.

2. a taximeter.

1976		P. Warren Taxicab n.p.: Although taximeters were not made compulsory until later in 1907, the General Cab Co. Ltd were adamant that they were not running cabs without them, and they had been steadily recruiting drivers pledged to take out cabs with the ‘jewish pianos’ or ‘zeigers’, as they called them [DSUE].
1979		S. Wallman Ethnicity at Work 65: The taxi meter has become known as the [...] ‘Jewish piano’.

(US) a (middle-class) Jewish man who is spoiled and/or dominated by his mother; also attrib.

1976		E.F. Dienstag Whither thou Goest 17: I had married a Jewish prince. A Jewish prince knows where to buy the best cheesecake, but lacks the manual dexterity to cut it. A Jewish prince likes tea with a slice of fresh lemon, but can never find the lemon.
1981		J. Sochen Consecrate Every Day 101: She pokes fun at the ‘Jewish prince,’ the spoiled Jewish son raised in a household where his every wish is anticipated.
1998–2002		‘Dating Oys and Vays’ Mazornet.com 🌐 I am a sensitive Jewish prince whom you can open your heart to. Share your innermost thoughts and deepest secrets. Confide in me. I’ll understand your insecurities. No fatties, please.
2000		B.R. Brooker Boxes 18: Michael left nothing but debts, the big Jewish prince stud takes a powder.

(US) a young, conceited, (middle-class) Jewish woman; also attrib.

1970		P. Roth My Life as a Man (1974) 278: That Jewish princess girl from Long Island.
1971		New York Mag. 22 Mar. 3: [headline] The persistence of the Jewish American Princess [...] You don’t have to be Jewish or royal to be a Jewish Princess.
1978		B.J. Friedman Lonely Guy’s Book of Life n.p.: The big news is The Return of the Jewish Woman, or Jewish-American Princess.
1986		New York Mag. 9 June 64: I was the ultimate Jewish American princess from the word go [...] My two sisters and I wore handmade lace dresses. My father’s cab company was worth about $2 million.
1999		Guardian G2 9 July 13: She was the archetypal Jewish-American princess gone wrong.
2004		Frank Zappa in Miles Zappa 274: The things that are said in ‘Jewish Princess’ are absolutely true and correct. Anybody who has ever known a Jewish princess understands the song.
2010		C. Davies Mirth of Nations 81: The jokes about the Jewish American Princess depict her as ‘vain, pampered, spoiled, sexually manipulative, materialistic, bossy, uncultured, loud, overdresssed and bedecked with jewels’ [...] a younger version of the Jewish wife.

(gay) over-elaborate furniture in doubtful taste.

[1922		Good Furniture Mag. 19 9: Mr. Friedman frankly admits that these palmier days have suffered rather grievously from the post-war nuance in interior decoration, which he terms ‘the Jewish renaissance’. Wavy glasses, wobbly mounting, woeful designing].
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1976		R. Price Blood Brothers 10: She liked what Marie called ‘Jewish Renaissance.’ She couldn’t buy goddamn lamps — she had to have chandeliers.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 58: Jewish Renaissance n [R] Overelaborate furniture of doubtful taste; homosexual slang.
2011		J. McMahon Someone to Watch Over Me 275: The house was filled with hideous Jewish Renaissance furniture that we rarely sat on or enjoyed anyway.

(US) white rubber sidewalls, glued onto otherwise black tyres in an attempt to make them look more fashionable.

1979

Maledicta III:2 165: Jewish sidewalls n [Cray 1960] White rubber sidewalls glued on blackwall tires; cheap imitations of whitewall tires.

(US) unpunctuality; derog. only if used by a non-Jew.

1936		M. Levin Old Bunch (1946) 20: ‘Eight o’clock.’ ‘Yah, Jewish time,’ snapped the Sharpshooter.
1952		in Wetsern Folklore (1962) 21.31: Jewish time — refers to the supposed habit of Jews of being compulsively late for appointments. Usually used as a taunt: ‘Do you mean regular or Jewish time?’ [DARE].
1979		in DARE [file] n.p.: [In a group of Jewish people:] I should have known that when they called the meeting for 8:00, they meant ‘Jewish time.’ It’s now 8:20 and not everyone is even here yet.
1982		D. Haback et al. Jewish Amer, Princess Handbook 29: Arrive at temple late — Jewish Standard Time. Not even time to fight with your mother.
1991		in DARE [file] n.p.: You hear ‘J.S.T.’ all the time. I used it a lot as a teenager. It means ‘Jewish Standard Time,’ but we always said ‘J.S.T.’ You’d say, ‘Meet you at 9.30 J.S.T.’ and that meant people could show up 15 minutes to half an hour late. It didn’t allow you more than a half hour and it never meant earlier than the time stated.
1997		L. Newman Out of the Closet & Nothing to Wear 106: ‘We’re running on JST [Jewish standard time].’ ‘We’re starting at 7:00 FST [feminist standard time].’ ‘I’ll meet you at 8:30 QST [queer standard time]’.
2005		M. Singer Somewhere in America 30: The phenomenon known as Jewish Standard Time — the tendency of about eighty percent of any given synagogue or temple congregation to show up at least forty-five minutes after a service begins.

see Jew canoe under Jew adj.

(US) a mink coat.

1966

K. Porter ‘Still More Ethnic and Place names as Derisive Adjectives’ Western Folklore XXV:1 38: Jewish windbreaker. A mink coat [...] NY City, 1944.

(gay) circumcised but not Jewish.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 58: Jewish by hospitalization; Jewish by operation not by nation adj phr [R] Circumcised but not Jewish; homosexual slang.