Bernard Goldberg: Dictionaries Have A 'Liberal' Bias

On the March 17th edition of The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly and author Bernard Goldberg ventured a discussion of whether or not the Yiddish word "schvartzer," which comedian Jackie Mason used to describe President Barack Obama, was a derogatory term or not. It was, in Goldberg's opinion "absolutely not a bad word."

Cursory research indicates that the issue isn't clear cut. Alan Colmes, for example, recently opined, "It was never my understanding that it is appropriate to use the word 'schwartza' any more than it is proper to use the 'n' word. There are those, however, who believe that 'schwartza' is just Yiddish for the word 'black' and its use is part of the Jewish culture." The Online Etymology Dictionary says the term is "somewhat derogatory." One letter writer to the New York Times has suggested that "It is no more pejorative than the Yiddish word 'goy' is for a non-Jew. Unquestionably, both words can be used derisively, depending on context and tone of voice; but to describe 'schvartzer' as a racist and hateful word is an insult to every Yiddish speaker."

So, look, my advice to you, for the time being, is don't use the farkakte word, okay? But this, via News Hounds, is the funny part:

O'Reilly, playing the voice of balance, pointed out that his dictionary referred to it as, "often disparaging and offensive."

Goldberg's answer? "Forgive my arrogance. The dictionary is written by some liberal person."

But then O'Reilly said, "We're living in a society where anything is uttered about any minority group, Media Matters or somebody else will say you're a racist. That's what they do."

"Exactly," Goldberg agreed. "That's an important point."

So there you have it! The definitions of the words commonly used in the English language have a known liberal bias. Which explains why most of Goldberg's books seem like they're written in Esperanto.

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to [e-mail] -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

Comments

[MyNameIsJames]

09:23 AM on 03/30/2009

Goldberg is correct!

Open and free knowledge IS a liberal IDEA.

Goldberg is dumbing down our nation with his books and ideas. The true natures of conservatism and liberalism are best found in their classic definitions.

Modern conservatives must realize that the "liberal ideal" is founded on principles of the enlightenment , democratic government, and free markets.

Conservatism is historically grounded in the preservation of kings-nobility and priests as the rulers of society. Conservatism has traditionally supported

Here is a prime example:

During the Revolutionary War

Liberals = Revolutionaries like George Washington
Conservatives = Loyalists (Tories) who supported the British crown during the War

Conservatives historically speaking and in our nation have been on the wrong side of history. Most American conservatives have no idea how regressive their heritage truly is.....

[flossophy]

06:04 PM on 04/06/2009

The irony is that Goldberg's book describes MyNameIsJames as a misinformed voter who swallowed the media's portrayal of Obama... now MyName is out disparaging Goldberg for exposing this whole fiasco...

today's liberals are the true conservatives... holding on to antiquated pr0gressive policies

today's conservatives are the true liberals... classical liberals who would rather dispose with regressive policies that do not work.

Go youtube some William F Buckley... and see who's been more accurate in his predictions over the 20th century... he's been on the right side of history since the 50's

Does that clarify it for you?

[Heaphy]

03:05 PM on 03/25/2009

I think that the distinction here is between Yiddish as an independent spoken language, and the insertion of a limited number of Yiddish words into English conversation. I can accept that the word in question may be the appropriate word to describe people of African descent in a conversation conducted entirely in Yiddish. However, when the word is inserted into an English conversation as a "Yiddishism", I would say that it almost always carries a derogotary connotation. I speak as a convert to Judaism who has never heard the word used in a friendly way toward African-Americans in an English conversation.

- Jim Heaphy

[dave1111]

04:20 PM on 03/21/2009

OMG, what a couple of right-wing media W.H.O.R.E.S.

[flossophy]

06:06 PM on 04/06/2009

let's just clarify this one point... EVERYONE is what dave1111 describes...

the point is to see who's more accurate in their presentation of information... hint: the left is failing at this.

[cim wright]

01:21 PM on 04/07/2009

Dave has got it right...you are a right wing media w.h.o.r.e

[WestofLeft]

05:50 PM on 03/20/2009

"farkakte "?

Please. At least look it up.

"Verkakte" is a Yiddish word derived from a Plattdeutsch construction equivalent to "be-" (as in "beschmirched") in English. Also a dialect of Plattdeutsch, BTW.

The noun "kak" may not appear in German in any form, but is slang in some Eastern European countries. German would be properly, "beschissen" (see the "be-"? See it?).

And again, the ending, "-te", is a German construction which appears at the end of some adjectives.

Jesus!

[Texas Aggie]

07:20 PM on 03/20/2009

in Pennsylvania Dutch, "verkakt" means to botch something up.

[YellowDogInRedCounty]

04:01 PM on 03/20/2009

What these a$$hats fail to realize is that TRUTH and REALITY have a liberal bias.

[robiform]

03:33 PM on 03/20/2009

Bernie, Bernie did you ever read "The Joys of Yiddish"? Probably not, because if you had, you would know that "shvartza" is not a word that is used in polite conversation.
Ever since Dan Rather got the anchor job at CBS (almost 30 years ago!), Bernard Goldberg's mental faculties have gone downhill. Talk about a sore loser!!

[Skyhawk]

03:10 PM on 03/20/2009

Being literate is a liberal bias.

[AhnAmuru]

05:59 PM on 03/21/2009

So true, were it otherwise, we'd be speaking Latin.

Or God forbid Gaelic!

[Kiabell04]

02:59 PM on 03/20/2009

Never thought I see someone actually promote stupidity. So, being educated is a liberal bias?! My God, no wonder other countries are whooping our @$$es at everything! Look at the state of our country.

[edwcorey]

02:23 PM on 03/20/2009

Of course they have a liberal bias. They're for accuracy and learning--not conservative traits.

[wwwFIXNEWSNOWorg]

02:10 PM on 03/20/2009

fight the filth and distortions

[radiclib]

01:49 PM on 03/20/2009

.
Goldberg would aggravate me if he was not so silly.
.
.

[AhnAmuru]

01:34 PM on 03/20/2009

The paradox is, the Jewish people being descendants of the Hebrews of antiquity are partially of African extraction.

[dave1111]

04:06 PM on 03/21/2009

The human race is of African extraction.

[magen]

01:24 PM on 03/20/2009

I know. I know........it must be horrible.........so, soooo horrible to be a CONservative and have to have ALL of your beliefs completely contradicted by facts, information, studies, data, graphs, and liberal stuff like that.

Ridiculous.

[ConcernedAmerican]

01:10 PM on 03/20/2009

Just because the definition of ret ard has a pic of Goldberg next to it makes the dictionary liberal?

[freethinkergirl]

12:45 PM on 03/20/2009

If they can't understand it, if it's factual, if it makes sense, if it has been proven to work, then they label it "liberal". It's sure tough to have a pea brain, but then it's a qualification that give you job security at Fox Noise.