this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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“Gypsies” itself is also seen as a pejorative for the Romani.
Shyster has a reputation as being anti-semitic due to the assumption it is related to Shakespeare’s character Shylock. Historically it isnt, it refers to lawyers and the “shy” comes from German. It’s literally shitters.
Sort of like the word niggardly.
Interesting, so it's a Yiddish variant of Scheißer?
I don’t think Jews were involved at all, which is another part of what makes it odd that it’s sometimes offensive. There is a similar British slang word, and Germans also immigrated to New York where it is thought to have originated in the prisons.