Talk:Jewish mother stereotype/Archive 1

George Costanza
George Costanza is not Jewish, and there is no indication that his mother is.
 * You're right; the Costanzas are Italian Catholics. I removed the reference to Costanza from the article. -Alexanderj 09:09, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
 * No, while the Costanzas are Italian they are not Catholic.
 * I thought I had read that the Costanzas were Catholic, but I stand corrected on that. However, they are NEVER referred to as Jewish, and Larry David had purposely kept their religion ambiguous. As such, Mrs. Costanza can hardly be cited as an example of a "Jewish mother," if her religion is never ever referred to, and she is supposed to be religiously ambiguous. Therefore, I've reverted your edit. Also, please sign your comments in the future. -Alexanderj 07:35, 17 September 2006 (UTC)*
 * New York, Jewish, same thing.
 * Although the Italian mother stereotype is almost identical. --Krsont 18:02, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Discussion moved from VfD
Funny, but not encylopedic. Neutralitytalk 08:16, Jan 10, 2005 (UTC)
 * Move to BJAODN. Susvolans (pigs can fly) 09:13, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * If it is an actual syndrome, consider a move to the wiktionary. If not, move it to BJADON Thryduulf
 * Keep, it's a real stereotype; I would say stereotypes are encyclopedic. But it's not a "syndrome", so rename. And cleanup. Everyking 20:03, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. It's referenced in a paper by Richard Malott, Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University. It's clearly a term known in academic circles. GeorgeStepanek\talk  20:37, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Universal stereotypes are notable and encyclopedic.--Centauri 22:02, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Move to BJADON . Megan1967 04:10, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Given another consideration, I dont think there is anything here worth keeping. Its current form is un-encyclopaedic, Delete. Megan1967 03:17, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Any non-syndrome referenced as a "syndrome" should be automatically a candidate for deletion. (For example: "nice guy syndrome".)  -Sean Curtin 04:53, Jan 11, 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Delete as a misleading, non-peer reviewed classification. This is an old joke, but it can obviously lead to unhelpful stereotyping. Wyss 04:56, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. You should write to Woody Allen (who is Jewish of course) to reprimand him for making a film about a nagging Jewish mother, (his segment of New York Stories). Philip 07:06, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Woody Allen didn't submit an article to WP entitled Jewish Mother Syndrome, for starters. Wyss 07:25, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * And what else? That is a totally irrelevant non-argument. Philip 18:16, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Really? You're the one who brought up Woody Allen. Are you now saying he's irrelevant? Wyss 21:16, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not encyclopaedic. --fvw *  07:21, 2005 Jan 11 (UTC)
 * Since when is this stereotype reserved for Jewish mothers? What about Asian Mother Syndrome? Delete as neologism. Alphax (t) (c) (e) 08:45, Jan 11, 2005 (UTC)
 * Probably well before Dan Greenburg's best-selling 1964 book, How to Be a Jewish Mother, which popularized the stereotype. - Nunh-huh 04:40, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * I don't think this is intended to be considered a medical condition. "Syndrome" is a totally empty word, but there is an article to be written about the cultural presentation of the Jewish mother, and as this has been allocated to the correct category, someone might do it. Some of the votes for deletion are pure political correctness, which by definition is POV Philip 18:16, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * I disagree. Use of the word syndrome implies a clinical origin. Wyss 21:16, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete, not encyclopedic. Jayjg |  (Talk)  21:28, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep and s/syndrome/stereotype.  GRider\talk  22:35, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge and redirect to Stereotype. Rossami (talk) 00:06, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge into Stereotype. This is a stereotype, not a proper medical syndrome. Psychonaut 01:23, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Rename to Jewish mother or similar and redirect to Stereotype; that way, searches on the established phrase "Jewish mother" can find it. Acb 04:35, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Concur with Acb. At the very least, "Jewish mother" belongs in Wiktionary. -- Jmabel | Talk 18:41, Jan 13, 2005 (UTC)
 * Merge into Stereotype. This is a well-established stereotype, but I doubt that it needs a separate article.  Edeans 05:38, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

end moved discussion

October rewrites
The original article whose content was basically "Jewish mothers are great, but Woody Allen created this horrible stereotype" was pretty flawed. I changed it to be about the stereotype itself and got rid of the "syndrome" (it is not a clinical syndrome) in favor of "stereotype". I don't know if this should be kept &mdash; personally I think this is a little too close to an ethnic stereotype that, whatever its prevalence in Jewish comedy, is a little too close to other unfavorable ethnic stereotypes for my personal comfort. But anyway, I thought I would just explain myself. --Fastfission 00:24, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

A possible psychiatrical explanation
Could it be that they're just trying to compensate their incapacity to protect their sons from genital mutilation? - Stormwatch 05:01, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Stereotype?
As a Jew, I went down the list of characteristics and checked each one off as true. At what point does this become the kind of generalized exaggeration we associate with the word "stereotype"? Maybe it should read "Jewish mother FACTS".

How does Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar represent the Jewish mother stereotype? She's a young, unmarried girl, not a wife and mother until the very end of the book, where she is only briefly seen in married middle age. Nothing about her character involves any of the sterotypical behavior of Jewish mothers.Lolliapaulina51 (talk) 16:23, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Agreed! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.47.198.74 (talk • contribs)

George Costanza 2
While George Costanza's father is definitely Italian and Catholic, no indication is made whether or not the mother is Jewish. However, throughout the course of the show, Mrs. Costanza fits the mold of a stereotypical Jewish mother as much as (or even more than) Mrs. Seinfeld. According to afew accounts, whenever the actress playing Mrs. Costanza aksed what religion her character was supposed to be, she never got a straight answer.

If she is Jewish, it would mean the George Costanza is also through because Judaism is passed on through the mother. If not, then George too is obviously not Jewish. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eddy23 (talk • contribs) 23:05, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, yeah, since both Estelle fits the Jewish mother stereotype, and George the neurotic Jewish son equivalent, their actual ethnicity feels almost irrelevant. Since George Costanza is to a large extent both created by and based on the Jewish comedian Larry David, it isn't that surprising. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 23:33, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Real
My mom is a Jewish Mother and I fucking hate her. Daniel Christensen (talk) 01:26, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Please review WP:TALK. Jayjg (talk) 18:05, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

Thoughts and question about the decline
I think it's pretty damned obvious WHY people don't talk about the Jewish mom stereotype in the latter half of the 20th century. Does anyone else think it's a No-Brainer? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.48.62.147 (talk) 04:16, 8 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Can you explain what you mean? Jayjg (talk) 18:04, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
 * because it's not cool to be racist anymore? Although, I had to write a paper last semester about who my "jewish mother" (a.k.a. the person who used guilt to make me a good student) was.  Rebent (talk) 14:15, 10 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I think it's because Jewish mothers have changed a lot as Jews in America have assimilated more. I'm Jewish in my late 20s and my mother is exactly like these stereotypes. She's about 10 years older than my other Jewish friends' mothers, who are not really like the stereotypical Jewish mother anymore. Those lucky bastards. 24.155.111.25 (talk) 12:06, 9 February 2011 (UTC)