It's not the normalization of the word, it's the redefinition of the word.

Also, If you continue his ridiculous argument then Tottenham, under no circumstances, can associate with or reference jewishness, as this is a red flag to Chelsea's racists. Should jews hide their jewishness in order to stamp out anti-semtism too?

If we were using the Y-word in an antagonistic way and it was still closely associated with Judaism, then he might have a point. But it's not and he doesn't.

I do think comedians should try and stick to being funny. In a deliberate kind of way I mean. They are no more convincing in their philosophical whimpering than, I don't know, Joey Barton....

It makes me laugh that he uses a Cheatski fan screaming anti semetic abuse as a reason to prevent us from owning the term, particularly when he must hear an earful of hissing from his scummy brethren every time they go to WHL.

It's telling that he has never raised his voice at any time over that.

Obnoxious little twat made his name off the back of Rob Newman then Frank Skinner. Now he's trying to get his name back in the headlines. That is the sum total of the smarmy tosser's concern.

Agreed. Language evolves. Saying "he's a Yid" means he's a Spurs fan/player, not "he's a Jew". I can see where the likes of Baddiel and Herbert are coming from, but paternalistic PC diktats are not going to get a large group of passionate supporters to stop singing their well-intentioned songs. I'm with that guy who reckons the OED should add Yid=Spurs to the dictionary. We can still be aware of, and indeed celebrate, the origins, but the word has changed. No-one owns words.

Correct .. It's a very small percentage of Jews among the the Tottenham faithful and not far different to Arsenal for that matter.

The chairman is Jewish and he said it's okay - and has Baddiel ever tried to negotiate with Levy; it will take him decades

This really is a difficult subject. I've been a non-jewish season ticket holder for a number of years and have regularly joined in with our various Y songs, I was however discussing this with the guy I sit next to at every game who is a Jew himself and he was very much of the opinion that it should not be sung.
He understood that in reality it wasn't being sung in a provocative way and more that we had turned the word around after years of abuse from opposition fans however, after growing up and being subjected to the Y word as a slur he has strong feelings against it. He is also bothered about when he brings his son along to games and he starts asking about what Yid means and why we call ourselves and players Yids he will get confused by the negative connotation.
As I've said I myself don't know the answer however if the guy I sit next to is offended by it then I'm not going to join in - I feel that if it offends even one person then I'm not going to say it.

Hopefully it may prompt us to come up with a few new songs as in general I think we need a better repertoire! - !!

COYS!

Dear Mr Baddiel,
If you really think that if Spurs fans cease using or chanting the the "Y" word and somehow that will translate into a significant minority of Chelsea fans no longer spewing out anti Semitic abuse you are a fool of the highest order, and I suspect that your real problem is your difficulty in coming to terms with the fact that when you scratch below the surface the plain and uncomfortable truth is that a significant minority of idiots who also choose associate themselves with Chelsea are racist anti Semitic and down right horrible and given half the chance they would be more vocal in their intolerance and you follow that same club and try to defend its dishonnour. I mean which London club in the semi final disrespectfully broke the Hillsborough silence earlier this year ? It wasn't us!!!

David Baddiel has his heart in the right place but frankly his argument is utterly flawed and frankly discredited by the fact that he picks his OWN team's fans as an example of the word Yid being used as a racist slur. Embarrassing. All he is doing is supporting the very reason that Spurs fans adopted this chant in the first place, to defend ourselves and remove the power of using it from racist thugs like Chelsea fans!

What should be happening here is that Spurs fans should be commended for attempting re-address the meaning of this term and remove as much racist hatred from it as possible. When has a group of fans ever done anything like this before? Never.

Surely the other point to note is that when black people use the N word, is this not for the same kind of reason as what we are doing with the word Yid? Surely by adopting it and using it positively amongst themselves it was an attempt to redefine it's meaning. Sure, most of us aren't Jewish, so it's not exactly the same, but that's not the intention and if he can't see the positives involved then he's he basically just a washed up comedian on his soap box. Step down before you hurt yourself.

Totally agree - Mr Badiel should help clean us his own clubs disgraceful record on racism (on and of the field) before he moves onto non-offensive, and at the very worst 'casual' instances of racism at others.

How stupid is David Baddiel? We know he's not a Spurs fan but that's his choice and that's fine. The whole point about the word yid is that it's because only a minority of our fans are jewish and yet all of us get hissed at and told we should have been gassed by the Nazis. So then the majority of us, who as Baddiel rightly says aren't Jews, took on that word to show solidarity with those being abused. If the German population in the 30s who weren't Jewish had stood shoulder to shoulder with their Jewish neighbours there might never have been a third Reich. It was Chelsea fans like Baddiel though I accept not him personally, and West Ham fans by and large who started all this. Tell you what Davie boy, you stop all the Chelsea fans singing death to yids, kill the yids and doing Hitler salutes and we'll laugh at one of your jokes - our side of the bargain is harder than yours. How about that for a deal?

Don't kid yourself. He's a Chelsea fan out to stir up trouble. I suppose when he's at Stamford Bridge he tries to stop the fans around him hissing at us? Believe that if you want but I don't.

It's Peter Herbert, a qualified barrister with whom we should engage with not some rival fan trying to score cheap points. Luckily you can he puts his contact details online: http://www.peterherbert.net/contact.html
Let's not abuse him, I suspect he is sincere just misguided and attention seeking.

No, it hasn't sustained anti-Semitism in this instance. It has neutralised it and removed the sting from it as a slur.

I once worked with a very intelligent black woman who used to say, when we were very busy, "I'm working like a n****r today!" It removed any offensiveness from the word when she used it with humour.

It's the intent behind the word that matters.

The word is being used about ourselves and our own players.
It is not aimed at outsiders or the supporters of other clubs.
It has become in Spurs terms an accolade.
Yiddo- ism has to be earned. Not any old player becomes a 'Yiddo'.
Can that be racist? Surely intention is crucial here.
I'm sure Levy has on tap the finest lawyers who could handle a court case on this
if it ever arises.
Personally I don't use it myself despite my own background but then I remember the Blackshirts and Mosely in the 50's and over the years have found it makes me uneasy,
But just you try to stop me from not using it if I don't want to

I like the ' Defoe is a y word' solution.

I'm with the posts who think this is a tricky issues.

On one hand, no-one believes that we use it as an offensive term, and if the club is right then there's no legal issue. The SBL seems to have misinterpreted this (though they are lawyers, and I'm not....). On the other hand, I think DB is right to say that our use of the term makes it easier for other fans to use it in an offensive and illegal way. It doesn't make it any less illegal (if I've understood it right) for them, but I get the point that it's going to be hard to stop abuse if it's ok for one group. Again, intent is the key thing here - but that's a more complex point to get across (especially to Chelsea fans.... , only kidding).

The bigger question would be has our use of the term manage to neutralise the word - it has at White Hart Lane, but has it elsewhere? I'm not Jewish, so I don't really come across it in any other context. If I was would I not be bothered, or would I be really offended? I suppose we need to see what our Jewish fans think, if a lot of them were very uncomfortable about it, then maybe we should respect that, if most think it's harmless then it probably is....

PR and the bloke was always a bore and never funny anyway.

Fuck off baddiel you herbert. Go feed off some other club for your publicity.

This is the funniest thing badiels come up with in years....for something to be considered racist there HAS to be intent....and in no way are we using the term to cause offence....the fucking cheek of him,when it's so clear to see the racism in and around Stamford bridge,to claim its our fault that Chelsea fans use it.people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones ,Badiel ,and your lobbing boulders mate.
Unfortunately ,this Herbert fella, is scraping the bottom of the barrel now...looking for racism where it doesnt exist....
And fair play to Levy for telling them where to go.

The more meaningful discussion would be whether Chelsea's Jewih owner is going to start banning and prosecuting his fans who hiss and scream anti Semitic chants . Perhaps if he threatened to pull out of the club because of its anti Semitic past and present unless it all stopped that might be more meaningful. Frankly I don't know why he chose to get involved with that racist club in the first place. I assume he will have done his research into their fans attitudes and history before he took over. In the meantime they çontinue to insult his heritage while reveling in the money he spends.
Oh and has Mr Baddiel ever said he will not watch his anti Semitic club play any more because their fans chants sicken him?