An official of one of Britain’s largest publishing firms promised today remove from distribution all copies of the current edition of its Concise English Dictionary containing a slurring definition of Jews, and to check all other editions for removal of such definitions.
The dictionary, published by Odham Books, Ltd., defines a Jew as “member of the Hebrew Branch of the Semitic race; Israelite; believer in the Hebrew religion.” It also includes a “slang” definition: “extortionist, bargainer or moneylender.” The word is also used in the definition as a verb: “Jew — to cheat, outwit.”
Morris Linden, editor of the Jewish Times of Glasgow, brought the offensive definition to the attention of C. K. Jones, director of the firm. The official declared that “the definition horrifies me. It is completely indefensible.”
Adding that “one cannot, of course, read every single definition in our dictionaries,” he informed the Jewish editor that “this will be put right straight away and I assure you I will see to it that all reprints of the dictionary which has this offensive description will be removed.”
He also promised that he would see to it “that all our other dictionaries are checked to see whether they contain this completely unjustifiable definition and they also will be corrected if necessary.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
