Friends Season 2 Episode 2: "The One with the Breast Milk"

[Vivian0925]

Monica: (Answering the phone) Hello? Oh, Hi, Ju-- Hi, Jew! Uh huh? Uh huh? Okay. Um, sure, that'd be great. See ya then. Bye.
Rachel: Did you just say "Hi, Jew?"
Monica: Yes. Uh, yes, I did. That was my friend, Eddie Moskowitz. Yeah, he likes it, reaffirms his faith.


That was my friend, Eddie Moskowitz. What's the humor of it??

 

[PaulQ]

The name, Eddie Moskowitz, is Jewish.

 

[entangledbank]

As a name, that sound would be written Ju and would be a friendly shorter form for some name like Judy or Julia or Julian. That's what you'd expect, hearing it: someone called Judy was on the other end. No-one would ever address a Jew as 'Jew', except as part of an insult, so it would never be used in a friendly conversation.

 

[kentix]

Monica started to say the person's name she was talking to but stopped halfway because she didn't want Rachel to know who she was taking to. If I remember correctly, it was Julie, Ross's girlfriend. Rachel didn't like Julie because Rachel wanted to be Ross's girlfriend. So after Monica said the first part of the name without thinking, she stopped so Rachel wouldn't be upset. Then she pretended she meant to say Jew and pretended she was talking to someone else who is Jewish, which is funny because you would never talk to someone like that and it was an obvious bad excuse. Plus, Rachel is Jewish, too, and would take offense if someone talked to her like that. Basically, Monica got caught in an awkward situation and did her best to get out of it (which wasn't very good).

 

[Myridon]

Plus, Rachel is Jewish, too,

Monica and her brother, Ross, are Jewish (or, at least, their father is Jewish), not Rachel.

 

[kentix]

Oops, part of my brain was telling me to think again about that but I didn't listen. My mistake. Thanks.

 

[Vivian0925]

Oops, part of my brain was telling me to think again about that but I didn't listen. My mistake. Thanks.

That's ok Thank you for your explanation in a great detail~~

 

[Vivian0925]

As a name, that sound would be written Ju and would be a friendly shorter form for some name like Judy or Julia or Julian. That's what you'd expect, hearing it: someone called Judy was on the other end. No-one would ever address a Jew as 'Jew', except as part of an insult, so it would never be used in a friendly conversation.

thanks