them: [something something Judaica]
me: [something something Judaica]
them: Oh, are you Jewish?
me: Half. On my father's side, so the "wrong" half, ha ha.
them: Oh, yeah, so no, because it comes from the mother.
Like I have already made it clear that I'm aware of the matrilineal thing and am excluding myself. So it's not that others are shutting me out. (Many probably think they're simply agreeing with me.) But they are, a bit; it's a segment of the population that feels the need to respond by reinforcing that exclusion, brightening the line I've drawn, rather than saying either (a) something inclusive (which I realize I don't have any reason to expect, and I don't say "on my father's side, so the 'wrong' half" to fish for inclusion) or (b) —which I think is all that's actually called for—"Oh."
no subject
Yeah it's generally something like -
them: [something something Judaica]
me: [something something Judaica]
them: Oh, are you Jewish?
me: Half. On my father's side, so the "wrong" half, ha ha.
them: Oh, yeah, so no, because it comes from the mother.
Like I have already made it clear that I'm aware of the matrilineal thing and am excluding myself. So it's not that others are shutting me out. (Many probably think they're simply agreeing with me.) But they are, a bit; it's a segment of the population that feels the need to respond by reinforcing that exclusion, brightening the line I've drawn, rather than saying either (a) something inclusive (which I realize I don't have any reason to expect, and I don't say "on my father's side, so the 'wrong' half" to fish for inclusion) or (b) —which I think is all that's actually called for—"Oh."