An Open Letter to Jon Stewart

[Anguille]

I meant fraud in strictly legal terms. Say, if he was trying to escape debt.

 

[Sinatra]

Does anyone watch Stewart? He is soooooo 2005.

Colbert now eclipses Stewart - and Colbert is in somewhat of a decline as well, to say nothing of Maher, who may not be picked up by HBO when his current contract expires.

Much easier to be a liberal comic when GB was in the White House...

 

[brewerboy]

While the point of the article is a good one and worth the thought put into it, in the end its all up to the person in question.

If one wants to change their name for whatever reason, they shouldnt have to defend that decision.

 

[random3434]

Does anyone watch Stewart? He is soooooo 2005.

Colbert now eclipses Stewart - and Colbert is in somewhat of a decline as well, to say nothing of Maher, who may not be picked up by HBO when his current contract expires.

Much easier to be a liberal comic when GB was in the White House...

Yeah, too bad there aren't any Republicans left for the comics to make fun of!

 

[Sweet Willy]

I meant fraud in strictly legal terms. Say, if he was trying to escape debt.

I see. Like faking your death and that kind of thing. Yeah, probably not cool.

 

[Political Junky]

It was so cool to see Jon Stewart get Bill Kristol to say that the government insurance we give the military is superior to private insurance. Poor, Kristol fell right into it.

 

[Political Junky]

Does anyone watch Stewart? He is soooooo 2005.

Colbert now eclipses Stewart - and Colbert is in somewhat of a decline as well, to say nothing of Maher, who may not be picked up by HBO when his current contract expires.

Much easier to be a liberal comic when GB was in the White House...

Stewart produces Colbert's show.
It's so funny that many right wingers think Colbert is a right winger too. Bush Jr was a little surprised at that dinner.

 

[editec]

His given name is Jon Leibowitz. He changed it to Stewart for show biz.

Did Stewart say it was because he was ashamed to be a Jew or of Jewish heritage? If so you would think he would have become John Stewart.

Anyway, I think that people should be able to change their names for whatever reason so long as it isn't for fraudulent purposes.

How is it not fraudulent to change your name for these show biz reasons?

The better question is why do you think it's fraudulent?

Isn't the clear purpose to mislead or give a false impression?

Not really. It's clear to me that people change their showbusiness names hoping to choose a memorable name that the public can remember.

The reasons for the fraud doesn't make it any less of a fraud does it?

Fraud implies crime. It isn't fraudulant to change one's name.

Again, if I decided that my chances of getting into show business were better now, if I adopted a Jewish name, exactly what is the difference?

Who believes there is a difference. And why do you imagine that would be a fraud?

Does it mean I'm ashamed of who I am?

No

Do I have to be at a particular place on the advantaged/disadvantaged scale in order to qualify for non-fraudulent name change?

Don't really know what the fuck you're talking about.

It is an interesting social adaptation, I'm sure their are other examples of it.

Sure, people's names have been changed and changed and changes again. Many people with names coming from a language not spoken where they emmigrate change their names because it makes it easier for their neighbors to remember them, pronounce them and so forth.

I have one of those alien sounding surnames. You cannot imagine how confused some people are when they hear it. It's shorter than Washington, but it still scares the bejesus out of some people trying to pronounce it.

African slaves come to mind, though I guess it was forced. And if Eddie Richardson wanted to reclaim "mabobo" as his name, I suppose he could.

AFrican slaves had names imposed on them by their masters who, as I noted above, didn't want to be bothered dealing with names that sounded alien to them.

Now I have not bothered to change my surname because I don't really give a fuck if pronouncing my name causes some people to break out in a sweat.

But perhaps were I seeking to become a household word like movie stars obviously hope to become, I might consider changing my STAGE name.

Would that be a fraudulent thing to do, or merely something I'm doing for my career?

Jon Stewart isn't trying to pass, if that's where you're trying to take this.

He mentions that he's a Jew frequently, jokes about his ethnic all the time, and is obviously proud of his heritage.

 

[Anguille]

Speaking of funny last names, when Napoleon annexed the Netherlands and the Dutch were required to take surnames, many Dutch people made fun of the French by choosing silly or obscene names the meanings of which the French were oblivious.

Naaktgeboren, meaning "born naked' was one.

 

[L.K.Eder]

According to this it was originally a Polish or Slavic name.

Leibowitz Name Meaning and Origin - Ancestry.com

LeibowitzJewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from Leib 1. The suffix -owitz represents a Germanized form of the eastern Slavic patronymic suffix -ovich, Polish -owicz.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

this is better than the first site you cited which was full of shit.

the slavic part is only the suffix, a patronym, meaning "son of". leibowitz is a classic jewish name. coming from the name leyb, leib. meaning lion. a first name, like wolf., this is yiddisch. german is löwe. leeb in saxon.

so leibowitz is a slavicziced (?) son of leib, son of lion. german version: löwensohn.

wolfson, wolfowicz are the corresponding versions for wolf.

 

[Skull Pilot]

And really, who gives a flying fuck about what Jon Stewart does, says or thinks?

all the guy does is read something someone else wrote for him and make weird faces at the camera.

Brilliant? I think not.

 

[Anguille]

According to this it was originally a Polish or Slavic name.

Leibowitz Name Meaning and Origin - Ancestry.com

LeibowitzJewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from Leib 1. The suffix -owitz represents a Germanized form of the eastern Slavic patronymic suffix -ovich, Polish -owicz.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

this is better than the first site you cited which was full of shit.

the slavic part is only the suffix, a patronym, meaning "son of". leibowitz is a classic jewish name. coming from the name leyb, leib. meaning lion. a first name, like wolf., this is yiddisch. german is löwe. leeb in saxon.

so leibowitz is a slavicziced (?) son of leib, son of lion. german version: löwensohn.

wolfson, wolfowicz are the corresponding versions for wolf.

What is your source?

 

[L.K.Eder]

According to this it was originally a Polish or Slavic name.

Leibowitz Name Meaning and Origin - Ancestry.com

LeibowitzJewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from Leib 1. The suffix -owitz represents a Germanized form of the eastern Slavic patronymic suffix -ovich, Polish -owicz.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

this is better than the first site you cited which was full of shit.

the slavic part is only the suffix, a patronym, meaning "son of". leibowitz is a classic jewish name. coming from the name leyb, leib. meaning lion. a first name, like wolf., this is yiddisch. german is löwe. leeb in saxon.

so leibowitz is a slavicziced (?) son of leib, son of lion. german version: löwensohn.

wolfson, wolfowicz are the corresponding versions for wolf.

What is your source?

my mighty brain, which part do you want to have sourced? i will happily oblige.

ETA:

here is a link to a yiddish-english dictionary:

Electronic Dictionary, Electronic Translator, Software for Translation for 45 languages - ECTACO UK

i guess the leib=lion part is the part you want to have sourced. the other stuff is kind of self-explanatory, no? well the saxon dialect part you will just have to believe for now.

 

[Anguille]

this is better than the first site you cited which was full of shit.

the slavic part is only the suffix, a patronym, meaning "son of". leibowitz is a classic jewish name. coming from the name leyb, leib. meaning lion. a first name, like wolf., this is yiddisch. german is löwe. leeb in saxon.

so leibowitz is a slavicziced (?) son of leib, son of lion. german version: löwensohn.

wolfson, wolfowicz are the corresponding versions for wolf.

What is your source?

my mighty brain, which part do want to have sourced? i will happily oblige.

My ordinary brain tells me that Yiddish is a Germanic language with Hebrew elements and influenced by the other languages in the other countries in which it was widely spoken. So I'm wondering if this "lieb" part of the name is Hebrew in origin or Germanic?

Liebowitz may today be commonly identified as a Jewish sounding name but my point is that it could be entirely German or Slavic in origin. This is not to say that something or someone is either German/Slavic or Jewish and not both, but I think that to insist Jon Stewart take a Jewish last name then maybe to be perfectly kosher about it, it should be a Hebrew last name.

 

[editec]

but I think that to insist Jon Stewart take a Jewish last name then maybe to be perfectly kosher about it, it should be a Hebrew last name.

Why would you care what kind of name he takes, exactly?

 

[Anguille]

but I think that to insist Jon Stewart take a Jewish last name then maybe to be perfectly kosher about it, it should be a Hebrew last name.

Why would you care what kind of name he takes, exactly?

I don't care. As I said in my first post above I think it's ridiculous to expect him to change his name to suit someone else's purposes..

 

[L.K.Eder]

What is your source?

my mighty brain, which part do want to have sourced? i will happily oblige.

My ordinary brain tells me that Yiddish is a Germanic language with Hebrew elements and influenced by the other languages in the other countries in which it was widely spoken. So I'm wondering if this "lieb" part of the name is Hebrew in origin or Germanic?

Liebowitz may today be commonly identified as a Jewish sounding name but my point is that it could be entirely German or Slavic in origin. This is not to say that something or someone is either German/Slavic or Jewish and not both, but I think that to insist Jon Stewart take a Jewish last name then maybe to be perfectly kosher about it, it should be a Hebrew last name.

that would be "ben ari". "my name is shlomo ben ari, welcome to the daily show" lol.

you are right about the yiddish language, i cannot separate the influences. but it looks like the lion part is more german. that's why i included the saxon dialect from of the german "löwe", leeb. hebrew is after all ari, or if it is the lion of god, it is ari-el. this comes directly from my mighty brain using google.

when you go back to the first site you cited, you will see this stuff about the baker. this is misinformation. leib in german means among others loaf (of bread). there are german surnames which are derived from that.

lieberman is a good counter example. this is german. it just means "nice, likeable, dear, beloved" man. no connection to the lion. no yiddish. still, it is a safe guess, you find someone with this surname, he is jewish, i have no idea why.

i think somewhere during posting this i lost my train of thought.

 

[Anguille]

my mighty brain, which part do want to have sourced? i will happily oblige.

My ordinary brain tells me that Yiddish is a Germanic language with Hebrew elements and influenced by the other languages in the other countries in which it was widely spoken. So I'm wondering if this "lieb" part of the name is Hebrew in origin or Germanic?

Liebowitz may today be commonly identified as a Jewish sounding name but my point is that it could be entirely German or Slavic in origin. This is not to say that something or someone is either German/Slavic or Jewish and not both, but I think that to insist Jon Stewart take a Jewish last name then maybe to be perfectly kosher about it, it should be a Hebrew last name.

that would be "ben ari". "my name is shlomo ben ari, welcome to the daily show" lol.

you are right about the yiddish language, i cannot separate the influences. but it looks like the lion part is more german. that's why i included the saxon dialect from of the german "löwe", leeb. hebrew is after all ari, or if it is the lion of god, it is ari-el. this comes directly from my mighty brain using google.

when you go back to the first site you cited, you will see this stuff about the baker. this is misinformation. leib in german means among others loaf (of bread). there are german surnames which are derived from that.

lieberman is a good counter example. this is german. it just means "nice, likeable, dear, beloved" man. no connection to the lion. no yiddish. still, it is a safe guess, you find someone with this surname, he is jewish, i have no idea why.

i think somewhere during posting this i lost my train of thought.

Nit picky stuff can do that to you. LOL!

I was thinking that possibly "lieb" was both Germanic and Hebrew but it turns out Hebrew is not Indo_European so probably not. That's as far as I'm looking into the matter since I doubt Jon Stewart needs my help anyhow.

Thanks for the info though!

 

[Political Junky]

And really, who gives a flying fuck about what Jon Stewart does, says or thinks?

all the guy does is read something someone else wrote for him and make weird faces at the camera.

Brilliant? I think not.

Not unlike Bush Jr.

 

[Sweet Willy]

Did Stewart say it was because he was ashamed to be a Jew or of Jewish heritage? If so you would think he would have become John Stewart.

Anyway, I think that people should be able to change their names for whatever reason so long as it isn't for fraudulent purposes.

The better question is why do you think it's fraudulent?

Because it meets the definition of the word "fraud"?

fraud - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

A person who is not what they pretend to be? To trick or deceive? One that is not what it seems or represented?
If your name gives the impression that you are Polish and you want it to sound like an American, and that's your motivation, as noted here, yes, that's a fraud. A rather mild and excusable one, but none the less, a fraud.



Not really. It's clear to me that people change their showbusiness names hoping to choose a memorable name that the public can remember.

And I agree, this is usually the case. The case made here is that a Jewish person wanted a name that would lead people to beleive he was not so.



Fraud implies crime. It isn't fraudulant to change one's name.

Fraud does not always imply a crime. The FBI recently lied to a woman in NC that her husband and son had been in a car wreck so they could search her home while she was gone. Are they guilty of a crime?


Who believes there is a difference. And why do you imagine that would be a fraud?

I don't know that anyone does think there is a difference. I was just asking. And it would be a mild and excusable kind of fraud.