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March 08, 2006
Vishy's Useless Factoid of the Day: How did the word ghetto come about?
I was just at a little reunion of alumni of my high school in India. It was a motley, multicultural crowd of people whose lives have continued to be at least as interesting as when they were in my school. It was in a conversation with this group that I heard of the origin of the word ghetto.
Ghetto was an island in Venice where the city's Jews were segregated. Apparently there was a fountain on the island that spouted a powerful spray of water, which goes by the word jetto (jet) in Italian. The Venetian dialect of Italian tended to harden j- sounds to g- (as in glamour), which resulted in jetto changing to ghetto.
So the next time someone applies the adjective 'ghetto' to you or one of your posessions, ask them if they really think you look Italian.
Posted by Vishy at March 8, 2006 12:47 AM