[Also shanda. The phrase “shonda fur di goyim” refers to shameful behavior by a Jewish person in front of non-Jews, which may discredit all Jews.] [Jaclyn, who was suffering from postpartum depression and who was embarrassed to be taken to the psychiatric ward, told me:] “My whole life, I’ve seen a psychiatric facility as something that was just such a shonda. … Only crazy people went there, people who tried to kill themselves. (Sarah Menkedick, Ordinary Insanity, Pantheon [2020], p. 250.)
This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for shame, disgrace, dishonor, or scandal.
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