(JNS.org) Vice President Joe Biden said his use of the term “Shylocks” in a speech at a conference marking the 40th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation was “a poor choice of words.” Many consider the term anti-Semitic. During the speech, Biden recalled his son’s experience speaking with members of the military who needed legal advice, saying, “People would come to him and talk about what was happening to them at home in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans that were being – I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of, um, these women and men while overseas.”

“Shylock” comes from the name of a Jewish moneylender in William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice. “Shylock represents the medieval stereotype about Jews and remains an offensive characterization to this day,” Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman said. “The vice president should have been more careful.”