In Ramla, as in the rest of Israel, each immigrant group quickly attracted its own labels, which ranged from derogatory to affectionate and sometimes were both. A Moroccan was a sakin, or knife, because of his reputation as violent; Iraqis were pajamas, because of their dress; Germans were yeke, after the jackets they wore in the fields, or putzes, a kind of upscale schmuck; Romanians were thieves; Bulgarians were cheap; and a Pole was dripke: Yiddish for dustcloth.
