Hamentaschen or Cookies?

One Sunday morning a year and a half ago, I was sitting in a bookstore/restaurant with a group of interns. They ordered all sorts of brunch items. I ordered a Diet Coke. One intern turned to me and asked why I wasn't ordering any food. "I keep kosher," I explained. To which he responded, "Oh, so you fast on Sundays?"

I was also once asked by a person who knew about shomer negiah why I couldn't eat the very non-kosher pizza if it didn't have meat on it.

All of which is to say that as an Orthodox Jew who grew up on Long Island, I have absolutely no sense of what non-Jews and non-religious Jews know about my religious practices. I find myself using "circumcision" instead of "bris" to rolled eyes but had an editor ask me (not maliciously at all) to travel on Shabbos.

So, this morning when I brought in leftover hamentaschen to work, I offered my co-workers "cookies." Most of them responded with "Ooh, Hamentaschen!"