Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 92 October 28 , 1991 1) Kitkes, etc. (Mikhl Herzog) 2) Browning (Noyekh Miller) 3) Color shifts (Melekh Viswanath) 4) Etymologies and proof (Melekh Viswanath) 5) Housekeeping (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 23 Oct 91 02:25 EDT From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.BITNET Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.90 Re 'kitkes' etc.: Dissertation in progress on "Regional variation in the occurrence and meaning of Yiddish food terms associated with holidays". Will probably restrict itself largely to baking, with special emphasis on "Sabbath Bread" (NOT universally "khale", by the way). Author: Elinor (Leah) Robinson, Columbia University. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 23 Oct 91 From: nmiller@trincc Subject: Vol1.88 Dave Sherman's query about how to refer to autumn colors evoked a proposed solution which in turn evoked old memories. In brief, my proposal is: oysgegrint. It has the distinct advantage of not being a translation from English, said translations being almost always infelic- itous. But while we're on the subject of oysgegrint, older readers especially will remember when this was a taunt that immigrants used on one another. I recall vividly how some landsman or visitor (himself barely arrived) would sneeringly ask: "shoyn a bisl oysgegrint"? To which my mother would snap back: "Yo, shoyn pinktlikh azoy geyl vi aykh!", or in a less feisty mood: "Afile oysgegeylt!". They never bothered her again on that subject. So why use the word for autumn? Because happily or alas we no longer have very many Yiddish-speaking immigrants with whom we can adopt lofty attitudes (farisene neyzer). But it's a pretty word, it's Yid- dish, and now its use even involves ironic overtones. Noyekh p.s. My (mostly) ladies at the local Hebrew Home vote for ibergebitn. I think they're right. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1991 13:50 EDT From: VISWANATH@DRACO.BITNET Subject: Mendele vol1.88 [David Sherman writes:] We were out for a drive in southern Ontario yesterday, and wanted to point out the leaves turning (changing colour) to the kids. What's the right verb? _____________________ What about pushet 'baytn zikh di kolir'? melekh (viswanat@draco.rutgers.edu) 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1991 13:51 EDT From: VISWANATH@DRACO.BITNET Subject: Mendele Vol1.90 On Herzog's reply to Bob's 'demand' for proof and Aren's later addition to the discussion: Requiring (sic!) proof that there is no relationship is not very reasonable. In fact we can't prove that ANY two languages are NOT related. ____________________________________ Whereas Herzog's above statement is certainly true, an alternative derivation such as Aren later provided would certainly have gone a long way in satisfying Bob (I believe). Certainly, it would have satisfied me. Also, when a non-linguist like Bob (I presume) or me ventures a statement such as 'heirat < harey at' I submit that we should not be asked to produce proof; rather it should be taken as a null hypothesis that then needs to be refuted (in the manner that Aren refuted the harey at hypothesis). Finally, can even a positive statement such as Bob's actually be proven? The best we can do, it seems to me is to pile on the evidence as much as we can. melekh (viswanat@draco.rutgers.edu) 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 28 Oct 91 From: nmiller@trincc Subject: Housekeeping Since a number of subscribers have raised the question of back numbers, I thought a note to the entire list might be in order. The easiest way (for the shames at least) is to make all files available via anonymous ftp. It may also be the simplest procedure for subscribers as well. Unfor- tunately, the people who run the local show (firen or praven di melikhe, as we say at home, is even closer to describing the situation) don't know or pretend not to know how ftp works. As a result, ftp is out unless someone on the list knows of an installation that would be willing to play host to our files. The next best solution is for me to ship files by mail. Files are best sent in compressed _and_ encoded form. There are two options. 1) If the files are to be stored on your pc, you will need two pieces of soft- ware. The first (UUDECODE.COM) decodes the compressed file, the second (such as ARCE2.COM) decompresses it. 2) If the files are to be stored on your mainframe, it should have the equivalent software. Check with your local hommes-papier and hope for the best. You say you haven't got UUDECODE.COM or ARCE2.COM? Mendele has and will gladly send them to you as *.BAS files. You need only download them to your pc, then use the BASIC software that came with your operating system to convert the two files into *.COM files. Finally, if none of the above are right for you, let me know and we can try to work out an arrangement. Noyekh ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.92