Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.001 May 16, 1993 1) Friddish (Rick Turkel) 2) Yiddish idiom (Yoel Meir Kurtz) 3) Irregular plurals (Martin Davis) 4) Irving Howe Memorial (Mark H. David) 5) Fun shames (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri May 14 13:06:46 1993 From: rmt51@cas.org (Rick Turkel) Subject: Friddish I had a French teacher more years ago than I care to count who claimed to have heard the following two French-Yiddish bits: Exasperated teacher to children: Faites attention! Un az nit vil ikh aykh gebm a klap a` la te^te! Woman in the street, to acquaintance not seen recently: Farvos komst du nit arayn zogn a bonjour? This foolishness reminds me of an incident which occurred during the year I spent in Israel during the late 1960's. My mother came on a tour; on her day off I rented a car and drove her to visit her only Israeli relative, a cousin who had been born in Poland and made aliyah during the 1930's. Her cousin spoke Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew; my American-born mother spoke English and Yiddish, so they had a common language, at least in theory. However, much of the visit was spent with me sitting between them and translating, since my mother's Yiddish was three-quarters English and her cousin's was one-third Polish and one-third Hebrew. It made for an interesting afternoon. Zayt gezunt un shtark. Rick Turkel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri May 14 15:05:46 1993 From: kurtzj@gov.on.ca (Joel Kurtz) Subject: Yiddish idiom Can anyone help me with this one: "Ich zoll azoi visen fin a buyze vyetchera!" What is a buyze vyetchera? This is apparently said when one is not sure what to do next. My grandmother used it (and now my mother does) when unsure what strategy to use in tackling a particularly difficult contract in the game of bridge. A buyze vyetchera may be Polish in origin. Yoel Meir 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri May 14 21:51:08 1993 From: davism@turing.cs.nyu.edu (Martin Davis) Subject: Irregular plurals Is it a coincidence that the words of non-hebraic origin with Hebraic plurals (nar, por, doktor) end in a reysh? Martin Davis 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri May 14 23:03:24 1993 From: mhd@world.std.com (Mark H David) Subject: Irving Howe Memorial A memorial gather for Irving Howe will be held monday, the 24th of May, in the Kaufman Auditorium of the "Y", 92nd street, Manhattan. -- from the Forverts, 14 May 1993, p. 28. Mark H. David 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: May 16 08:46:12 1993 From: norman miller Subject: Fun shames Tayere fraynt: Mendele iz shoyn tsvey yor alt! Ver volt zikh geven gerekhnt mit tsvey yor tsurik az haynt zoln zayn 259 abonantn fun 17 lender un medines? S'falt a moyre, fleg zogn di bubbe mayne. Ober s'komt oykh a freyd. The shames does not know how sufficiently to thank Mendele's contributors for the pleasure he's had in working with them. It has been a wonderful two years. In the real world one often acquires enemies as well as friends; in this world only friends. One other thing: just as fathers are proud when their children ultimately know and understand more than they do, this shames is proud to serve those who know more about Yiddish than he does. Bloyz eyn zakh feylt: ven me volt mer geshribn vegn literarishe inyonim. Nu, iz efsher in komendikn yor.. Zayt mir alle gezunt. Noyekh ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.001 If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu If your node is Bitnet-only and is not connected to the Internet, please send your message to: mendele@yalevm If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@dot.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.