______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.283 March 13, 1994 1) Muz, darf (Hal Berman) 2) Announcement (Hal Lankin) 3) Yentl (Ellen Prince) 4) About the Gay Parpar (Michael Shimshoni) 5) Number non-agreement (Moyshe Taube) 6) Names-for-character-types (Dvoyre Halperin Biasca) 7) Childrens' jingle (Arre Komar) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 11 15:53:47 1994 From: Hal Berman Subject: muz, darf It's really not hard to understand. Muz means must, and darf means needs. The usage in yiddish is as flexible as the usage in English. Eg: He must have money. He needs money, he needs to have money. Each is differently semantically. Hershl Berman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Mar 11 16:18:58 1994 From: Alan Lankin <73302.2024@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Master's Recital My wife, Pamela Hitchcock, will be giving a master's recital next month which will include many Yiddish songs. The announcement is: Master's Recital Pamela Hitchcock, soprano with Mark Dougherty, piano in a program of traditional and contemporary cantorial and liturgical music and Yiddish folk, theater, and art songs Sunday, April 17, 1994 at 2:00 pm Gratz College, Old York Road and Melrose Avenue, Melrose Park, PA Admission Free RSVP [to my internet address] Alan Lankin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 12 00:40:53 1994 From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: yentl to: meyshe-yankle sweet uh, i think the i.b. singer story you're talking about was made into a big hollywood movie a few yrs ago, _yentl_, starring barbra streisand, plus mandy patimkin and amy irving. ellen prince 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 12 04:57:47 1994 From: Michael Shimshoni Subject: About the Gay Parpar Daniella HarPaz wrote "In Hebrew there exists a slang word "parpar" for homosexuals, meaning butterfly...". Later David Braun accepts that and writes: "I too was under the impression that _feygele_ came from Eng. _fag_ only on American soil. Daniella HarPaz's note that Mod Heb uses _parpar_ makes me think, though: what are the slang terms in Russian, Polish? One of the Yiddish words for _butterfly_ is _zumer-feygele_. If Russian or Polish use 'butterfly' equivalents, we'd have a story for Yiddish incorporating those forms and passing them on to Hebrew (or Heb getting them directly from Russian or Polish)". When I first read Daniella's suggestion I was doubtful, as I had not heard *that* use of parpar. I have now checked in the bible of modern spoken Hebrew, the dictionary of Dan Ben-Amotz and Netiva Ben-Yehuda (both volumes) and there it states that parpar (in addition to other uses) is a person who is unfaithful to one's spouse. No homosexual hints are given to this term. They bring also the female version "parparit" for such a lady. The verb lehitparper is commonly used for someone having a good time without too many restrictions. None of these have any homosexual overtones as such, and I could imagine that a parpar could also be used about a gay man who is not faithful to his partner. I think that the source of the usage for parpar is the ease with which a butterfly moves from one flower to the next. Michael Shimshoni 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 12 05:29:39 1994 From: Taube Moshe Subject: number non-agreement Ellen, examples of the kind you brought are all over the place in the literature. I too have a list with dozens of examples from Sholem Aleychem, Mendele etc. Best, Moyshe Taube 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 12 14:11:41 1994 From: BIASCA DEBRA HALPERIN Subject: names-for-character-types In response to the query about character names, I have to add my uncle (olev ha-sholem)'s frequent use of a 'Kuni Leml.' I now know this came from Yiddish theatre. I learned this on my first visit to Yivo where I saw a poster for the play. I don't know too much about the play, though. Perhaps a Mendelnik can shed more light? I think the guy was anything but clever, or otherwise hapless. Dvoyre Halperin Biasca 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 12 23:00:54 1994 From: "Dr. Arthur Komar" Subject: Childrens' Jingle Re the recently received version of the children's jingle A guten morgen malakh Vu ikh geh fal ikh etc. and ending with the very unJewish aspect of the husband beating the wife Zogt die kinder: oy oy oy Zogt der tate: gut azoy the word Malakh in the fist line puzzles me as well as does the entire tenor of the rhyme for which Malakh is quite incongruous. My question is that perhaps there was and earlier censored version of this jingle which began A guten morgn galakh Vu ikh geh fal ikh etc. It would then form a consistent picture of a drunk, wife-beating goy. Am I just being chauvinistic or can anyone supply any information for or against this conjecture? Arre Komar ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.283 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Mendele: Yiddish literature and language