Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.155 October 26, 1994 1) Chopped Liver (Jack Feldman) 2) Yeke (Mikhl Herzog) 3) The red and the yellow (Mikhl Herzog) 4) Kasrilevke (Mikhl Herzog) 5) Toronto (Mikhl Herzog) 6) Yiddish life in Estonia (Soreh Benor) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 15:54:00 -0700 From: feldman@math.berkeley.edu Subject: Chopped liver I recently heard once again (this time on a T.V. commercial) the complaint "what am I, chopped liver?", and am wondering whether any of you can trace this back to the Yiddish or Yinglish remark from which it must come. Jack Feldman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 94 00:07 EDT From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Yeke I think Ruben Frankenstein's third option is on the mark. "Yeke" is most likely derived from German "Jeck" a regional variant of Standard German "Geck" 'coxcomb','dandy'. The other, more fanciful "etymologies" are probably the result of the general unawareness of the "g/j" regional variants in German which yield "janz jut" where we would expect "ganz gut". There's another, widespread reflection of this variation in Yiddish: Standard Yiddish "dayges" 'worries' (Eastern Yiddish variants include "da(n)ges/da:(n)ges/(rarely) daynges"), is realized as "da:yes" (with "j" not "g"!! and often with nasalized "a:) throughout much of Western Yiddish. Mikhl Herzog 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 94 00:07 EDT From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: The red and the yellow Having become a member of the jet set "af der elter", I was compelled to make a trip to far off places on very short notice, just a few days ago, before I had a chance to supplement my earlier posting about "redheads". A chance meeting abroad now compels me to take it all back. I originally implied (or concurred [Vol4. 138]in Dan Leeson's assertion) that the designation of a 'redhead' as a "geler" was specific to Litvish Yiddish. I was going to supplement this with the suggestion that this might have been an avoidance device. I'm told that "a reyter" in Litvish Yiddish designates a "kaasn", a man quick to anger. Hence, call a redhead "a geler". There are, after all, other examples of such "avoidance devices" among Litvakes. The Litvak says "avu freystu zikh" ('where do you rejoice?') instead of "vu veynstu?" ('where do you live = cry?'). He says "fisnoge" and "fisribe" to distinguish the "fis" that he walks on from the "fis" that he eats. Why not "a geler" to distinguish a redhead from a man quick to anger? Enter Shmuel Atzmon, director of the Tel Aviv Yiddish Theatre, who assures me that his mother who knew Bashevis well in Bilgoraj, deep in Poland, spoke of him as "Itsik der geyler". Where do we go from here? Mikhl Herzog 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 94 09:46 EDT From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Kasrilevke Kayle Goodman. We sang it, and that's all there was to it: Fun vanen ku-umt a yid? Fun Kasrilevke. Fun vanen ku-umt a yid? Fun Kasrilevke. Fun vanen ku-umt a yid? Fun Kasrilevke. Fu-un Kasri-ilivke-ke-ke! Was there more? Did ANYONE write it? Mikhl Herzog 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 94 09:46 EDT From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Toronto Sheine Mankowsky. I'm shattered! Devastated! That ANYONE, particularly a Torontonian, would say of Toronto that it's "not traditionally known in the past for its Yiddish atmosphere" defies belief. I envy your youth, and perhaps your relatively recent arrival in Toronto, which alone can account for your not knowing that Toronto is, at least historically, the MOST Yiddish of cities! I leave it to present day Torontonians to defend the city's honor ("honour" that is). As a graduate of and former teacher at Toronto's "Farband yidishe folk shul un mitl shul" and as the very first administrator of your very own Bialik school (better known in my day as the "Viewmount shule") which was itself born of the "Farband folk shul", I implore you to look into the history of the community you so glibly malign -:), please! Mikhl Herzog 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 1994 14:28:33 -0400 (EDT) From: seb28@columbia.edu Subject: Yiddish life in Estonia I'm an undergrad at Columbia University (ich lern zich a bisl Yiddish), and I just found out that the College sponsors an annual fellowship for several students to spend a summer in Estonia. I think this might be a great opportunity for me to use my new Yiddish skills to search out and work with any Jewish communities that remain in that area. But I'm not sure if there even are any -- this is where Mendele comes in. Is anyone familiar with current Yiddish life in Estonia? Soreh Benor ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.155 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu