Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.315 February 7, 1995 1) Katshke-dreydl (Kathryn Hellerstein) 2) Market Yiddish (Abe Bloom) 3) Yablokoff: his life and work (Mendy Fliegler) 4) Shoyte ben Pikholts; shalatn (Peter Kluehs) 5) Shoyte ben Pikholts (Louis Fridhandler) 6) Frage, shayle un kashe (Rick Turkel) 7) Frage, shayle un kashe (Harvey Spiro) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 16:07:26 -0500 (EST) From: khellers@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Katshke-dreydl Sam Juni asked about an idiom/ insult with the phrase "katshke-dreyzikh" in it . Just want to mention that Kadya Molodowsky uses the phrase "katshke-dreydl" (I misspelled it above --Katshke) -- in a poem ("Bay mir in hant tsvey federn fun a fazan") in an isolated context -- (the line reads: "s'iz nisht vi mamzer-gonoruk,/ un shoyn avade nisht vi katshke-dreydl.).." I wrote to Mendele asking for help some months ago -- (but got no reply...). Have been told that there's a children's rhyme, like eenie-meenie-minie-mo, with the phrase katshke-dreydl in it. Seems to me that there's a relationship between Kadya's phrase and Sam Juni's! I'd like to learn more! Kathryn Hellerstein 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 16:48:58 -0500 From: abebloom@aol.com Subject: Market Yiddish?? It hurts to equate the language with a slice of pickled herring smothered in onions. Our friend [Joseph Sherman] from South Africa, in 4.299, Jan 30, seems not to know of the rich literature. It is true that most all of it is related to the Eastern Jews of Europe though I do not recall seeing any that relate to other European countries nor to South Africa, Latin America and others. Please, he should not establish that Hebrew is the language of the Jewish people. Had he studied the history of the settlement of Israel in the recent years he would have noted that the founders wanted to establish a new start so they created a national standard of Hebrew being the language and did all they could to discourage any Yiddish press, theatre, etc. Later immigration diluted that effort so that Yiddish did in fact penetrate. Please do not be too harsh on me if I have not stated the above totally accurate. Memory plays tricks. abe bloom 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Feb 1995 23:29:32 -0500 From: sroolik@aol.com Subject: Yablokoff: his life and work Program to be given Sunday, Feb. 12 at 4pm. at the JCC Rockville, Md. Phone 301-881-0100. Tsu alle: Deym kumindiken Zintik, Februar deym 12, af fir azeyger, vet Yidish fun Grois Vashington un Der Arbeter Ring, forshteln a program vegn Herman Yablokoff, der actor, shrayber, un bine forshteler. Er hot oykhet produtsirt dus barimte lid "Papirosin". Zayn shtif-tokhter, Anita Vilens, mit Feydl Enoch, veln forshteln di geshikhte fun zayn leybn, in a program fun gezang. Az ir kent tzukimen tsu der JCC-Jewish Community Center in Rockville, Maryland, kumtz! Es kost gornisht... Mendy Fliegler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 05 Feb 1995 19:43:00 +0200 From: pete@pko.rhein-main.de Subject: Pikholts un shalatn far Eliyahu un Sam Juni: pikholts iz in english a woodpecker, un ikh meyn az shojte ben pikholts darf zayn der zun fun a pikholts vos iz gevorn a shoyte vayl der foter hot alts geklapt dem kop funem zun. nisht azoy? s'dukht zikh az shalatn ken shtamen fun dem daytshn vort Scharlatan vos badayt in english a quack. oyb nisht azoy, ruft mikh knaknisl ;-) peter kluehs wehrheim, germany 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 06 Feb 95 00:14:51 EST From: 74064.1661@compuserve.com Subject: Shoyte ben Pikholts Sam Juni (4.312) asks about "Shoyte ben Pikholts." Pikholts means woodpecker. Receiving the title of "idiot" is no great honor, but an upgrade to "Idiot, son of a woodpecker" is a nice, decorative elaboration. Oykh nisht azamin groyser koved. Louis Fridhandler Irvine, CA 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Feb 95 10:05:25 EST From: rturkel@cas.org Subject: Frage, shayle un kashe Aaron Hershkowitz asked (mendele 4.314) about these three words for question. In my experience, a shayle is almost exclusively used for a question of halakha posed to a rabbinic authority, and thereby overlaps his definition of a kashe. As for nonsense questions, I think "klots-kashe" is the term that's most familiar to me. Then there's the stupid question on a nonexistent issue or an irrelevant detail, a "kashe af a may(n)se," and the response thereto, "er/zi fregt oyb a flig hot a pupik!" Rick Turkel 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Feb 6 13:39:21 1995 From: hjs@nrc.gov Subject: Frage, shayle, kashe Aaron Hershkowitz offers the following distinctions between frage, shayle and kashe: >> A frage demands a direct answer, a shayle requires a >> decison or interpretation, a kashe calls for a discussion. My recollection of usage is similar to that which Aaron Hershkowitz suggests. A frage is the most generic kind of question, simply a question; with a Germanic root, this also ties to the general verb used in Yiddish for asking, fregen. A shayle (from the Hebrew noun sh'elah, question) is a query that one might submit to a religious authority (teacher or rebbi) for a religious opinion or a psak (official determination). Kashe, from the Hebrew adjective ka-SHEH (final stress, meaning hard or difficult), in my usage is a difficult or knotty problem, not necessarily amenable to a concise answer (cf., di fir kashes from the Pesakh seder). >> Is there a Yiddish term for a rhetorical question? How >> about a nonsense question? I would submit the term klotz kashe as a blend of the two, a seemingly dumb or nonsensical question asked deliberately for its effect. Harvey Spiro Vienna, Virginia ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.315 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. 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