Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.105 September 7, 1995 1) Nokh a yinglish vitsele (Rick Gildemeister) 2) Language-mixed songs (Ellen Prince) 3) Oxford Program (Zalmen Itzik Clare) 4) Musings on Yiddish and technology (Patty Becker) 5) Yidishkayt (Pamela Lapham) 6) A zindele a sheyns (Zellig Bach) 7) Ver hot aza yingele (Bob Rothstein) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Sep 95 12:43:20 EDT From: eeglc%cunyvm.bitnet@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Subject: Nokh a yinglish vitsele When I first started studying Yiddish, I guess I must have been about 14 or 15 years old, I loved the Borsht-Belt style jokes, with English narrative and a Yiddish punch line. The last one I submitted to the list was the first one I had ever heard, from a spoken recording of Dr. Murray Banks, psychologist, doing the bit about the Litvak in boot camp. Another one of my favorites from his repertoire was "Adultery". An old man goes and visits his son out on Long Island. While there, he attends a service in the local Reform Temple, but his English nebekh ain't so hot. Anyway, they're listening to the Rabbi thundering about the evils of adultery. The old man turns to his son and says, "What means adultery?" Caught off-guard by the old man, the son replies, "So that you don't turn the oven on on Saturday". "Oh Oh very good". After the service the Rabbi walks over to shmooze a bit, and the old man immediately says, "Rabbi, you talk about adultery, excellent, first class, ober mir hobn far dos a shikse." Rick Gildemeister 2)--------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Sep 1995 12:57:00 EDT From: ellen@central.cis.upenn.edu Subject: language-mixed songs avi hoffman writes: Although some people find these materials insulting and demeaning, I find them to be extremely entertaining, and a fascinating look at a musical-sociological phenomenon. while i find most of the more recent stuff to be pure shlock (e.g. country yossi, rechnitzer rejects), some of the older stuff is priceless, imho. and also interesting from a linguistic point of view, to see how the languages were mixed. i actually did a study of lexical borrowing based on some of this material and it turned out to be an interesting corpus. (it was also interesting to present it at a conference at that oh-so-elegant jesuit institution, georgetown university, and play an excerpt of menashe skulnik's _i'm sam the man who made the pants too long_! :-) ) ellen prince 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Sep 1995 14:54:09 -0400 (EDT) From: clare@vms.cis.pitt.edu Subject: Oxford Program I attended the Oxford Yiddish program back in 1990. It was a wonderful experience but I too had difficulty with the administration. They did not seem to care that we had problems outside the classroom such as housing, transportation, etc. At the end of the program, we were asked to evaluate the 4 week session. I then did suggest improvment concerning the "mechanism" for running the program out side of class. Apparently, the suggestions were not taken seriously. All in all, it was a great experience. However, be sure to question housing, meals, off campus programs, fees, etc. _before_ you go to Oxford. Zolt ihr ale hobn a gezuntn nayem yor. Zalmen Itzik Clare 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Sep 95 17:24:02 EDT From: patty_becker@mts.cc.wayne.edu Subject: Musings on Yiddish and technology Thinking about it just now for some reason--the wonderful juxtaposition of modern technology (internet, international communication, etc.) with the ancient mameloshn that is our topic. Conjure up a computer, modem, etc. in the shtetl! Patty Becker 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Sep 95 15:16 PDT From: plapham@hevanet.com Subject: Yidishkayt Shalom, how wonderful to be a part of Mendele. It is so enjoyable to see growing, striving, and developing people corresponding. I have a question -- I'm good at that. I just started my study of Yiddish. I must say that it is my 10th language, so that my other languages are helping, but I was wondering what kinds of advice people out there might have to someone who wants to read the Baal Shem Tov, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Sholom Aleichem in the original and just loves to read in general. Grammar books I have on the way, and I read up to Noach in Breshit last Shabat -- an edition in Hebrew, English, and German by Rabbi Levi Goldstein of NYC. Any hints, advice, etc. out there? Pamela Lapham Oregon, USA 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Sep 1995 18:17:18 -0400 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: A zindele a sheyns Like a moving picture in slow motion to enhance minute details for a more accurate observation, so are syllables in the words of a song, maybe especially in a lullaby, stretched out for melodic effects. In writing or in print, however, such syllables have to be joined together. This then is the answer to Leah Zazulyer's song query (5.103,1). When the syllables are _re-joined_, and with the addition of several missing consonants, the text of the verse reads as follows: ver hot a zindele, a zindele, a sheyns,/ Oygelekh vi shternlekh./ a neshumele a reyns,/ La, la, la.../ Translation: Who has a handsome little son, little son,/ little eyes like little stars,/ a pure little soul,/ La, la, la.../ All diminutives are in the mode of endearment. P.S. No translation of the last line, however... Zellig Bach, Lakehurst, NJ 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 07 Sep 1995 11:44:05 -0400 (EDT) From: rar@slavic.umass.edu Subject: Ver hot aza yingele The song sought by Leah Zazulyer's friend (5.103) is "Ver hot aza yingele?", which is included in the Mloteks' _Pearls of Yiddish Song_ (available from the Arbeter Ring Jewish Book Center and elsewhere). The Mloteks write that the song was originally entitled "Who Has Such a Girl?" ("Ver hot aza meydele?") instead of "Who Has Such a Boy?" It was written by Janet Fleishman, first published in 1933, and popularized by Herman Yablokoff. Although written by a known author, it is identified as a folk song on two records in my collection (one by Chava Alberstein) and has indeed become folklorized in the sense of existing in various versions. For example, the text printed by the Mloteks begins: "Fun dem himl tsugeshikt/A matone mir" while the version sung by the Polish singer Sl/awa Przybylska beings "Fun dem himl tsugeshikt/A zundele mir." Bob Rothstein ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.105