Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.180 April 5, 1998 1) Joe and Paul's glok, glock (Shleyme Axelrod) 2) introduction (Michael Simon) 3) Yom Tov Ehrlich (Marion Aptroot) 4) A question on transliteration of "evil eye" (Dan Leeson) 5) Gezamlter folklor (Feygl Infeld Glezer) 6) "grisheh" and transliterated dictionary (Freydl Cielak) 7) Survival of Yiddish (Morrie Feller) 8) Women/Ladies in American Yiddish (Sean Martin) 9) Indeks yidishe gezangen (Gilles Rozier) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 16:44:14 -0500 (EST) From: Seymour Axelrod Subject: Joe and Paul's glok, glock On Fred Sherman's query: I'm sure that what the speaker is saying on that old naughty Barton Brothers record is _globt mir_, 'believe me'. _globn_ appears to be a regional variant of _gloybn_ 'believe' (which Weinreich frowns upon, preferring _gleybn_ for the verb.) Another song of the Barton Brothers, "Cockeye Jenny", contains what in younger days I thought of as the funniest macaronic couplet imaginable. _Ire fislekh un ire zokn_, I tell you, people, it's no use talk'n'... Taste-shmaste. Shleyme Axelrod Buffalo, New York 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 13:37:00 -0000 From: "ms" Subject: introduction Hello I'm Michael Simon, living in London. I am a barrister (lawyer), a chazan and a chossid of the Bostoner Rebbe Shlita. My Yiddish is far from fluent, but I'm anxious to improve it all the time. Michael Simon 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 14:41:04 +0100 From: aptroot@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Marion Aptroot) Subject: Yom Tov Ehrlich Can anybody tell me where I can find information about Yom Tov Ehrlich? Marion Aptroot 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 10:15:19 EST From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@admin.fhda.edu" Subject: A question on transliteration of "evil eye" A short story I wrote is will appear as part of the Chicekn Soup series, or more specifically, "Jewish Chicken Soup for the Soul." Anyway, the story is about the proper ribbon color for use in eliminating the influence of a powerful but negative force; i.e., the evil eye. Now the story is in English but I want to use the Yiddish word for evil eye because the setting for the story is in a home for the Jewish aged. The question is how to spell it. Is it "ahara," "ahora," "ohara," etc.? Actually, it is not a question of spelling so much as it is a question of transliteration. So where else does go with a question like this? To Mendele, that's where. Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 19:37:51 -0500 From: yiddish1@juno.com (Feigl I Glaser) Subject: GEZAMLTER FOLKLOR Sof 1938 oder in der ershter helft fun 1939, bin ikh geven a shilern inem finftn klas fun der "Medem" Shul in Lodz. Eynmol, nokh dem vi unzer lererin Itke Lazar hot zikh umgekert fun a lerer konferents fun di TSISHO shuln (Tsentrale Yidishe Shul Organizatsye), hot zi forgeshlogn az mir zoln tsunoyfzamlen un shikn a farinteresirtn lerer in Varshe oyfgekhapte vitsn, kloles un shprikhvertlek. Mir hobn zikh dermit zeyer mekhaye geven un hartsik gelakht ven kinder hobn forgeleyent zeyer geklibenem material. Tsvey kloles, vos kinder hobn arayngebrakht in undzer shul, hobn zikh mir ayngekritst in zikorn, un ikh fil zikh tsu tayln mit aykh mit mayne derinerungen: 1) Zolst vern a lamterne. In ovnt zol men dikh tsindn, bay nakht zolstu brenen un in der fri zolstu oysgeyn. 2) Zolst krign holtserne fis, a glezernem boykh un a shtolenem kop. Az di fis veln dir brenen, zol der boykh dir platsn un der kop zol dir tsegeyn. Oyb ikh vel zikh lehabe mer dermonen funem gezamltn folklor, vel ikh es vider meldn . Un di groyse faynshmeker bet ikh nisht tsu hobn faribl far der "grobkayt" fun di gezamlte kloles in undzer Yidisher shul. Mit Vareme grusn, Feygl Infeld Glezer 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 01:48:47 -0600 From: arele@enter.net.mx (FRIDA Grapa de CIELAK) Subject: "GRISHEH" and transliterated dictionary 2 frages: 1) Kent ihr mihr zogn dem badayt fun vort: "GRISHEH"? 2) Ver ken mihr recomendirn a guter "Yiddish-English/English-Yiddish Dictionary only in Transliteration". Tzvishn dih 175 mitglider fun dem Yiddishn "Briv Fraynd" klub, zaynen doh etlekheh "oneybers" in yidish, velkheh viln shraybn, praktizirn un lernen yiddish, un zey viln shraybn briv tzuh zeyereh oysgeklibeneh nayeh fraynd, ober zey darfn sikh amol mithelfn un araynkukn in a verterbukh, fregn zey: "VELKHN? Hoht ihr efsher gehert fun dem Hippocrene Practical Dictionary fuhn David C. Gross? velkheh ihz ahyer meynung? 2 questions: 1) What can you, Mendelyaner, tell me about the the meaning of "grisheh"? 2) Who can suggest a good "Yiddish-English/English-Yiddish Dictionary only in Transliteration". Among the 175 members from my Yiddisher "Briv Fraynd"(Pen-Pals) club, there are some "beginners" in yidish, who want to write, practice and learn Yiddish, and they want to write letters to their selected new friends but they need to assist themselves sometimes and consult a dictionary, so they ask: "WHICH ?", Which "Yiddish-English/English-Yiddish Dictionary only in Transliteration" do you, Mendelyaners, recommend? Did you hear about the Hippocrene Practical Dictionary from David C. Gross? What do you think about it? I haven't had the opportunity to see it. Miht yiddisheh grusn(greetings) un mayneh besteh vuntshn(wishes) far ah freylekhn, koshern yom-tov Peysakh fahr ahykh ahleh Mendelyaner! Freydl Cielak, Mexico City 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 13:45:14 -1000 From: feller@indirect.com (Morris Feller) Subject: Survival of Yiddish Some time ago, when there was a spate of discussions on Mendele about the survival of Yiddish, I submitted a message which said that the Internet can function as the "gahs" which is referred to in the expression "ah loshn muz hobn ah gahs". This expression implies that this is a requirement for Yiddish to survive and thrive. I think I also pointed out that the surviving form of Yiddish may be different from what we were used to in the past. Now I would like to call attention to an article in the current, April, issue of the AARP Bulletin which describes the views of futurist Nicholas Negroponte who is the founder and director of the MIT Media Laboratory. In it he says that with the new technology everyone will be wired to everyone else. The new "smart" machines will change every aspect of our lives from the way we work to the way we communicate and relate to friends and loved ones. Let me quote: "Not just a revolution about receiving information differently, '[It's] really about how you are going to live,' Negroponte says. 'What is community? What is family? And what does it mean to be part of a community?' "The digital revolution is providing a new answer, he claims, pointing out that community today is defined less by physical proximity than by electronic proximity....'We're going to live much more connected lives'." It seems to me that the implications for strenghtening the future bonds of the Jewish community world wide are quite obvious. This same strengthening effect should also apply to the world of Yiddish and to the Yiddish language. It is interesting to note that on the World Wide Web, in the site entitled "Der Bavebter Yid", there is an editorial by Sholem Berger and Refoyl Finkel which expresses similar thoughts about cyberspace and our physical world. Let the debate continue! Morrie Feller Phoenix 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 22:32:29 -0500 (EST) From: Sean Andrew Martin Subject: Women/Ladies in American Yiddish A friend of mine is doing research on women in American Jewish organizations in the 1920s and 1930s. Her work necessarily includes Yiddish sources and she has come across something that sounds slightly strange, so she asked me to relay the following question to Mendele. Do you think it is odd that a Yiddish-speaking American socialist organization would use the English "ladies"? For example, "di froyen in dem leydis klub" -- please excuse the transliteration. Any comment on how Yiddish-speaking socialists used "damen", "froyen" and "ladies" in their Yiddish would be appreciated. Sean Martin 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 13:10:49 +0100 From: Bibliotheque Medem Subject: Indeks yidishe gezangen tayere mendelyaner, Mir, in der Parizer Medem-bibliotek, viln visn oyb es ekzistirt oyfn Internet a fuler indeks fun yidishe gezangen kedey tsu entfern oyf der frage fun undzere leyeners : "in velkhn gezangbukh gefint men dos lid xxx ?" Mir kenen shoyn di "Robert Friedman Yiddish Song Database" oyfn adres ober es git informatsyes vegn plites un tashmes, nit vegn bikher. Gilles Rozier ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.180 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html