Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 224 April 23, 1992 1) Some notes (Dovid Braun) 2) Yok (howard Isaac Aronson) 3) (Op)gefrishte matse (Mikhl Herzog) 4) A bisl Frantsoyzish (Moishe-Nussn Eytan) 5) Introduction (Allon Percus) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 21:11:07 -0400 From: David Braun Subject: some notes Thanks, Knud Lambrecht, for making the correction about quantity of the unit -- it's exactly the self-correction I planned to make after reading my own blurb. The editor of _Afn shvel_ is not Mordkhe Spektor. It is Mordkhe Schaechter, im tsu lange yor. Spektor was a famous Yiddish writer of some one hundred years ago. A charming mistake, though. [Gevald, nokh a mol gezindikt!] Yeah, I know of a Yiddish organization worth supporting: Yugntruf - Youth for Yiddish. It's a Yiddish student organization with a quarterly magazine, branches on a number of campuses (Columbia, Penn, Austin, Stanford) and in a number of cities. Provides info and material for Yiddish students at all levels, as well as activities at which Yiddish-speaking or -studying young people can get together and socialize af mame-loshn. Its office is the same as that of the League for Yiddish, but the organizations are different (i.e., don't send a subscription/order form or check to one when you really mean the other). The address: Yugntruf - Youth for Yiddish 200 West 72 St. Suite #40 New York, NY 10023 (212) 787-6675 Do you know any Yiddish-speaking or -studying young people? Parents who are raising their kids in Yiddish? Send Yugntruf your/their address and the office will send you/them information. I am "slightly" involved as a co-chairperson of the organization and co-editor of the magazine. Questions can be directed to me as well: braund@linc.cis.upenn.edu I'll announce to Mendele the annual Yugntruf conference tomorrow, bli-neyder, as soon as I have the info. in front of me. Dovid Braun 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 23:12:06 CDT From: howard isaac aronson Subject: Yok Yok is, it seems to me, clearly, goy "spelled backwards" with the Southern Yiddish devoicing of final /g/ to /k/. A similar phenomenon, lehavdl, existed in Chicago when I was much younger: the term "wedge" was an in-term for Jew (i.e., Jew "spelled backwards'). Howie Aronson Univ. of Chicago 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 92 00:27 EDT From: ZOGUR%CUVMB.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.223 Opgefrishte broyt (i.e., "freshened" bread) is the only Yiddish word I know for "toast". Does that cast any light on the subject of "(op)gefrishte matse"? Mikhl. 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 92 10:17:34 +0100 From: me@SUZUKA.U-STRASBG.FR Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.222 Knud, I agree with most of what you say about 'bis', although I am just a plain yid and not a savant linguist. The point I would like to make as a (non-native) speaker of French is that you would say NEITHER 'un morceau de chocolat' NOR 'deux morceaux de ...' but 'une bouchee de chocolat' or ..., since 'un morceau' is just a piece, whereas 'une bouchee' is a piece that is in your mouth. More generally in French the 'bis' is said in a way that depends on *what* you 'bays'. E.g. you would say 'une cuilleree de confiture' or 'une gorgee de the' or 'un brin d'herbe' (latter two not exactly a 'bis'). Furthermore the notion of 'mass noun' is not exactly the same as in Englis. But "dayenu", as one said a few days ago. ==m-n 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 19:46:58 -0400 From: percus@husc.harvard.edu Subject: Introduction I am an undergraduate student (in physics) at Harvard University and Yiddish is one of my side interests. (Although as a gute yid I can more or less understand the language I'm afraid I can't write or speak it with any competence..) Regards, Allon ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.224 Submissions: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu Business: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.