Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 120 December 10, 1992 1) Goy, sheygetz, etc. (Debra Halperin Biasca) 2) Oi/u/i vowel shift (Payrets Mett) 3) Sneezing and an introduction (Harriet Joseph Ottenheimer) 4) Tsatske (Bob Werman) 5) Tsatskes/tchatchkes (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 09 Dec 1992 10:57:37 -0700 (MST) From: DEBRA HALPERIN BIASCA Subject: Goy, sheygetz, etc. To Ellen Prince, et ux: If the term hurts, it must be pejorative. I agree with Paul Weixsel (even tho I have probably not spelled his name correctly!) I note an excerpt from a local synagogue bulletin, quoting the "Bulletin" of Congr. Agudas Israel in Saskatoon, a piece written by a female convert to Judaism. After noting and acknowledging her acceptance by most Jews, she says: What I do not appreciate and do not understand are overtures of acceptance of Jews by choice that lack integrity. I don't like to be told, on the one hand, that I am as accepted in the Jewish community as any other member and then, on the other hand, to hear the same person make unnecessary remarks comparing a "real " Jew and a convert. ___I find words like "goyim" and "shiksa" in the context in which I have heard them as offensive as the word " "Jew" when used as a verb. I have family and friends who are gentiles." Noting, for you Ellen, how much controversy this subject has invited on Mendele, and the comparison with the controversy over use of the word "Jew" unmodified on the Linguist List, I think pejorative is as much perception as it is production. Debra Halperin Biasca 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1992 12:52:40 +0000 From: P.Mett@open.ac.uk Subject: oi/u/i vowel shift Mikhl (?pronounced Mekhl) Herzog suggests a double vowel shift bsoiro -> psure -> psire. Another example is the mesechta of gmore called yoma in Hebrew and yume/yeeme in Yiddish. Might it not be more easily explained by observing that the Hebrew spelling -- beys, seen, vov, reysh, hey -- automatically invites the yiddish pronunciation psure/psire? Payrets Mett 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Dec 92 08:03 CST From: Harriet Ottenheimer Subject: Sneezing and an introduction It's difficult to imagine why sneezes seem to go uncommented-on here in the midwest unless you consider the fact that the region (especially Kansas and Missouri and Nebraska) was "host" to a rather large influx of German immigrants in the 1800s. For a time there were German-speaking churches and schools and German newspapers. All of this changed rather dramatically after the turn of the century in response to Nativist initiatives (such as the "English-only" laws in Nebraska (1911, I think) and of course the anti-German sentiment associated with WWI and WWII. Most German Americans in the region went out of their way to assimilate and I would imagine that giving up such German-sounding words as "gesundheit" would have been an element of this effort. Of course this doesn't explain why there was no substitution of English equivalents, but it's a start. By the way, I was at a meeting the other night and someone sneezed and I said "Bless you" (figuring noone would appreciate tsu gezunt) and everyone looked at ME! Oh, well. Gotta test the situation every so often. Oh, yes. I never introduced myself. I'm here at Kansas State University (have been for 22 years) teaching Anthropology and (for the past five years) directing an interdisciplinary American Ethnic Studies Program. I grew up in Brooklyn and although I was one of those "good kids" who never learned Yiddish because it was my parents' "secret" language, I know some of the more commonly used words and phrases. I still sometimes feel like an "other" here in the midwest and I find reading Mendele quite comforting. Harriet Joseph Ottenheimer 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Dec 92 10:06 +0200 From: RWERMAN%HUJIVMS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: Re: tsatske I am reminded of a minor scandal in one of Israel's recent elections, 1981 I think. A famous [Ashkenazi] comedian here, at a large election rally for Labor held in Tel Aviv, referred to the supporters of Likud as tshak-tshakim. This slang expression implies non-intellectuality, vulgarity and bad taste. It was immediately taken up as a rallying cry by Likud supporters and may have been a factor in their victory. I wonder if the expression is derived from the Yiddish tsatske. __Bob Werman rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Dec 92 12:52:57 EST From: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Subject: Tsatskes/tchatchkes Since I'm not a linguist but plenty of Mendele's readers are, I hope that there is enough in what follows to merit the attention of those who know something. "Tsatske" (which appears to be the same as the Polish "cacko") is defined by Harkavy and Weinreich as a trinket, bauble, plaything, toy. As for "tchatchke", Harkavy simply treats it as a variant spelling of "tsatske" and Weinreich lists it but treats it as having the same meaning. Thus it would seem that whatever differences the two words may now have are of fairly recent origin. Maybe American? Is it possible that "tchatchke" was once simply the result of American difficulty in pronouncing the initial ts? If that fails I have another theory. In the 1930's my mother gave up going to the Yiddish theatre in favor of the movies. The major reason was I think that the movie houses gave out dishes. So, whereas in the theatre days she would come home with reviews that ranged from "shmate" through "als heyst a shmate" to "shmate sh'b'shmate", her movie reviews ranged from "a groys teler" (pretty good film), through a "tchoshke" (so-so) to "a kleyn telerl" (terrible). But what's a "tchoshke"? It's Russian for cup and is used by some but not all Yiddish-speakers. Weinreich that Litvak doesn't even list "tchoshke" but gives "shelekhl" instead. [To confound the confusion, those who say "tchoshke" use "sholekhl" to mean _saucer_. And where one places a "shelekhl" on a "tetsl", "tchoshke" users think that a "tetsl" is a tray. Gevald, Mikhl, roteve!] [You want even more confusion? Would you believe that the Polish word for saucer is..spodek? So if I were to suggest a connection with Spode you have even more reason to groan that Noyekh dreyt (oder dilt) a spodek.] Back to business. Is it possible that those for whom "tchoshke" was an unfamiliar word might have altered its pronunciation and given it new meaning? Noyekh ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.120