______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.269 March 9, 1994 1) From the shames (Noyekh Miller) 2) More on tumtum (Bob Werman) 3) No more Klez Kamp (Elia Novick) 4) Sports terminology -- Nisht Yoysherdik! (Meyer David) 5) The name for 'Yiddish' (Arnold Kuzmack) 6) Introduction (Louis Fridhandler) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Mar 9 1994 From: nmiller@dot.trincoll.edu Subject: From the shames Someone will yet write "Motel-room Editing for Fun and Profit". Beats shuffleboard: vegn dem iz opgeredt. So a hartsikn dank to the many subscribers whose contributions during the past few weeks prevented me from becoming just another graybeard-in-the-sun. The shameste's resigned comment: "I thought they said that Yiddish was dead". Nu, meyle. But we've fallen far behind, thanks to an unprecedented number of posts. I will try to get everything out as quickly as possible so that we can return to the policy of next-day delivery (or better). I appreciate also the effort that almost everyone has made to remember the Subject: line and signature. It may seem petty to some to insist on such things but for the editor to devise them has in the past led to dissatisfaction and complaints. Polite notes have helped in some cases, not in others. Let this message serve as an explanation as to why some posts have not been, and will not be, redistributed. A final favor. It would help a great deal, especially if our volume of mail is to increase (we're almost at 400 subscribers!), to establish the optimum size of a Mendele number. Up until now it's been between 5-7 kb. and with no more than 5 or 6 messages. Is that about right? Should/could it be twice as long? Or should we get rid of the "digest" format altogether and have each post appear as a separate piece of mail? The shames in a previous incarnation used to construct questionnaires; now by way of atonement he will forgo that route and simply ask that you write to him at nmiller@dot.trincoll.edu (_not_ to Mendele). A sheynem dank aykh alle. Noyekh 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 5 17:06:32 1994 From: RWERMAN%HUJIVMS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: More on tumtum The concept of tumtum is developed in the Talmud and in other rabbinic literature and refers to a sexually undeveloped individual and is differentiated by the Rabbis from a hermaphradite, an individual with organs representing both sexes [androginus]. The word is probably derived from tet-mem-mem, meaning hidden. A folk derivation is from tet-mem-aleph, or impure. See TB Yevamot 99b and TB Baba Batra 140b. __Bob Werman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 5 18:14:30 1994 From: Subject: Re: No More Klez Kamp I recently heard that YIVO will no longer be offering Klez Kamp. Does anyone know why? Is it possible than another organization could take over the job of organizing Klez Kamp? Elia Novick 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 5 23:50:02 1994 From: mhd@world.std.com (Mark H David) Subject: Sports terminology -- Nisht Yoysherdik! I vote for "Nisht Yoysherdik!" as the Yiddish sports term I'd like to see. You'd use it in place of our English expression, "No Fair!", e.g., after a perceived bad call by the referee. It helps that it couldn't be confused with German when printed in transliteration. Meyer David 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Mar 6 11:40:49 1994 From: Subject: Re: The name for 'Yiddish' I've missed the recent discussion, so I apologize if this goes over old ground. I agree that the name 'Yiddish' works in English to refer to the language, although I recall my grandfather's friends saying things like 'How do you say X in Jewish?' I do find a problem in Yiddish, howver, in distinguishing between an adjective referring to the language and to Jewish matters in general. For example, the Yiddish name of Prof. Gershon Winer's organization is 'Fundatsie far yidish limudim', presumably because 'yidishe limudim' would refer to the full range of Jewish studies. On the other hand, it violates the rules about adjective endings. Or is it a noun in apposition? Arnold Kuzmack 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Mar 6 12:51:00 1994 From: Louis Fridhandler <74064.1661@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Introduction I'm Louis (Lou) Fridhandler. Retired professor U.C.I. I am a researcher: before retirement, biochemistry; since retirement: Sholem Aleichem's life, works, times, milieu, associates, sources of his ideas, etc. Found some works unknown to today's Yiddish readers. Translated a number. Published some. I live in California's Orange County which is not fertile ground for a Yiddishist. I only just learned about MENDELE, and it seems to offer a source of info and stimulation. I want to learn more. Louis Fridhandler. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.269 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Mendele: Yiddish literature and language