Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.149 October 23, 1994 1) Mixed usage and mixed language (Mottel Lakin) 2) Frug's the author! (Dovid Braun) 3) Stanford University Jewish Studies Program (Dan Leeson) 4) Who wrote this song? (Kayle Goodman) 5) Re: Upcoming conference on Yiddish & Ashkenazic Studies (Rick Turkel) 6) A literarisher ovnt (Joshua Fishman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 15:05:15 -0400 (EDT) From: mlakin@acpub.duke.edu Subject: Mixed usage and mixed language How often I ask if anyone else is familiar with the expression "Hefker- Petrushkii" which literally means of course two things, a. Hefker, or abandoned, or upside down and b. Petrushkii, being Russian for Punch and Judy, the puppet clowns of internationally familiar favorite shows for fairs and the like. In my own family, the phrase was used to indicate states of "mixed upness" or utter confusion, but not without comic undertones. It maight be used to describe the state of affairs in someone's house the (mis)handling of affairs. It seems to be an example of accent or emphasis by the use of two languages, and to "strengthen the image" by use of the Russian. Incidentally, I have been relatively inactive as a Mendelnik owing to the difficulty of getting "into the system" because there are so many active users of internet and too few lines in my department. I hope that this will be remedied shortly. Tomer az nit, vos ken men ton? Mottel Lakin 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 17:41:56 EDT From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: Frug's the author! es shaynt di levone es glantsn di shtern etc. is from a poem by Shimen Frug. Sorry: no title, no book reference, page number at my fingertips at the moment (but I bet others will come up with those soon -- it's a well-known poem). What I _do_ have at hand (at head, more precisely, since it's committed to memory) is the parody version of the opening of the poem. Its value is of an entertainment nature AND of a dialectological one: two free tickets to the person who can determine the provenance of this ditty. es shaynt di levone es blishtshen di shtern ikh zits mir in gortn un rays mir a mern. zayts mir ale gezunt un shtark! Dovid Braun 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 16:04:32 EDT From: leeson@aspen.fhda.edu Subject: Stanford University Jewish Studies Program Not likely many of you can make it, but Stanford just announced the first annual lectures in Yiddish Studies. Professor Dan Miron, Professor of Jewish Literature at the Hebrew University, Columbia, and the Max Weinreich Center for Advanced Studies will deliver two talks, one in English and one in Yiddish on Nov. 2, and 3, respectively. The Nov. 2 talk will be on the subject "The Literary Image of the East European Shtetl: An Aesthetic Construct, A Historical Comment." The Nov. 3 talk will be "Is There a Unified Modern Jewish Literature?" Both talks will be given in the Tressider Union, the one of Nov. 2 at 8 pm in the Oak West Lounge, the one of Nov. 3 at 4 pm in the Cypress South Lounge. The lectures are free and open to the public. A reception will follow each lecture. For more information call (415)-723-7589. Dan Leeson 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 16:30:16 -0700 From: ac939@lafn.org Subject: Who wrote this song? Tayere fraynt. Ikh zukh a zemerl vos fayngt zikh on: Fun vanen kumt a yid Fun Kasrilivke Mer veys ikh nisht. Efsher kenen unzere mendelnikes aroyshelfn. Kayle Goodman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 23 Oct 94 02:00:03 EDT From: rturkel@cas.org Subject: Re: Upcoming conference on Yiddish & Ashkenazic Studies I'd like to hear from David Neal Miller as to whether or not any part of the Conference on Yiddish and Ashkenazic Studies will be open to the public. I know of quite a number of us here in Columbus, some of whom are even mendelniks, who might like to attend at least part of this conference as interested nonprofessionals. Rick Turkel 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 23 Oct 1994 12:52:39 -0400 (EDT) From: jfishman@aecom.yu.edu Subject: A literarisher ovnt Mendelenikes fun (oder fun nit vayt fun) der bronks zenen hartsik farbetn af an ovnt lekoved dem dershaynen fun a tsvey-shprakhikn (yidish-english) opklayb fun Rukhl Fishmans poezye. Der ovnt (eygntlekh, a nokhmitik) kumt for zuntik dem 20stn november, inem Sholem Aleichem Kultur-Tsenter, 3340 Bainbridge Avenue, Bronx, NY. Di program vet bashteyn fun forleynungen fun der dikhterns lider, say in original, say in eberzetsung. Men vet oykh zingen irs a lid tsu velkhn men hot ersht letstns tsugepast muzik. Doved Roskes vet referirn af der teme "Rukhl Fishmans poetisher gang" un ir bruder, Shikl Fishman, vet dertseyln zikhroynes vegn ir kindhayt. Di filadelfier geboyrene Rukhl Fishman hot bakumen di Manger premye in 1978, bloyz zeks yor far ir fritsaytikn toyt in elter fun bloyz 94 yor. Zi hot opgelebt 30 yor af a kibuts (Bet Alfa) in yisroel un hot ibergelozt an oytser mit lider mit vlekhe s'iz beferesh keday zikh tsu bakenen. Der nayer opklayb iz aroysgegebn gevorn durkh Wayne State University in der iberzetsung fun Seymour Levitan. Joshua Fishman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.149 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. 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