Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.161 November 2, 1994 1) Introduction (Paula Parsky) 2) Only in my family: scrotum (Shleyme Axelrod) 3) Psychoanalytical readings (Kathryn Hellerstein) 4) Yidish teatr (Dvorah Halperin Biasca) 5) A convention (Sarah Moskowitz) 6) A convention (Kayle Goodman) 7) Scribble & oysgetrakhte verter (David Sherman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 14:48:44 -0500 From: pparsky@k12.ucs.umass.edu Subject: Introduction Sholem aleykhem. I'm Frayde. I live in Western MA. I teach English to aliens now, but for years, I was a student of Yiddish literature and Jewish history (and still am). I also translate Yiddish and have been singing in a Yiddish band in the area. Ikh gris alemen gor frayndlekh! Paula Parsky 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 1994 13:32:58 -0500 (EST) From: ptyaxel@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: Only in my family: scrotum Far "scrotum" in mayn litvakisher mispokhe mit a zekhtsik yor tsurik in Bruklin hot men gezogt /meki/ oder /mekele/--at least, in referring to a young boy's scrotum. Is this term known to anyone else? Mordkhe Schaechter's _Pregnancy, Childbirth and Early Childhood: An English-Yiddish Dictionary_ gives only /der kis/ (with a kof), as does U. Weinreich; and /dos kisele/. Shleyme Axelrod 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 1994 15:32:16 -0500 (EST) From: khellers@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Psychoanalytical readings of Yiddish literature and authors I recommend Janet Hadda's book, Passionate Women, Passive Men: Suicide in Yiddish Literature (not the exact title, but close enought). Pub. in 1990 or 1991 by SUNY Press. Also, her article on Celia Dropkin's poetry in a biographical/ psychoanalytical context, in Gender and Text in Modern Jewish Literature (ed. Naomi Sokoloff, et al.) 1992. zayt mir gezunt, Kathryn Hellerstein 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 1994 20:07:01 -0700 (MST) From: biasca@horton.colorado.edu Subject: Yidish teatr Undzer Vinkl volt makhn a shpil--I recently was fortunate enough to see the Am. Theatre of the Deaf's production of An Italian Straw Hat, which was artfully performed in simultaneous English and American Sign Language (don't miss the opportunity to see them if it comes your way!). I was wondering if any group has performed simultaneous Yiddish/English drama and, if so, how it worked out. A groysn dank. (You can respond to me personally if you wish). Dvorah Halperin Biasca 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 1994 19:29:57 +0800 (PST) From: hcedu012@huey.csun.edu Subject: A convention Regarding Zellig Bach's call for a convention. My granddaughter Ariella and I think it's a terrific idea. However, you assume that N.Y. City is automatically the chosen place!!! We on the west coast of Los Angeles would prefer a more central location if possible. Sarah Moskovitz 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 1994 22:18:19 -0800 From: ac939@lafn.org Subject: A convention Zelig Bach's commentary re a mendele convention sounds great. However after he mentioned the location (city) it seems as though he takes it for granted that the location would be NYC. He spoke of visits to the Forward, YIVO, Brooklyn, etc. I just had the privilege of going to the conference in Toronto and would love to see another Yiddish convention on the west coast. I live in Los Angeles and believe it or not, we do have quite a bit of history in the southwest. I certainly have no objection to NYC. It just gets a bit expensive to go east anytime anything of value takes place. I'd like to hear what other mendelniks think. A gutn ovent. Kayle Goodman 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Nov 94 3:16:36 EST From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: scribble & oysgetrakhte verter Dovid Braun writes: > Mazhgen 'to scribble, scrawl'. Synonymous with Yiddish _patshken_. Hmm. We use "risiven" for scribble (such as in a colouring book). Anyone else use that? > p.s. There are no oysgetrakhte verter. Words get reanalyzed, reshaped, > recycled, etc. I've heard tons of "only-my-family-says-this" with > regard to Yiddish words or phrases and it never turns out to be true (at > least in my experience). For Yiddish traced back to Europe, that may be true. But we definitely have some oysgetrakhte verter in our family. After a while they become normal parts of our family vocabulary and we don't notice them, until an outside Yiddish speaker hears us and bursts out laughing. E.g., salat-ontuekhts for salad dressing. (That's been standardized; we pronounce it salat-utiyekhts.) (A bit of background for those relatively new on the list: we live in Toronto and have 4 young kids, to whom we speak only Yiddish and who we don't allow to speak English to us or each other. I spoke no Yiddish as a child; my wife Simone grew up with it, and we still use it with her parents, who are Holocaust survivors in their 70's who also live in Toronto. Our kids are now 10, 8, 5 and 3 and all totally fluent in Yiddish. Since their circle of Yiddish-speaking acquaintances is perforce limited, their version of Yiddish is basically what they get from us, and to some extent from their bubby & zaidy.) David Sherman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.161 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. 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