Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.246 December 23, 1994 1) Introduction (Jerry Gerger) 2) Tam yak tut (Jacob Feldman) 3) Zhe in the Slavic languages (Rick Turkel) 4) Zhe (Dovid Braun) 5) Bupkes (Dan Leeson) 6) The [RR] proposal (Moshe Waldoks) 7) Leo Fuld's language (Rick Gildemeister) 8) Yugntruf Aktivitetn (Ruvn Millman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Dec 1994 19:02:50 EST From: hrmv59a@prodigy.com Subject: Introduction My name is Gerald Gerger (Jerry). I live in the Detroit area which has a rich Yiddish history and I speak and understand what is called "Amerikanisher Yiddish". I am teaching myself to read and write the "Mameloshn" and have a fierce interest in biblical history. I am a pharmacist (own my own pharmacy) ,work 3-5 days a week (a total waste of time) and my wife is a social worker in private practice. Am looking forward to contributing "vos ikh ken" and taking "vos ikh darf". "Ich bin fir und zekhtsik". Jerry Gerger 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Dec 1994 11:51:15 -0800 From: feldman@math.berkeley.edu Subject: tam yak tut My mother would say, of a food which didn't taste good, "Es hot a tam yak tut". "Tam" means "taste" in Yiddish (from Hebrew, I suppose), but also "here" in Russian, while "tut" means "there" in Russian, so "es hot a tam yak tut" means, in Russian, "it has a here like there". I thought that was pretty cute, and wonder whether she made up this little bilingual play on words, or whether everyone's (Russian-Jewish) mother used it. Jack Feldman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Dec 94 15:14:12 EST From: rturkel@cas.org Subject: Zhe in the Slavic languages Ellen Prince inquired (mendele 4.245) about the provenance of zhe in the Slavic languages. I am far from a native speaker of any Slavic language, but I read them all (at least in chemistry) and speak some Russian and Serbo-Croatian. As far as I know, the Russian usage of zhe is pretty close to that in Yiddish. My Polish-English dictionary shows examples with imperative verbs but not with wh- words. It doesn't appear at all in any of my South-Slavic language dictionaries except Slovenian, which shows examples of its use as an emphatic in all sorts of situations. Rick Turkel 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Dec 1994 23:48:06 EST From: dovid@MIT.EDU Subject: Zhe Ellen Prince: Ellen, there's also _nit shoyn zhe_, which is reminiscent of Russian _ne uZe li_. But note that the Yiddish _zhe_ is not taken in toto from Slavic because the Slavic is _uZe_ 'already', corresponding to the Yiddish _shoyn (zhe)_. Dovid Braun 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Dec 1994 13:33:46 EST From: leeson@aspen.fhda.edu Subject: Bupkes I have always used the word "bupkes" to mean a thing of little value, as in "It is worth bupkes" meaning that the thing is worthless. Where does the word come from? Is there another meaning to it? And is there a defecatory connotation to the word (such as in reference to the childish phrase I would use, "Kuzze bupkes" meaning "Goat shit" although I have no idea if that was an invented meaning or if it really meant that. It is rather that everyone in the neighborhood used the phrase and I sort grew to understand that that is what it meant. No I am not at all sure. Dan Leeson 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 17 Dec 1994 14:53 EDT From: waldoks@binah.cc.brandeis.edu Subject: The [RR] proposal ersthens es ken gornisht shatn; zveytns mir haltn nisht az der ikker (hoybt) ersheinung fun yidish iz nor gefunen zvischn di bleter fun "College Yiddish". der glayche seychel vet uns ratevn fun "extremism" fun eyder zayt. mit kovid Moshe Waldoks 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 23 Dec 94 08:13:45 EST From: eeglc@cunyvm.bitnet Subject: Leo Fuld's language Now that we know where Fuld is probably from (Rotterdam) a number of things fall into place. When he sings "Oyf de-ne-sidenyu" several verses contain the Dutch future auxiliary, and the German-like "Zuk amol rebe". In German it would be "Sag mal ..." whereas in the klal-shprakh you'd probably say "zog-zhe nor, rebenyu". Also, his pronunciation of "Cohen" is Kouen, until he gets to the refrain,where he says the standard Arn ha-Koyen. An example of the future auxiliary is "Miryom hanevio zal fer uns tantsn". Altogether, I had a nice evening with Mr. Fuld yesterday, listening very carefully to all the songs on the two cassette tapes I have of his. Rick Gildemeister 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Dec 1994 23:52:31 GMT From: roland.millman@weiser.com Subject: Yugntruf Aktivitetn The Yugntruf activities sheet has just come out. I am sending you, with my humble apologies, only the english translation. *********** The Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center invites you to hear Moyshe Loyev do a reading of his musical comedy. _In Odessa, In the Middle of the Moldavanka._ Mr. Loyev was the director of the on-time Kiev Yiddish Theatre. This theatrical event will be held on Sun., Jan. 8, 1995, 1:00pm at 3301 Bainbridge Ave., Bronx. (Take the #4 train to Mosholu Pkway. or the D train to 205 St., and walk to Bainbridge Ave. and 208 St.) Refreshments will be served. Admission: free for students/Yugntruf members; others $2.50 *********** Our Yiddish Writer's Circle: Thurs., Jan. 12, 6:00pm in our main office. *********** Please join the Yugntruf Yiddish discussion circle as we deal with the topic, "Yiddish-speaking Arabs: Do Israeli Arabs and Jews Co-exist Peacefully?" Keith "Kalmen" Weiser and Eddie Portnoy will open the discussion by sharing their personal experiences. This will be held on Sun., Jan. 22, 2:00pm at Beit Efrayim, 535 W 112 St, between Amsterdam Ave and Broadway in Manhattan. (Take the #1 train or the M4/M104 bus to 110 Street and Broadway.) Refreshments will be served. RSVP by Fri., Jan. 20 to: Brukhe Lang, (212) 280-1168. Admission: Yugntruf members $2; non-members $3; all students $1. *********** Save this date: Sun., Feb. 5, 2:00pm for the second-time-ever meeting of Yugntruf's Yiddish Conversation Group for Beginners. Their first meeting, in Nov. 94 at Beit Efrayim, was very successful. *********** Save this date: Thurs., Feb. 16, 7:30pm at Columbia U., for a re-enactment of a Shtetl wedding. Wanted: Yugntruf members to speak Yiddish, possibly as unscripted shtetl role-players: khokhem, tam, rebe, yente, etc. Admission free. *********** F.Y.I.: There's a new off-Broadway musical revue entitled _Too Jewish?_ The show, with Avi Hoffman and Ben Schaechter, is basically in English, but there's a lot of Yiddish (sung and spoken) as well as Yinglish (material of Menashe Skulnik, Mickey Katz, other). See enclosed card for additional info. ********** F.Y.I.: Our Yiddish Reading Circle: every other Sun. night in Riverdale. For info: David Fishman 718-543-7605; Esther Meer 718-548-4487 Ruvn Millman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.246 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. 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