Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.248 December 25, 1994 1) Aphorisms (Aaron Hershkowitz) 2) Piptishklekh, gefonfet (Abe Bloom) 3) Khoge (Abe Bloom) 4) When Changing a Name is a "Zgule" (Zellig Bach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Dec 1994 12:03:53 -0500 (EST) From: ahershko@aecom.yu.edu Subject: Aphorisms I have always felt that aphorisms are the distilled wit and wisdom of a people. My interest, as a Social Psychologist, is not whether such gerneraliztion are true -- they are often wrong -- but in what they reveal about the concerns and interests of people in everyday life. Which brings me to the specific question: Are there any books or compendia of Yiddish aphorisms or adages. I should add, that it would be good if these were in English since my mama loshen is very rusty. To clarify my question a little, let me add that I am not talking about Biblical or Talmudic sayings; or the "wisdom of the Elders". I'm more concrned with the typical and topical adages of everyday life. For example, I remember an oft-quoted saying of my mother: "Az men shikt a kats for pitter (putter?) darf men essen triken brodt." I would be interested in derivations, variations, and exemplifications of such adages or aphorisms. Aaron Hershkowitz 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Dec 1994 15:37:48 -0500 From: abebloom@aol.com Subject: Piptishklekh, gefonfet Andrew Cassel hot geshriben in 247-9 di verter piptishklekh un gefonfet. Gefonfet is the same as "gebrumt" or in English, "muttered in his beard". The other word should be,I believe, piptshiklekh. That would be "lots of little dots". , The meaning would be a lotl of little nothings, or , in some cases a group of little kids. Abe Bloom 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Dec 1994 15:35:22 -0500 From: abebloom@aol.com Subject: Khoge Rick Gildemeister in 247-7 wrote, "vintsht mir ale a gute khoge". Ich farsthtey nit vus es iz a "khoge". Efsher iz es nit Yiddish? Oich, er shreibt, "vintsht". Ich bin hige geboren (the Bronx) un mein elteren kumen fun a shtetl leben Byalistock (Grajevo), uber mir flegen zuggen "vinsht". De zelbe shtetl flegt nit banutzen der lamed un flegt zugen verter azoy ---Lumzer - Wumzer. Abe Bloom 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Dec 1994 16:01:36 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: When Changing a Name is a "Zgule"... "Sgule" is a Hebrew word, pronouncesd in Yiddish zgule, and means remedy, solution. I wish to speak today about several such "remedial" solutions. There is a Hebrew saying "m'shane mokem, m'shane mazl" (when one changes his place of residence where he had bad luck, his luck will also change). Similarly, when a person is very ill and his imminent demise is feared, there is an orthodox tradition to change his name (often to Khayim, which means life, for a man; to Khaye, for a woman). Then, when the malkhamoves, the Angel of Death, checks his "calling" papers before knocking on the door (very polite, he), and says: "I came here for so-and-so (name)," he is told: "Sorry, there is no one here by this name, we have ---" (and he is told the *new* name. In a recent posting (4.224, p. 2) I mentioned the censorship of newspapers in Lithuania in the early and middle 1930's. Herewith some interesting details: On March 2, 1930, the daily Yiddish newspaper *Folksblat,* with which I later became associated as co-editor, was closed by the censors for ten days for some transgression against the regime. Since the order to close the paper referred by name solely to the _Folksblat_, it was legalistically interpreted to mean that it can be published by any *other* name. The publisher, di yidishe bildungs gezelshaft in lite (The Jewish Education Society in Lithuania) therefore continued to issue the paper each day under a *different* name, by the simple device of adding different adjectives to its name: Thus on March 3, 1930, the very day after the closing order, the closed _Folksblat_ became consecutively "idisher folksblat," "undzer folksblat," "kovner Folksblat," umophengiker, morgn, ekhter, umparteyisher, algemeyner, emeser, and, finally, "oyfrikhtiker Folksblat," a total of ten "new" names. On July 1934 the _Folksblat_ was closed again, this time for a period of three months. But the paper continued to be published, as before, under "different" names, one week, for example, it carried the name of the day, thus: erev-shabes blat, zuntik-blat, montik-, dinstik-, mitvokh-, donershtik-, fraytik-, and some other names "fun der haftoyre un fun der khad-gadye" (fictitious, unusual names). *) As we all know, censorship did not help tyrants and dictators to stay in power, and it too was, from a historical point of view, no more than a wishful _zgule_. Zellig Bach _________________ *) Haftoyre -- selection from the Prophets read after the weekly section from the toyre; Khad Gadye -- one kid (a tsigele), recited at the end of the Passover seyder service. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.248 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. 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