[This is a re-issue of Vol4.312. There was an unfortunate transmission error in the original number and some of Louis Fridhandler's post was lost. Since all issues are proof-read several times before being launched, it's a mystery. Those who save Mendele should delete the defective file and replace it with this one. Apologies to one and all, especially to L.F. whose fine post was marred. nm] Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.312 February 2, 1995 1) Shalatn-shames and other insults (Eliyahu Juni) 2) Shoyte ben Pikholts (Sam Juni) 3) Yiddish in Newsweek article (Itsik Payne) 4) Name pairings (Harvey Spiro) 5) Sholem-Aleykhem's "Zhargon" passion (Louis Fridhandler) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 00:52:27 -0500 From: ao107@freenet.carleton.ca Subject: Shalatn-shames and other insults Sam Juni (my uncle) asked about the etymology of 'shalatn-shames'; Mikhl Herzog suggested it is a shames who takes the initiative, who doesn't wait to be told. If he is right, then a shaltn-shames is better than stam a shames, and gor a fayner mentsh. However, my grandmother, who is my source for the term (and my uncle's,) used it in a clearly derogatory way; it was in a context which made it sound like a shalatn-shames is even less important and more to be ridiculed than a regular shames. (She had just referred to someone derisively as a shames, then said something to the effect that he's not even a real shames, he's just a shalatn-shames.) She compared 'shalatn-shames' to 'shik-yingl' (a child sent on errands,) which she had previously used to refer to the same adult of whom she is not exactly fond. On to bigger and better things: My grandmother's reaction to this person has provided me with a beautiful sampling of (Carpathian) Yiddish insults, some of which are puzzling me. I wonder if any Mendelyaner know anything about: a) 'shoyte ben pikholts' [pronounced pickholts] (I know what a shoyte is. I assume pikholts is a type of holts [wood], but have no idea which type, and I'm not exactly sure what the compound insult means either.) b) 'Udem a mentsh, katshke draydokh': Adam a person, duck turn yourself (I think that in some dialects 'draydokh' should be drayzikh'.) My grandmother used it in reference to someone's acting very self- important, but isn't sure what it means. She said it as a sentence by itself, almost as an aphorism. Is anyone else familiar with these insults? Does anyone know what they mean and where they're from? A shaynem dank. Eliyahu Juni 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 01 Feb 95 11:41:34 EST From: juni%snybksac.bitnet@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Subject: Shoyte ben Pikholts There is a Yiddish expression which I localize to Mukacevo (Munkatch) in the Carpathian mountains, which impugns the sophistication of an individ- ual by referring to him as "Shoyte ben Pikholts." Shoyte is the Hebrew for idiot. Pikholts beats me. It might refer to a toothpick, perhaps? Anyone know more about this? Mother will bless you. Sam Juni 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 23:19:25 -0500 (EST) From: jmpayne@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Yiddish in Newsweek article There's an interesting article in the new issue of Newsweek about the resurgence of Judaism in east and central Europe. The article, while inspiring a good deal of cautious optimism, offers the following claim: "The Yiddish language is becoming as inaccessible as Welsh or Aramaic." Leaving aside the inaccuracy of this regarding Welsh, it seems to me that we have much to do to correct this assumption. If the amount of students in college Yiddish classes here at Ohio State are indicative of others around the globe, then Yiddish would seem to be quite healthy and getting even better. Perhaps the Mendelniks should rise en masse and answer Newsweek's claim. Jason (Itsik) Payne 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Feb 2 10:08:31 1995 From: hjs@nrc.gov Subject: Name pairings (Itzik/Yitskhak) No discussion of name pairing should be without mention of Sholem Aleikhem's wonderful short story, Fun'm Priziv (From the Draft Board), found in his collection of Ayzenban Geshikhtes. It is also available in an excellent and faithful English translation as "The Automatic Exemption" in Hillel Halkin's "Tevye the Dairyman/Railroad Stories" by Schocken Books, 1987. The story revolves around a man's two similarly-named sons and his dealings with the Russian draft board. His first son, Ayzik, died as a very small child; his other son was named Itzik (presumably, but not explicitly, named after the first child who died). To call it a case of mistaken identity is to miss the flavor of the narrative entirely. A great vignette even in translation, but delightful in the original. Here are some excerpts. The father explains the source of the confusion: Heysn heyst er Itzik, dos heyst Avrom-Yitskhak, nor rufn ruft men im Alter.... Mir hobn gehat, a khuts im, nokh a yungl hobn mir gehat ... er hot geheysn Ayzik hot er geheysn. (He was called Itzik, that is Avrom-Yitzkhak, but he actually was called Alter.... We had had, in addition to him, another child ... his name was Ayzik.) The father tries to explain the confusion to the last in a series of lawyers: "Ikh hob nor moyre," zog ikh, "ayoy vi me zukht itster Ayzikn, un Ayzik is nito, un azoy vi Alter, Itsik heyst es, shteyt farshribn Avrom-Yitskhak, un Yitskhak - - azoy zogt der Rabiner unzerer der lekish -- iz Isak, un Isak iz Ayzak, un Ayzak iz Ayzik, kon men kholile zogn oyf mayn Itzikn, oder Avrom-Yitskhakn, Altern heyst dos, az er iz dos der Ayzik." ("I'm just worried," I say, "since they're now looking for Ayzik, and Ayzik is gone, and since Alter (that is, Itzik) is written down as Avrom-Yitskhak, and Yitskhak -- according to our dolt of a Government Rabbi -- is Isaak, and Isaak is Ayzak, and Ayzak is Ayzik, one might (God forbid) say about my Itzik, or Avrom-Yitskhak (that is, Alter), that he is the very Ayzik they seek." Harvey Spiro Vienna, Virginia 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 02 Feb 95 12:13:47 EST From: 74064.1661@compuserve.com Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's "Zhargon" passion Toward the end of 1887 the 28-year-old Sholem-Aleykhem wrote to Ravnitski about his active participation in Dos Yidishe Folksblat. From the context I must infer that the letter was basically in Yiddish, but Sholem-Aleykhem inserts a sentence in Russian and French, "Zhargon, this is my passion..., my idee fixe! He then continues to say, "Dertsu is do a _Hoyzfraynd_, mit a _Familienfraynd_ [Yiddish publication outlets], mit a liber fraynd, mit a rukh veyst vos far a fraynd, velkhn ikh hob tsugezogt mithelfn, den vort darf men haltn. He goes on: [Now I'll try a suggestion from Zellig Bach. Good idea. Thanks Zellig. He thought it would be useful to place Yiddish and its English translation side by side on the screen. If it survives transmission through cyberspace, it will be only with a non-proportional font, and if the margins are not changed, or are wide enough on recipient screens.] Ikh bin, kholile, keynem nisht I have not sold out to anyone, farkoyft, keyner kon mir keyn God forbid; no one holds sway deye nisht zogn, nor mayn over me, but my love for libshaft tsu Zhargon iz bay Zhargon exerts over me an mir fil elter fun a har un fun authority superior to a lord an odon, derum [daytshmerish or master, and therefore I am therefore?] bin ikh gotov ready to help out each and [Russian ready?] yedn, yedn everyone. Whenever I hear two mithelfn. Her ikh tsvey yidn, Jewish men or women speaking tvey vayber redn Zhargon, bin Zhargon, here I am, on the spot! ikh do; Rabinovitsh iz mer Rabinovitch is more "Sholem-Aleykhem" vi "Sholem-Aleykhem" than Rabinovitsh; Solomon Rabinovitch. For 4 hours a Rabinovitsh iz 4 sho af der day, Solomon Rabinovitch at birzhe a makher, a dreyer, a the stock market is a big shtikl toyz borekh hashem; nor wheel, a deal-maker, a bit of fun zeyger finef baytog biz 3, an ace, thank God, but from 5 4 in der nakht bin ikh in the afternoon until 3 or 4 "Sholem-Aleykhem." Yetst in the middle of the night I shrayb ikh 2 romanen, 1 am Sholem-Aleykhem. At the ertseylung, 1 felieton, 1 moment I am writing 2 novels, komedie, 3 laytartikl, 1 1 yarn, 1 feuilleton, 1 kritishe etyud un epes nokh. comedy, 3 editorials, 1 Un leyzer darf men nisht? critical study and something else. And don't we need readers? Sholem-Aleykhem's style changed in later years when he rigorously tried to exclude words that were strictly German or Russian from his Yiddish. Letter cited in _Di Ershte Yorn Fun Mayn Bakantshaft Mit Sholem-Aleykhem_ by J.H. Ravnitski, in _Tsum Ondenk Fun Sholem-Aleykhem_, ed. I. Zinberg and Sh. Niger, Petrograd: 1917, pp. 46-47. Louis Fridhandler, Irvine, CA. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.312 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. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu