Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.200 December 24, 1995 1) Another Yiddish euphemism (Zellig Bach) 2) Hebrew fonts (David Sherman) 3) Yiddish in American film (Sore Benor) 4) Der tunkeler vegn nudnikes (Peter Kluehs) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 1995 17:35:59 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Another Yiddish euphemism I the old country every Jewish boy learned, even in his early infancy, that _shmaysn_ [to slap or lash] had a direct association with _hintn_ [Yiddish for buttocks], the fleshy lower backside, as the natural and unique "reserve" for shame and punishment for "unjewish" mischievous behavior. The Hebrew word used as a euphemism for "hintn" is tof-khes-sof (to'khes), meaning under, below. (The euphemism for men's underwear, specifically for _gatkes_ is "takhtoynim" from the same Hebrew root.] For other Yiddish euphemisms see the discussion about vulgarisms in _A Century of Yiddish in America: Yiddish and English_ by Sol Steinmetz, pp. 56-57; also my recent post 5.198,3. So far, "tokhes" or "tukhes" is not considered acceptable in polite society or family-oriented magazines or newspapers. At most, it would likely be treated in print as the famous /f/ word, that is by printing only the initial /t/, and for each consecutive letter a short dash or hyphen /- - - - -/. The French _derriere_ , however, is for some resaon found acceptable. Alan Dershowitz, the celebrated Harvard law professor, recently submitted a satirical sketch to the journal of the American Bar Association in which the Yiddish expression "tokhes afn tish" (literally, put your rear end on the table) appeared in a bit of dialogue. The editors of the journal objected to the expression and changed it. The expression "tokhes afn tish" is a frequently used phrase among card players when the game is for money, and simply means 'put your money on the table,' i.e. in the "bank." This word sometimes finds its way in a TV commercial (with a /k/ in place of the /kh/), as in a recent Whoopi Goldberg commercial for a telephone company ("I can sit on my tokis and do nothing to earn big savings"). The accepted substitute in English for "tokhes" has been _tushie_ or _tushy_, apparently formed, according to Steinmetz, on the basis of a baby-talk diminutive. This word was then shortened to "tush," as in Mel Brooks' classic movie "Blazing Saddles," where a women bar singer by the name (I believe) of Von Push, in a satirical spoof of a Marlene Dietrich seductive song, rhymed "push" with "tush." I heard about an advertisement in the New York subways where a physician by the name of "Dr. Tush" offered his services for size reduction or an otherwise surgical procedure thereabouts. And the _New York Times_ (12/17/95, p. 3), describing the white-gloved men on the subway platforms in Japan who push passengers into the already crowded cars and who are called in Japanese "shiri oshi," translated it as "tushy pushers". Is it possible that the expression "tokhes afn tish" in a card game is a vulgar but somewhat innovative, playful Yiddish translation of the English phrase "bare your assets," that is, show us your money and put it on the table, the word 'assets' here having a double entendre, and the phrase gained in popularity on account of its vulgarity and because some found it funny? Zellig Bach 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 95 18:53:29 EST From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: Hebrew fonts Zavi Beer asks [5.195] about Hebrew fonts for Mendele. It's fundamentally impossible without restricting access to Mendele to those who can support the relevant software. Not everyone can. For example, I usually read Mendele on a VT-100 compatible terminal (yes, a terminal, not a computer running software that makes it emulate a terminal). Non-ASCII text just won't work. Now, it's possible to convert YIVO transcription to Yiddish with reasonable accuracy (though the words from loshn-koydesh won't come out right). Refoyl Finkl developed the concept a long while back, and I wrote a "yiddish writer" stack for HyperCard on the Mac that does a nice job. (I did it for an article I had to write for _Yugntruf_ magazine.) I type in YIVO transcription, click a button, and my program converts it to Yiddish, using the Vilne font, in a separate field on the screen. Anyone who doesn't mind the text being slightly mangled (most specifically re the Hebrew-origin words) might run such a program on the transliterated portions of Mendele, if they wanted. (I'll be happy to send my HyperCard stack to anyone who wants it.) David Sherman Toronto 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 23 Dec 1995 22:11:50 -0500 (EST) From: seb28@columbia.edu Subject: Yiddish in American film To add to the discussion from a few weeks ago about American films that include Yiddish: Watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" last week, I was surprised to hear a bisl Yiddish. Willy Wonka (played by Billy Wilder) says a few lines in Yiddish, in addition to other languages. I wonder if the pygmy-like "Oompa-Loompa" characters are at all related to the Yiddish word "umgelumperte," which means awkward. Sore Benor New York 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 24 Dec 1995 14:01:00 +0200 From: pete@pko.rhein-main.de Subject: Der tunkeler vegn nudnikes [5] hot der balebos vider geshikt zayn diner: "gey zog dem nudnik, az ikh bin shoyn geshtorbn". iz der diner gekumen un gezogt az der nudnik hot gezogt, er iz zeyer tsebrokhn fun zayn toyt un az er vil kumen im opgebn dem letstn koved, opheybn im, onton im di takhrikhim un firn im tsu kvure. itst set ir shoyn, vi m'ken a sakh oyfton mit a nudnik! "276,891,367 terutsim" - hot gezogt, ikh gedenk nisht ver - "zaynen faran oyf poter tsu vern fun a nudnik, nor keyn eyner fun zey toyg nisht". ikh ken a yidn, vos az er flegt geyn fun shvitsbod un emetser flegt im bagegenen un zogn: "tsu refue!", flegt der yid entfern: "geyt tsu ale rukhes"... far vos hot der yid azoy brutal geentfert oyf a vuntsh? gants poshet: der yid hot moyre gehat fun nudnikes. hot er moyre gehat, az oyb er vet entfern "a dank", vet yener glaykh onheybn fregn: "tsi iz geven a gute bod?" oder "tsi zaynen dort a sakh mentshn?" un "tsi iz faran pare?", un "tsi iz do genug vaser?" oder "tsi ken men dort shteln gehakte bankes?" un "tsi iz faran genug ort tsu prudzhen di zakhn?", un azoy vayter un azoy vayter. derfar flegt er azoy sharf un grob opentfern. nor oyb ir meynt, az dos hot geholfn, hot ir aykh a toes. nokh a yid hot gehat a teve, az beshas er flegt forn in ban un tsu im flegt zikh tsuzetsn a parshoyn un fregn: "vuhin fort a yid?", flegt der yid im opentfern raptem, in eyn otem: "ikh for keyn lekhevitsh, un forn for ikh fun baranovitsh, durkh keydenov, aleyn bin ikh fun kobrin; ikh hob a vayb mit 7 kinder, dray yingelekh un 4 meydlekh, shteyen nokh nisht in shidukhim; ikh for gesheftlekh, ikh hob a krom fun shnit-skhoyre; nat aykh a papiros un geyt gezunterheyt". meynt ir, az dos hot geholfn? hot ir vider a toes. peter kluehs wehrheim, germany ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.200