Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.204 December 29, 1995 1) Tokhes afn tish (Mendy Fliegler) 2) Tokhes afn tish (Jascha Kessler) 3) Take a nudnik (Mendy Fliegler) 4) Is Yiddish dying? (Dan Leeson) 5) Holy fool (Ariela Krasney) 6) K rations (Zellig Bach) 7) An invitation (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Dec 1995 23:24:44 -0500 (EST) From: efliegle@capaccess.org Subject: Tokhes afn tish Ikh hob moyre az unser Zelig hot fargesn an anderer taytsh vi men zugt 'tukhes oyfn tish', meynt men take epes 'paskutzve', un es past nisht es tzu shraybn du oyf Mendele.... Mendy Fliegler 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 17:30:47 +0000 From: jkessler@ucla.edu Subject: Tokhes afn tish One will find in Partridge's dictionary of slang for the 19th Century, a Victorian term, "aftish," which denoted being open, frank, and dealing cleary, from tokhes afen tisch, or your cards face up, or better yet, perhaps, what we might have thought of as baring the breast to the attacker, or neck on the block, or laying the wager, life and death, brought down, No more evasive indirections. The PlainDealer, in short. Actually, I should have said more clearly, Aftish means no more bluffing. So, when the t is on the table, bluffings tops, and serious calling of wagers commences. Adapted to other forms of business behavior in mid 19th century by "aftish." I like "aftish," to denote an attitude, but no one uses it today, I guess, not even in the UK. Jascha Kessler 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1995 08:55:10 -0500 (EST) From: efliegle@capaccess.org Subject: Take a nudnik(?) Efsher ken mir eymitster zugn vi azoy khaver kluehs iz gevorn aza meyvn oyf 'nudnikes'? Khuts deym, farvus a tunkler, un nisht a vayser? Mendy Fliegler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 04:51:45 EST From: leeson@aspen.fhda.edu Subject: Is Yiddish dying? The following opinion on Yiddish from one Stan Goodman, a resident of Qiryat Tiv'on in Israel, appeared on the Jewish Genealogy bulletin board and I thought that it might be worth while for me to post it on Mendele with the explicit purpose of gathering reactions to Goodman's view (if any) and then posting them en masse back onto the Jewish Genealogy board. Here is Mr. Goodman's opinion on Yiddish. You are correct, of course, when you speak of the development of such languages as English and Italian from predecessor tongues (an even better example would have been Maltese). The difference is that English and Italian are dynamically growing languages; they are still organic and successful; they have a public, independent of nostalgia. Yiddish, for reasons that are no doubt regrettable, is not; it is contracting, and will die in the not too distant future for want of speakers. It is already possible to say that the survival of Yiddish is artificial, rather than organic: I do not know of any population large or small, anywhere in the world, in which Yiddish is spoken as a first language -- except for the rather pathetic groups in i.e. Jerusalem and Bnei Braq (and Brooklyn, I understand), who demonstrate in every possible way their attachment to Jewish life in 16th-century Poland. Consider the other argument that is now raging in this newsgroup, that concerning whether Yiddish even has a word for 'disappoint', or whether one has to use the local vernacular, because 'enttaeuschen' is German and not Yiddish at all. Think about it and what it means for the seriousness of Yiddish as a living language. I don't need to." Comments anyone? Dan Leeson Los Altos, California 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 10:18:10 +0200 From: keli@techunix.technion.ac.il Subject: Holy fool Ramona Koval asked [5.196] about a jewish jester. I think that the badkhen who performs at Jewish weddings is very fitting the characterizations she mentioned. My PhD dissertation :"Badkhonim Lider vi a Genre in der Yiddisher Folkstimlekher Literatur". Heading in English: "Badkhonim Songs as a Literary Genre in Jewish Popular Literature", deals with this subject. I'll willingly answer any further questions. Ariela Krasney 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1995 22:21:37 -0500 From: Zellig@aol.com Subject: Why the "K" Rations in Israel's Army are a m'khaye... American G.I's are known to gripe at every opportune occasion about the "K" rations. But not in the Israeli Army. The reason: The "K" rations there are the culinary Yiddish offerings consisting of: Ka'she, ka'she varnishkes, katshke, kishke, k'neydlekh, kreplekh, kugl, and kikhl for dessert. This explains the victories of Israel's Army, in addition, of course, to its courageous fighting spirit and its sophisticated weaponry. Long live Jewish mothers, the eternal preparers of "K" platters, the genuine n'shome shpayz [soul food] to _derkvikn_ [delight] one's heart, including, though not necessarily in the Israeli army, chicken soup, the golden elixir and universally acclaimed Jewish penicillin as an antidote to colds... Zellig Bach 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 From: nmiller@shakti.trincoll.edu Subject: An invitation Mendele has grown so fast in the last year or so that your shames was unable to send out to every new subscriber the customary invitation to write an introductory post. Toyg nisht. If you are one of those who who were not asked before, please excuse this belated request and send us something soon. We maintain a file of these introductions (who-is-who, available from Mendele via anonymous ftp) which is updated each month by Anno Siegel. Anno has not had much business lately but maybe this appeal will change matters. The shames also takes this opportunity to wish all Mendelniks and indeed the world at large a better year than the one now ending. Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.204