Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 2 no. 171
April 1, 1993
 
1) Farsheydns (Dovid Braun)
2) Introduction (Shimen Bronner)
3) Tipesh (Michael Shimshoni)
4) Tipesh (Berl Hoberman)
5) Shayles (Noyekh Miller)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue Mar 30 15:45:18 1993
From: braund@linc.cis.upenn.edu
Subject: farsheydns

mekoyekh irtsn un dutsn:  in teyln fun poylishn yidish iz
do du (umformel, loshn-yokhed), ir/enk (umformel,
loshn-rabim), zi (formel, loshn-yokhed un -rabim, mitn
akuzativ/dativ _in_, lemoshl:  ikh bet in iber, vihin geyen
zi? 'EXCUSE ME, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?')  azoy lemoshl in
lubliner gegnt.

ba harkavi (dukht zikh 1928, nor kh'hob nit dos verterbikhl
ba der hant) figurirt dutsn untern vort _duken_.

az me dutst eynem vos me volt im/ir gedarft irtsn, meg der
baleydikter zogn: "hobn mir den tsuzamen khazeyrim
gepashet?"  (tsi me zogt es take iz an ander inyen.  ober
ikh hob es gehert af der stsene in teater un umdirekt, ven
eyne hot an andern umbarekhtikterheyt gedutst. Hot der
gedutster mir gezogt, privaterheyt, "hobn mir den tsuzamen
khazeyrim gepashet, az zi zol tsu mir redn af du?"

s'iz do a yidisher nomen _raye_ un ikh ken nor dem
diminutiv _raytse_  (s'iz dokh do a gram:  "raytse, frier
git zi, nakher shrayt zi").  iz _rayke_ mistam nokh a
diminutiv.

hots mir ale a zisn peysekh!

Dovid Braun

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Mar 31 09:12:47 1993
From SJB2@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Subject: Introduction

I'm glad to have such a list available!  I am a professsor
at Penn State Harrisburg in Folklore and American Studies.
I am also the son of Yiddish-speaking Holocaust survivors,
and I still speak Yiddish to my mother, but I get little
other practice, except for an occasional Yiddish speaking
group meeting in Harrisburg.  I have scholarly interests in
Yiddish folklore and I would like to hear about proverbs,
sayings, tales, beliefs, and folk arts that people on the
list are collecting.

Regarding Holocaust studies, I am translating some of the
testimonies touching on legends and beliefs in the
Oshpitsin Yizkor book (My father is from Osphpitsin or
Oswiecim in Polish).  I would also appreciate reviews of
new works on Yiddish and Yiddish culture.  I am currently
reviewing Polish Jews in Paris for Jewish Folklore and
Ethnology Review, for example.  I am heartened by new
interest in Yiddish and I hope to be able to sponsor a
course before too long on Yiddish culture in America at
Penn State.

Sei gesund,

Simon (Shimen) Bronner

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Mar 31 03:33:29 1993
From MASH@WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL
Subject: Tipesh

I have now received more details from my  son.  It  seems
that  the  expression which  is pure  Hebrew is  a
translation from Yiddish.  Here goes what he sent me now:

It goes like this. A Tipesh shel HOREF comes home.
Takes off his heavy coat and puts it in the closet.
Takes off his other coat and puts it in the closet.
Takes off his light coat and puts it in the closet.
Takes off his sweater and puts it in the closet.
Takes off his other sweater and puts it in the closet.
Takes off his vest and puts it in the closet.
.....
And then you see he is a Tipesh.
A Tipesh shel Kayitz you see it right away.

Michael Shimshoni

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Mar 31 12:33:25 1993
From: RHOBERMAN@CCMAIL.SUNYSB.EDU
Subject: Tipesh

The expression that Michael Shimshoni's son brought home is
listed almost exactly in the wonderful Hebrew slang
dictionary "Milon olami la-Ivrit ha-meduberet", "The World
Dictionary of Hebrew Slang", by Dan Ben-Amots (Dahn
Ben-Amotz) and Netiva Ben-Yehuda, page 103.  Here's my
translation of the entry "tipesh kayits", literally
"summer-fool": "A person whose stupidity is exposed
immediately, at first acquaintance.  (After Bialik)."
Compare it with the entry "tipesh khoref", winter-fool: "A
person who outwardly pretends to be smart, but after
further acquaintance it becomes clear that he is stupid.
(After Bialik)."  If this is really from Bialik, did Bialik
get it from a Yiddish expression?

Bob Hoberman

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu Apr  1 10:33:36 1993
From: nmiller@dot.trincoll.edu
Subject: Shayles

The Ukrainian (Podolian) Yiddish I learned prefers 'dil' to
'podloge' and 'shtakheten' to 'shtigen'.  I hope that this
is b'seder, Mikhl?

However, in the case of 'layen' and 'borgen' I'm less sure.
I'm almost positive that my family preferred the former,
but it seems to me that they also said 'borgen' from time
to time.  Do some use both and if so is there a difference?

'Shkarpeten' (socks): can the Slavists among us provide the
etymology of this Polish (and Ukrainian?) word?  My
grandmother, who was raised in a dorf, used it. Others I
_think_ used 'zokn' for socks and stockings.  Does that
check out?

Finally, 'shalemayke'.  I ran across it in print the other
day in a context suggesting 'contraption', 'thingamajig'.
Is that correct?  Is it roughly equivalent to 'makherayke'?
Or do they occur in the same speech community?

Noyekh Miller

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End of Mendele Vol 2. 171

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