Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 142 January 20, 1993 1) Introduction (Neil G. Jacobs) 2) Truth in advertising (Gerald M. Phillips) 3) Truth in advertising (K.N. Leibovic) 4) Itsik Manger (Mark David) 5) Hekdish (Payrets Mett) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 18:16:32 EST From: Neil G Jacobs Subject: New subsriber to Mendele Sholem-aleykhem. I am a new subscriber to Mendele. I'm a Yiddish linguist at The Ohio State University. My work is primarily in Yiddish phonology and Yiddish historical linguistics. I have been a subscriber for approximately 3 weeks now, and have enjoyed the interaction. This is my first message to Mendele, and I have a question and/or suggestion: Question: Is there already a Yiddish term for 'e-mail'? I have tried out the term "elpost" < elektronishe post on a few Mendelnikes, and they understood/liked the term. Has this term already been used? Is there another term in use? Thanks. Neil Jacobs 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 16:34 EST From: "Gerald M. Phillips 238-2943" Subject: Truth in advertising In re: Ellen Prince's "Peau de schmuck" story, many years ago when we worked at menswear in Sears, we had a standard patter. "Madame, it is dreque from Paris, tochus a long time to get it. Feel this texture, it is a genuine schmotte made from one hundred percent rachmones." It was, as I recall, very effective. We knew no good Jew would ever enter that Sears except to work on commission in menwear. Gerald M. Phillips 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 Jan 1993 18:31:27 -0500 (EST) From: BPHKNL@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: re "genuine schlong" etc. There is (or was) a used furniture store ("antique store") in boston named "YENEM'S SHMATES". K.N.LEIBOVIC 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 22:30:38 -0500 From: mhd@world.std.COM Subject: For Manger...Try Miriam Hoffman Miriam Hoffman writes for the Forverts about every week. She's adapted Manger for the stage in a Yiddish/English musical called Lider Fun Gan-Eyden (Songs of Paradise). She loves Manger. I think she's also on the faculty of YIVO/Columbia. Meyer 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1993 17:43:21 +0000 From: P.Mett@open.ac.uk Subject: hekdish [David Sherman writes (vol2.138):] >This, of course, is a Fundamental Vocabulary Word for those >of us who speak Yiddish to young kids on a daily basis. >We've pretty much settled on "hegdish" (that's phonetic -- >etymologically it's hekdish). Based on the derivation of >hekdish (Hebrew "set apart" for kodesh = holy purposes, but >actually meaning precisely the opposite), we may be "wrong" >in our usage, but the main thing is that we have a word >that works. We tend to use it for all of Mark's examples -- >liquid, dry and chaos. > >I've also heard "tel" (in the sense of "screwup", I think), >and "khurve" (in the sense of chaos or destruction), though >we don't use them ourselves. Schaechter's Trogn/Hobn >dictionary lists hekdish, among other words; I don't >remember whether we got it from there, from Mordkhe >personally at yidish-vokh, or from somewhere else. I wonder whether the use is regional. I would expect to use (or hear) the word "tel", but my mother-in-law (from a Litvish family) says "hekdish". I don't think though that the use is 'precisely the opposite'. My understanding is that communities in Eastern Europe had a communal facility (attached to the shul perhaps) for the general use of vistitors to town who could not find accommodation. This was called a "hekdish" in a fairly literal sense - it was set aside by the kehile for charitable use. Naturally this accommodation was not maintained in pristine condition, and in time the word "hekdish" came to mean any untidy place. Can anyone corroborate this derivation? Payrets Mett ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.142