Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 4.088
August 17, 1994

1) Yiddish standard(s) (Rick Gildemeister)
2) German edition of Bernstein's "Shprikhverter" (Harvey Spiro)
3) _Lake Sholem Aleichem_ (Andrew Sunshine)
4) Bay Mir Bist Du Sheyn (Mitchell Brown)
5) Bay Mir Bist Du Sheyn (Martin Davis)
6) Bay Mir Bist Du Sheyn (Jay Lee)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 94 14:55:49 EDT
From: EEGLC%CUNYVM.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: Yiddish standard(s)

Shleyme Axelrod brings me back to when I first became a Mendelnik. People
were talking about authentic language "of the people" as opposed to
learned language. I believe the word that people objected to was
"migldik" and people felt that ekldik was more authentic.

Well, as I said then, every language that aspires to be a language of
culture, with nuances and precision and refinement goes through a stage
when it is somehow something uncomfortable. There is, of course, room for
folk dialect, but a mature language of serious aspirations must have
standards, and many of the characteristics of the resulting standard are
going to reflect the language of the standardizers.

As crazy as I am about all the varieties of Yiddish and that special
"tam", there is a beauty and purity in the YIVO standard. I can recognize
it immediately, and I've actually gotten goose bumps from reading a
history of Jews in Romania around the 19th century that was put out by
YIVO; well, by now you get the idea.

Some people object to "a language no one speaks". True, when a fledgling
standard makes its way to be accepted by the majority, no one actually
speaks it as his/her mother tongue. That has to grow.

If Solomon Birnbaum is who I think he is, he has developed his own
standard based on Polish Yiddish. Er shraat, men zol eim heiern. Er voynt
in Pruug jn er iz guer myshigy. Di mame voynt in Kruuky in a klayn hous.
He insisted that that was the way the majority spoke.

I don't know; I like the stage standard a lot. It is, to me at least, a
nice compromise, and it comes more from the southeastern end than
Litvish.

Shleyme brings up something else that is very interesting: There must
have been sessions where all this was worked out. It would be great to
see those proceedings!

Rick Gildemeister

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed Aug 17 15:18:57 1994
From: hjs@nrc.gov
Subject: German edition of Bernstein's "Shprikhverter"

Bob Rothstein comments (Mendele 4.084) that:
>  The best edition of Ignaz Bernstein's _Yidishe shprikhverter
>  un rednsartn_ was published 25 years ago in Germany.

How different is that from the edition published in the 1980s in the US,
other than the lack of a German (or other) translation? Is the German
edition still available?

Harvey Spiro

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 94  15:40 EDT
From: ansur@cuvmb.Columbia.edu
Subject: _Lake Sholem Aleichem_

Reading Kenneth Koch's poem "On the Edge" (in his book _On the Edge_
...), I came across the following line (p. 87):

_Lake Sholem Aleichem_ was produced off-Broadway in nineteen-fifty-
seven--

Are there any theatre mavens out there who know whether or not Koch is
referring to a real production and--if it IS real--provide further
details about it?

Andrew Sunshine

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 09:25:00 CDT
From: brown.mitchell@tntv7.ntrs.com
Subject: Yiddish lyrics for Bay Mir Bist Du Sheyn

I may be way off the mark here but I am pretty sure that this was
originally an English language song and the words (I'm 75%) sure, were
written by Sammy Cahn.

It may subsequently have been translated into Yiddish but I am sure it
was originally an English song

Mitchell Brown

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 22:02:43 +0200
From: davism@litp.ibp.fr
Subject: Bay mir bist du sheyn

I can supply only one stanza though I heard the original Yiddish
version sung many times:

Bai mir bist du sheyn
Bai mir host du kheyn
Bai mir bist du di sheynste oyf dos velt

Martin Davis

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 94 08:18:52 EST
From: JMLEE@ucs.indiana.edu
Subject: Bay mir bistu sheyn, please let me explain...

As I understand the history of the song, the Andrew Sisters sang the song
in Yiddish originally.  Once they hit the big time, they switched to
English lyrics.  I do not know what they are, and so my anecdote is not
very helpful, but I too would like to know the lyrics.

Another point:  in their song RUM AND COCA-COLA, there's a line of
Yiddish that I cannot decipher:

	On old Trinidad I also fear the situation is mighty queer,
	The native girls all dance and swoon when they hear der Bingl croon.

Hmm. It didn't dawn on me until I typed it out just now (using Yiddish
transcription) that rather than meaning Bengal (as in tiger), they must
mean little Bing Crosby.

Jay Lee

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