Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.377 March 30, 1995 1) Der Yapanisher Yid (Yankl Halpern) 2) Vos makhst du? (Rita Falbel) 3) Vos makhst du? (David Sherman) 4) Vos makhst du? (Peter Kluehs) 5) Poem for a Mendelnik (Ellen Prince) 6) Are shtrayml and sheytl diminutives? (Lou Heynick) 7) Are shtrayml and sheytl diminutives? (Anno Siegel) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat Mar 25 23:49 JST From: jhalpern@super.win.or.jp Subject: Der Yapanisher Yid Tayere Libhobers fun Mame-Loshn, Ikh hob bakumen a sakh briv un elektronishe post fun Yidish libhobers in farhishidene lender, vos hobn stark geloybt dem numer 7 fun DER YAPANISHER YID. A psikhiater fun Argentine hot geshribn az er hot es "arayngeshlungen." An anderer shraybt az es iz an emese "yokihd-bemine." Ikh vil aykh danken far di varme un hartsike verter. Ikh un mayn kologe Tsuguya Sasaki shepn fun ayere verter groyse nakhes. Mir filn zikh shtolts tsu hobn a gelegenhayt aroystsugebn dem buletin. Ayere shvokhim gebn undz tsu kheshek un mut mamshekh tsu zayn mit undzer arbet. Biz yetst hob ikh geshikt dem buletin bekhinem, ober azoy fil mentshn viln dos krign, az ikh muz aykh betn ir zolt undz shikn $18 mezumonim a yor kdey tsu kompensirn undzere hetsoes. Mir veln probirn aroytsugebn dem buletin tsvey oder dray mol a yor, ober ikh ken dos nisht garantirn. Der kumendiker numer vet mistome aroyskumen in May. Ikh vil betn ale khosheve fraynd velkhe shraybn mir ir zolt mir moykhel zayn az ikh hob nisht genuk tsayt tsu entfern yeder eynem bazunder. Ikh bin yetst zeyer farnumnen mit der kumpilatyse fun farshidene verterbikher far lernen kanji (khinezishe oysyes in der yapanishe shprakh), un ikh bet ayer farshtendenish. Zayt matsliakh in ale ayere maysim, bifrat in farshpreytn undzere zise, geshmake shprakh. Mit derekh erets, Jack "Yankl" Halpern Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society 1-3-502 3-Chome Niiza, Niiza-shi, Saitama 352 JAPAN Voice: +81-048-481-3103 Fax: +81-048-479-1323 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 09:52:25 -0500 From: rfalbel@mail.med.cornell.edu Subject: Vos makhst du? My father, who was born in Kamionka-Strumilova and grew up in Zamarstynow, a suburb of Lwow, (both shtetls in Galicia) used to answer to "Vos makhst du" with "Ich makh in di hosen," which roughly translated means "I make in my pants." But that seems to be more an answer to "Vi makhst du?" or "How are you doing?" and maybe that was the question. A belated thanks to those who gave me information about Zamartynow. Rita Falbel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Mar 95 13:03:53 EST From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: Vos makhst du? My father-in-law's standard answer to "Vos makhst du?" is "Ikh makh zikh nisht visn". I've heard this from other people as well. David Sherman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 Mar 1995 20:27:00 +0200 From: pete@pko.rhein-main.de Subject: Vos makhst du? ikh hob gefunen nokh a bayshpil tsu der teme inem bukh fun s. landmann. Tsvey rumenishe yidn, oylim khadoshim, trefn zikh nokh a gevise tsayt. Fregt eyner dem tsveytn: "Nu, Moyshe, vos makhstu?" "Ikh makh nokh gornisht; ikh arbet." peter kluehs wehrheim, daytshland 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 17:32:01 EST From: ellen@central.cis.upenn.edu Subject: _poem for a mendelnik, janet hadda_ i won't get into the can of worms over whether we should sit shiva for yiddish but i do want to comment on something else suggested/insinuated by the poem posted by marjorie schonhaut hirshan in the following lines: Only lonely professors carrying the burden of millions of silent graves as single alien guest in Departments of German. i infer from these lines that it is considered sad or bad or something else negative that yiddish is taught in 'departments of german'. to this i respond: 1. any 'department of german' that teaches yiddish is in _fact_, if not in _name_, a 'dept of _germanic_'. 2. yiddish is a germanic language--where _else_ should it be taught?? (the only germanic language typically taught outside of german(ic) depts is english, for obvious social, political, economic, and cultural reasons. and it is certainly not grouped with any _other_ languages.) 3. i do not know the composition of the ucla dept, but most germanic depts also teach dutch and some or all of the scandinavian languages, and perhaps old high german, gothic, old icelandic... if people who are specialists in languages other than new high german are 'alien guests', the yiddishist is certainly not alone... (i might also point out that the dutch and the danes have a much longer history of conflict with the germans than the jews do... their respective languages are still germanic, however.) 4. once upon a time in my university's germanic dept (and probably in some others as well), yiddish was _not_ welcome. _that_ was a sad/bad/... situation, to my mind. we should _rejoice_ that yiddish has taken its place today in its appropriate dept in so many universities and stop this silliness of seeing it as some sort of p.o.w. behind enemy lines. es past nisht... sorry for ranting like this but i think it's a serious issue (as you may have guessed by now!). ellen prince 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 13:43:40 -0800 From: louhey@ix.netcom.com Subject: Are shtrayml and sheytl diminutives? The words "sheytl" & "shtrayml" both start with a shin, not a samekh. Both are in Weinreich, page 389/404 and 390/403, respectively. Please pardon any errors in my transliteration. Lou Heynick 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Mar 95 11:50:33 +0200 From: anno4000@w172zrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de Subject: Are shtrayml and sheytl diminutives? "Sheytl" must be related to German "der Scheitel", meaning both summit and the parting of the hair. It is not a diminutive. Anno Siegel Berlin (Germany) ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.377 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. 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