Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.071 September 30, 1996 1) Introduction (Zalman Matoren) 2) Pi pa po (Michael J. Spudic) 3) Pi pa po (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 4) Book on Warsaw uprising (Ellen Goldbaum) 5) Litvinizmen in Yiddish (Zellig Bach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 15:11:03 +0200 From: matoren@epsilon.nl Subject: Introduction Nyu York geboirn (l930), eyntsik kind fun Dovid Mayer un Khaye Ester (Gelman), bayde eltern funm alten haym, tate a Dombrovitzer (Ukrayne-Volynye), mame a Mozyrer (Vays Rusland-Mynsker Gubernye). Eltern gekumn kin Amerika l923, ober ersht a por monatyn in Latayn Amerike far papyren- tate Argentina; mame-Cuba. Afn weg getrofn in Varshe un a lybe geshvorn. Finf yor speter khasene gehat in dire fun mishpokhe Gelman in dem Bronx. Tate hot hanoe gehat fun dray zakken: (1) Zayn tsaytung-er iz a getraye Tog layner geven yorn lang. Er iz nisht geven gants tsufridn mit spetere tsuzamengangenen mit andere "papers". (2) Zayn Landsmanshaft- United Dombrowitzer Benevolent Association- founded l9l9. In der zelbe binyen funm Public Theater. (3) Teater geyn, nisht aleyn Second Avenue, ober andere teaters oych (McKinley Square un Bronx Yiddish Art Theater). Der tate olev hasholem iz geven a gute redner un hot gornisht fargesn. Fun em hot men gezogt dos mit zayn zikorn, hot er nisht fargessen vos mentshen hobn em gezogt fintzig yohr tsurik vos zay hobn shoyn fargesn. Bobes un zaydes zayn ale geven frum, un ken eyn fun zay hot eynglish gelernt. Mame hot a koshern hoyz gefyrt (nit glat). Tate is gegangen in shul alayn far di yomim noroyim, gepravet a sayder far peysakh, un ongetsinden khaneke likhtlakh-ken tsayt far shabbes. Er hot shver un lange shoes gearbet- ken tsayf far shabbes. Er hot shver gearbet. Baym tee (leyzt ir dos, shames noyekh), hot er a bisl tsugekumn. Eyn toes hot di eltern Matoren gemakht. Zay hobn geredt Idish tsvishen zikh, ober eynglish kegn zayr zun. Darum zol ik ayere farbeserungen fun mayn sprakh (oykh ortografye) frayndlikh opnemn. Ikh vintsh aykh a gutn shabes. Zalman Matoren 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 22:07:03 -0400 (EDT) From: spudic@aaron.music.qc.edu Subject: pipapo nokh amol Riding on a New York City subway home from work this evening, the last thing on my mind was the never ending saga of "pipapo;" but alas I came across a documented use of the expression in a contemporary collection of German attitudes regarding the reunification of Germany, more reductively interpreted as the decline and fall of the German Democratic Republic. But aside from the politics of that "situation," - "pipapo" turns up already at the very beginning of Klaus Pohl's "Wartesaal Deutschland Stimmen Reich" (Rotbuch Verlag, Hamburg; 1995). Sure enough, (in the second sentence!) a woman of Eastern German origins, described as having a "heavy East-Berlin accent" (this would go along with Johannes Seppi's comment in 6.067 that pipapo has a north German feel to it) expresses the following: "Frueher habe ich in der Wissenschaft gearbeitet ich habe ganz friedlich hier am Schreibtisch gesessen ich habe meine Dissertation geschrieben Artikel Buecher Pipapo..." ["In earlier times, I was an involved academic I very readily sat at my desk I wrote my dissertation articles books pipapo..."] (perhaps one would translate here for the expression pipapo, a phrase like "you name it"). Personally though, I prefer Berel Leiser's Puccini excursion into the realms of Turandot (also 6.067). I'll never hear Ping, Pang and Pong without an extra laugh. Please excuse this little diversion away from the realms of Yiddish! Pipapo, I now must go, A gut yor alemen, Michael J. Spudic Forest Hills, New York 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 14:33:21 -0400 From: shirshan@aol.com Subject: Pi pa po and u va! My hearty thanks and appreciation to Berel Leiser for his posting, "Pi, Pa, Po" (6.067). He created in me a gestalt "aha" reflex regarding the expression, "u va!" whose source I have not been able to uncover even here in the land of Mendele. Harriet Beecher Stowe also patchket around (like Puccini did with Turandot), and to invoke a sense of awe in her readers, she named her character Little U va! A year of good health, peace, insight, good friends, and good books, to all! Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Boynton Beach, Florida 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 27 Sep 1996 15:31:41 -0400 From: goldbaum@pub.buffalo.edu Subject: Book on Warsaw uprising My husband and I are doing some research on members of my husband's family (the Kolniczanski's) who were involved in the Warsaw uprising. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to where I might obtain some information on their activities, particularly a Yiddish book that I have been told by relatives was available in France during the late 40s or early 50s. Apparently, the book, whose title and author are unknown to me, included a chapter on the Kolniczanski family. Another book about the Jewish Bund that was published in Yiddush by Bernard Goldstein, had another chapter about them and their slaughterhouse but that book precedes the uprising. Does anyone know how we might try to locate this book with such limited information? Thank you! Ellen Goldbaum and Andrew Kolin 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 17:09:47 -0400 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Litvinizmen in Yiddish In a recent post in Mendele Gintis Kaminskas expressed his interest in obtaining a second-hand copy of the 1970 book in Lithuanian by Haskelis Lemchenas (Khatzkl Lemkhen) on the influence of the Lithuanian language on the local Yiddish, or a photocopy of the book. One source for a photocopy of the book might be YIVO. Its new, temporary, address is: Jewish Scientific Institute YIVO, 555 West 57th Street, Suite 1100, New York, NY 10019. Suggest you contact Zachary Baker, librarian, by E-mail at: BM.YIB@rlg.stanford.edu May I call the attention of Mr. Kaminskas, and of others interested in this subject, to Volume I of the collection of articles called _Li'te_ (1950, New York), with many papers about Lithuanian Jewry between both World Wars (columns 429-472; each page consists of two columns, paginated individually). In this volume there is a comprehensive paper by Yudl Mark with the title "Undzer Litvisher Yidish" (Our Lithuanian Yiddish). Section 12 of this article lists a number of litvinizmen in Yiddish (columns 465 - 470). Zellig Bach Lakehurst, NJ ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.071 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.cis.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. 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