Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.054 August 24, 1997 1) Lokshn (Jonathan Bellman) 2) loksh (Chaim Rosemarin) 3) Lokshn Issue (Irwin Mortman) 4) A summery (David Herskovic) 5) _Grineh Lokshn_ (Freydl Cielak) 6) "pedagogishe inyonim" (Freydl Cielak) 7) Terminology on holocaust (Miriam Isaacs) 8) Chasene Valts--Anniversary Waltz (Esther Goffstein) 9) drimblen (Eric Gordon) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 16:40:28 EDT From: jdbellm@bentley.unco.edu Subject: Lokshn Re Leonard Prager's fine rumination on Lokshn: but the American use of "using your noodle" is simply a misunderstanding of "noddle," head. This word shows up in the *American Heritage Dictionary* but I always thought of it as a British word. It comes from the Middle English *nodel*, back of the head, as "to nod" comes from the Middle English *nodden*. Jonathan Bellman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 12:44:55 -0700 From: astroj@astro.washington.edu (Astronomical Journal) Subject: loksh In our neighborhood in New Jersey "loksh" was used to denote someone of Italian origin, as in loksh = spaghetti. Does anyone else remember it that way? Chaim Rosemarin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 20:03:58 -0400 From: Irwin Mortman Subject: Lokshn Issue I enjoyed reading the Lokshn issue of TMR. Growing up in Brookllyn we also used Loksh as a nickname for an Italian. Irwin Mortman Cincinnati, OH 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 01:12:21 +0100 From: David Herskovic Subject: A summery The following saying sums the summer season as observed by traditional Jews. I assume that the rather doleful connotations are intended to contrast with the summer of blue skies, colourful butterflies and buzzing bees. zibn vokhn tsaylt men, dray vokhn klogt men in fir vokhn blost men. David Herskovic 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 03:11:37 -0500 From: arele@enter.net.mx (FRIDA Grapa de CIELAK) Subject: _Grineh Lokshn_ In _The Mendele Review : Vol 01.016_, the Editor, Leonard Prager, dertzeylt undz vegn _Lokshn_ un vih dos vort vert banitzt in Yisroel, in shprikhverter un a'v... Interesant iz az do in Meksikeh, banitzt men loksh_in a compozitzye fun 2 verter: _grine-loksh_, un dos meyntmen: di papireneh-grineh matbeye fun dih fareynikteh-shtatn: der _dollar_. Freydl Cielak, Mexico City 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 03:12:45 -0500 From: arele@enter.net.mx (FRIDA Grapa de CIELAK) Subject: "pedagogishe inyonim" Sylvia Schildt (Mendele Vol 7.049), bet me zol shraybt vegn eygene lern-problemen un vegn yediyes farn limud fun yidish. mitn onheyb fun lernyor vil ikh takeh shraybn un vendn zikh tzu di lerer un lererkes un zey dermonen vegn dem yiddishn arbetsbukh far oneyber _Arele_, velkher iz a vikhtiker mithilf far zeyer arbet un a tzutzyiendiker material mit velkhn dih talmidim arbetn un lernen yiddish mit fargenign. Freydl Cielak 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 13:00:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Miriam Isaacs Subject: Terminology on holocaust I would like to support Mr. Herzog in his discomfort with words like the German "Judenrein". When discussing what happened to Jews during world war II, the terminology that Yiddish speakers used and continue to use is very different from what exists in English or German. When the German terms were used by Yiddish speakers of my parents generation it was done with irony and bitterness. I think it is important to look at those German words in their own context. Along with "Judenrein" was also "vernichtigung", literally to make "nothing" of the Jews. I want to urge the revival and retention of the Yiddish words in discourse about the Holocaust. Our words included "khorbn" (Khurbn) in some dialects, the plain and potent "merder" meaning simply and aptly the murder. "Shekhtn" , slaughter was commonly used. I am concerned that as the discourse about the Holocaust shifts into English, with liberal doses of German and Russian, a new terminology appears that is either weakened oreven misleading. The English "annihilation" is much weaker than "shekhtn" and misses the moral import of "merder". Strongest of the words was the simple "daytchn" with all the weight of what that meant to the Jews of the time and thereafter. Miriam Isaacs 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 18:48:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Esterel@aol.com Subject: Chasene Valts--Anniversary Waltz I have both the Vanguard stereo lab recording and the Vanguard cassette with Jan Peerce singing the Anniversary Waltz in Yidish. The recording,1963, is entitled Jan Peerce Sings Yiddish Folk Songs. Orchestra conducted by Abraham Ellstein. Words by Chaim Tauber. Music by I. Ivanovici. The text that Bob Rothstein submitted looks quite complete.. Jan Peerce sings it a little differently, and assuming there's an interest in Peerce's version, here it is as sung by Jan Peerce: Kum, tants mit mir Undzer valts fun amol Gehat nor mit dir. kh'hob dikh lib on a tsol. Tsum ershtn mol, Ven ikh hob dikh derzen [derzeyn] Geshpilt hot men dan Undzer valts azoy sheyn. Tsvey yunge hertser Mir zenen geven [geveyn] Libe's gefiln Umshuldik un reyn Gedrikt hob ikh dikh Azoy hertslikh tsu mir Zikh ayngelibt Bald in dir. Koym zikh dervart Fun der shul nor aroys Gefayert a khasene, Glik azoy groys Gedenkstu di nakht Hot geshpilt di muzik Dem zelbn valts fun glik. Lebt nokh di nakht Yene gliklikhe nakht Freyd on a shir, Far undz beyde gebrakht. Khotsh zilber di hor, Un di fis zenen mid, In harts klingt nokh alts Undzer lib', undzer valts. [He sings the last two lines again after a short musical interlude.] If you have the record, or the tape: a Vanguard twofer cassette "The Yiddish Dream." you can sing along with Jan. Esther Goffstein 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 02:00:51 -0400 (EDT) From: EricArthur@aol.com Subject: drimblen One more addition to the drimblen frage: From Yakov Shmuel Toybes, Tsvey Mol Khay: 36 Yidishe Limeriks, New York: 1962, Limerik No. 8 (p. 14): Men shpilt shtendik ping-pong in Hong-Kong, Tog un nakht drimblt der gang; Un dos glaykhe gekling Hert ir oykh in Pei-ping, Say dem gang, say Pei-pinger ping-pong! Eric Gordon Los Angeles, CA ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.054