Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 14.032
February 21 , 2005

[Moderators' note: Beginning with this number the From: line of all posts will
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1) zi geyt in spodek (Lyuba Dukker)
2) zi geyt in spodek (Justin Jaron Lewis)
3) zi geyt in spodek (David H. Spodick)
4) zi geyt in spodek (Elye Palevsky)
5) Yiddish with Palm OS 5 (Jennifer Dowling)
6) Bum in Yiddish (Paul Ilie)
7) Chovetz Chaim (Arieh Lebowitz)

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1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 18, 2005
Subject: Re:zi geyt in spodek

It does have some negative connotations, exactly like its English version. See
below from Sholom Aleychem:

fun sholem-aleykhem
.........................................................................

bin ikh, heyst dos, geven a yungerman, gezesn oyf kest bay shver un shviger,
gezesn un gelernt, a bisl arayngekukt in di bikhlekh besod, di shver un
shviger zoln nit visn, nit azoy der shver, vi di shviger. ikh hob, darft ir
visn, a shviger a mansbil, dos heyst:  a yidene, vos geyt in spodek. firt
aleyn ale gesheftn, aleyn geton shidukhim, aleyn geklibn khasonim far di
tekhter. un oykh mikh hot zi aleyn oysgeklibn, aleyn farhert, aleyn gebrakht
tsu firn keyn zvohil fun radomishli -- ikh bin aleyn a radomishler bin ikh,
mistame hot ir gehorkht radomishli, me hot dos nit lang bashribn oyfn blat.

.........................................................................

Lyuba Dukker

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 18, 2005
Subject: Re: zi geyt in spodek

Further to my query about "zi geyt in spodek", Raphael Finkel draws my
attention to the following 3 expressions (particularly relevant to my
context) in Stutchkoff's _Oytser fun der yidisher shprakh_.  Since Stutchkoff
does not provide definitions, I would greatly appreciate hearing from
anyone who knows any of these expressions and   how they would be used or
what their meanings are.

-- pasn vi der rebetsin a spodik
-- az dos vayb geyt in spodik geyt der man in pantofl
-- az der rov geyt in shtrayml geyt di rebetsin in spodik

Justin Jaron Lewis

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 17, 2005
Subject: Re: zi geyt in spodek

You will see by my signature why this matter interested me. I haven't heard of
"geyn in spodek". I and family members understand "spodek" ("spodick") to have
two translations: a cylindrical fur hat .I have seen a photo of it in  a
newspaper that covered the large family of Spodicks that came from Sag Harbor,
Long Island, NY (my father's family). The other meaning is a saucer. There are
two  associated idioms: "dreyen a spodick" and "dulen a spodick". The
expression "  tsudrey mir nisht ken spodick" means "don't put me on" or "don't
badger me". I  hope the foregoing is of interest and welcome your comments.

David H. Spodick

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 18, 2005
Subject: Re: zi geyt in spodek

The expression," es geyt im on in spodek" is close in meaning to "he couldn't
care less."

Elye Palevsky

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 17, 2005
Subject: Re: Yiddish with Palm OS 5

Concerning Yiddish on the Zire [Mendele 14.031]:

You have two options, as far as I know: first you will need to purchase the
PiLOC software (http://software.palmone.com/) to localize your Zire for
Hebrew/Yiddish.

Then you have the option of using Hebrew to Go, which is the Hebrew equivalent
of the DocsToGo software that came with your handheld.

Jennifer Dowling

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 18, 2005
Subject: "Bum" in Yiddish

50-60 years ago I often heard the term "trumbernik" used among
English-speaking Jews to describe to a young man who was a good-for-nothing or
a bum. The word does not appear in Harkavy's dictionary. In fact, the English
word "bum" used in the same sense does not appear. 2 questions: how does one
say in Yiddish "ne-er do-well or "bum," and does "trumbernik" exist; if so,
how is it used? Sound like a derivative of a trumpeter, but musicians could
not be considered that bad in colloquial discourse. Thanks for reply.

Paul Ilie

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 18, 2005
Subject: Re: Chovetz Chaim

In regards to the query in Mendele 14.031:

Yes, there really was someone - but he's generally known as the
Chofetz Chaim.

For starters, see basic info on him at these websites.

http://www.chofetzchaimusa.org
http://www.torah.org/learning/halashon/ccbio.html
http://members.aol.com/LazerA/ChofetzChaim.htm
http://www.artscroll.com/linker/socculturejewish/ASIN/LADH
http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/rabbis/chafetzchaim.htm

Arieh Lebowitz

[Additional posts were received from Lyuba Dukker, Pearl Shifer and Yael
Chaver.]

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