Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 21.012
February 23, 2012

1) Chruscicki (Ann Ellen Dickter)
2) mitndrinen/amolike tsayt (Ann Ellen Dickter)
3) ukha/amolike tsayt (Dina Lvias)
4) moyde (Benjamin Fogel)
5) burkis (Jane Peppler)
6) "yorkh" (Leyzer Gillig)
7) Odessa and Sholem Aleichem (Natan Meir)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 6
Subject: Chruscicki

My mother always spoke about her grandmother's light, deep-fried "bow-tie"
pastries, coated with powdered sugar. Her grandmother called them
"fritlekh." She tried to
replicate the recipe but never got it right. I was once in a Polish
bakery, saw them, sold as chrusicki, and brought some to my mother.  She
declared them the real
deal.

Ann Ellen (Chana) Dickter

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 6
Subject: mitndrinen/amolike tsayt

re Aubrey Jacobus posting of Feb 2

"Mitndrin" might be "mitn-derinen," colloquially, "in the midst of
everything," which is the way my mother used it.  In my home, the
expression was often used a bit
ironically ... like "I'm making dinner, doing laundry, your little sister
is crying and mitnderinen you want ice cream?"

The Yiddish "A mol is geven":  I have seen in children's stories, the
equivalent of the English "Once upon a time."  SO, amolike tsayt may be a
regional way to say a
long time go?

Ann Ellen (Khane Khayke) Dickter

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 2
Subject: ukha/amolike tsayt

The Russian word for the usually gelled liquid in which fish, gefilte fish
for instance, is served is "UKH" - Ukha is also the word for fish-soup.

"Amolike tsayt" is the Yiddish for "times of yore," "years gone-by."

Mit a grus,
Dina Lvias

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: January 25
Subject: moyde

In the Yiddish I spoke all my life "moida" meant "forgive." I recently
learned that in Hebrew it means "thanks." I would like to know how this
exchange came to be.

Benjamin Fogel

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 2
Subject: burkis

A former Yeshiva boy supplied me the answer: burkis is a word from the
Greek meaning leather.

Jane Peppler

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: February 2
Subject: "yorkh"

As the moderater wrote, Aubrey probably meant "yoykh," where the "oy"
vowel in
Poylish-galitsiyanish is pronounced as a long o ("hope") or even as a more
open o
("cough"), which, with a New York City accent at least, would be
pronounced exactly
like "korf."  Hence, "yokh."

Fraatik tsenakths est men lokshin mit yokh (on Friday night one eats
"noodles with soup")

My Bavarian-dialect (German)-speaking grandmother called any broth or soup
"Jauche," which in standard German means "slurry" or "sewage" (no
reflection on her soup).

Leyzer Gillig

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  February 22
Subject: Odessa and Sholem Aleichem

Does anyone know where the following Sholem Aleichem quote is from?

"O Odessa, Odessa /Without you I am dead."

Many thanks,

Natan Meir
_____________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 20.012

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