Chassidic Yiddish speakers often distort English words in ways other than the general public. This post started out as an honest attempt to compile a list of such words, but mysteriously turned satirical. I decided to post the fun entries too, but, on a sober note, I hereby appeal to my readers to help me add more words to the list.
Copper: Bronze. Example: Offerings for the Tabernacle included gold, silver, and copper. Bronze is an alloy from the element copper, but they don’t call it the Copper Age, right?
Steam: Heating. Most places already have more efficient heating systems than steam. Alas, not the only example where we stick to the fifties.
Votes: 1) Elections 2) Polls 3) Votes. Example: When the votes closed, candidate x had a majority of votes; he won the votes.
Europe: Eastern European cemeteries. Example: Buy raffles from yeshiva x, and be the lucky winner of a trip to Europe.
Meshugener: Extremely context sensitive. It can mean anything from genius to skeptic to homeless. Examples: Where should I start?
Seder HaBuses: Bus Schedule. Example: Dial (718) 782-5566. Are you guys out of your mind? You’re running a large commuter enterprise. It’s not like you charter buses to the rebbe’s wedding.
Cool-ay: Kool-Aid. Example: I had cool-ay, my neighbor had cool-ay; we all drank from the cool-ay.
Abortion: Sent off to California. Ha ha. Very funny. Until it hits you. Well, why don’t they go for the real thing? We are not Catholic, after all. Just say'n.
More, as it occurs to me.
42 comments:
Ever thought how we sometimes pluralize English nouns?
My son left his "bootses" in school. Luckily, the grounds were all cleaned from snow, except for the "stepses."
country=a particular bungalow colony in the Sullivan County Catskills e.g. In velekher country furst dee/
puh-yooter= computer particularly the monitor.
everything is writ large not particular. Ask a yingeleh in a military dress uniform on Purim what he's dressed as an the answer will nevr be a sailor , a marine or a soldier but ah navy or ah army
Bray was here!
DovBear blog must have come to a crawl.
have you seen the ads (heimishe ownership)for the new liquor store on Avenue J?
Absolutley hilarious as some heimishe copy writer decided they would try to sound "artsy"
I'm an army! An army of one.
Not seen the ad. Link please?
even articulate khasidim like you tend to mispronounce words regularly as they have come to know them only from the written page and never from words sopken in regular conversation.
it's not online as far as I know. I saw it in print in Mishpacha or Binah.
We used not to be particular about the military branch of personnel; we called it all army. Maybe today things are different.
today theres an aitzeh as on line dictionaries usually have audio pronunciation files for each word.
Even articulate khasidim like you tend to mispronounce wordsSpeak for yourself.
this past Purim I asked my Satmar great nephew he said "ikh bin a navy" I asked him "in velekher milkhumeh?" after a long pause and shrugging his shoulders he answered
"Monsey?"
Yup. I make frequent use of audible pronunciations keys.
Speak for yourself.I guess we'll never knowas meeting in person is unlikely.
Your great nephew. Bray, you're ooooold!
Oh, I wouldn't enter in a language contest with you. Your eloquence is unparalleled even on the elitist DovBear blog.
Why? By khasidim we have both babies having babies and Babbas having babies.
You know the old joke about the 3 kinds of weddings?
derekh agahv you nailed me. I ammmmmmmm oldddddddddddddd. But what I ack in youth and fresh ideas I more than make up for in petulance and immaturity.
BTW isn't my nephew cute???
I would say shkoyakh but I believe that I'm being mocked.
What are the kinds of weddings?
FYI though I am FFB and nominally Fundie I am not heimish and grew up out of townwhere I recieved a more than adequate secular education.
Well, IIRC, you expressed despair that you'll not live to see the next KH.
At an Orthodox wedding both makhateinistehs are pregnant
At a Conservative wedding the kallah is pregnant
At a Reform wedding the Rabbi is pregnant.
I know all your secrets, Bray.
You are an alumnus of TVD, and your brother is a real Fundie.
No not likely. What I do now b'rukhni u'vgashmi are hardly seguos for arikhas yomim.
Good joke, but archaic.
MO already nominates female rabbis.
LOL.
Seeing as you have likhtigeh oigen where do I send my kvitel and pidyon?
Speaking of secrets... yous are totally safe with me as I am old and tech challenged but don't you ever worry that the leadership of your shtetl has outsourced hacker-type detectives to discover and expose the surfers of the timeneh triafeneh internet in your midst?
I'm not sure where you sent them hitherto, but you could start writing kvitlach here and sending the pidyon to your favorite blogger.
It's a free world, Bray.
Look at you--a free spirit - (or is it frayah foigel)in the land of oppresion and rigid conformity!
BTW just curious who had the poshiter yid handle first you or Lipa Schmeltzer?
What term is laden with more negative connotation, free spirit or fraya foigel?
It's been a mekhayaeh but I've got to run.
zai gezint un shtark
Read my introduction. I unashamedly plagiarized the name.
fraya foigel is a pejorative where you come from.
free spirit is a compliment where your headed if you don't mend your ways.
Zei gezunt
looked at your profile. How can you blog and seriously call shmiras Haloshon one of your favorite books?
anyway I'll check this threadagain later bl"n gotta go...really.
Pusheter, I can't believe it, but I'm actually impressed. Since I didn't have whom to speak with on facebook today, I actually had time to read your blog. And to my astonishment, I think it's terrific. I love your first post (and several others). You need some more commentors, though, to make this an exciting place.
"sent to California"
are these couples with down's syndrome fetus's or people who got pregnant when they weren't supposed to? (single...)
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