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Is that you (Michael Wex) on the front cover of Born to Kvetch?
No, I was never that happy.
On the TV show Lavern & Shirley they start the opening with the words (not sure of the spelling) Shlimeel and Shlimazel. Gary Marshall explained that a Shlimeel is a person that spills soup, a Shlimazel is the person he spill the soup on. I found the word Shlimazel in your book but I could not find Shlimeel. Is this a real word? Also, as a kid I remember hearing the word Shmendrake used to describe an idiot. I could not find this word either. Is it a real word?
The difference between shlemiel and shlimazl is merely a matter of dialect: shlemiel is the western Yiddish for the sort of person called a shlimazl by speakers of the East European version of the language. Much as I admire Gerry and Penny Marshall, I wouldn't take either of them for experts; they're Italian.
Shmendrik is very much a Yiddish word for what might be described as a bumbling fool-the undertone of incompetence is very strong: think of FEMA's performance in New Orleans and you've got it. I think that Mad Magazine once did a take-off on Mandrake the Magician called Shmendrake the Magician. A shmendrik is very like a shmegege.
(From Mrs. Wex) Thanks! I'll let you in on a little secret - my Dad drew him. He's a graphic designer and cartoonist in England and I sent him some photos of Belzer Hasidic kids in Brooklyn for inspiration and he came up with that! I love it - glad you like it too.
My friend uses the expression (excuse the transliteration): "its good for the maugen" whenever we are eating celery which he got from his father. I have not been able to find a specific translation of the yiddish term in any glossary, but the meaning seems clear from the context. I noticed that Mickey Katz uses the expression in his tune "The Barber of Schlmiel". My elderly mother who is a yiddish/polish speaker from Warsaw knew the expression but could not give me a satisfactory translation other than stomach (then why not pupik or kishke). Can you help?
"Maugen" (or "mogn" in standard transliteration) is the actual word for "stomach." "Pupik" is a navel, "kishke" an intestine (or any other tube-like organ: the appendix, for instance, is the blindeh kishke); your mother's translation is really the only accurate one.
I'm interested in the origin of European Jewish surnames, such as "Bloom" meaning flower, and Shecter which I learned form your book is shechet. Is Kaufman a buyer, or merchant? Zukeo is sugar I guess. Then Sugarman was a purveyor of sugar?
You're definitely on the right track. One thing to watch out for, though: people would change surnames at the drop of a hat (or yarmulke), so being called Kaufmann, for instance, cannot be taken as absolute proof that someone's ancestors were merchants.
There's a fair bit of stuff about surnames around. The best thing is probably to Google "Jewish surnames" and "Jewish genealogy" (a lot of material about names comes up on sites devoted to genealogy).
Would you be able to explain the origin of the Yiddish expression, Moishe Kapoyer, used, to the best of my knowledge, to describe someone who always appears to do things in a way diametrically opposed to they way they should be done? Thank you very much.
Kapoyr means upside-down. The original Moyshe Kapoyr was a character created by the columnist B. Kovner, who had a humour column in the Forverts; Moyshe would always do exactly the opposite of what you would expect a person to do in a given situation.
What is the translation of the Yiddish word "Zlob" . When my father used it on me I understood it to mean something like slob. However the accompanying intonation and facial expression made it seem worse than simply a slob. Are there regional variations in meaning?
While similarity in sound has led to "zhlob" being used as a version of the English "slob" (as you mention), its basic meaning in Yiddish is "boor, peasant, yokel," backwoods and backwards, kind of like trailer trash.
What is the correct spelling you use for alte kocker/cocker/ or something like that?
Is it correct to use the expression to refer to an old guy shooting the breeze, a regular guy, etc., who is also old?
For general use, I'd spell it kucker (it rhymes with "sucker"; in more formal settings, I'd use the so-called scientific transliteration and spell it "kacker"). It's slightly pejorative; it'd imply a certain contempt or condescension towards the old guy in question. "A couple of old farts were shooting the breeze," is the kind of feel that it would have.
I'm currently in a production of 'Ragtime' in Chicago, and we've got a question about the pronunciation of the word "Tateh". Given that he's a Latvian Jewish immigrant in the early 1900s, how would "Tateh" be pronounced? We've had two Tatehs and one pronounced it "Tah-tuh" and the other pronounces it "Tah-tay". Is either correct? We're just really curious! Thanks
It's pronounced tat-uh to rhyme with shmatte, or in English 'what a'.
I think that this is a tradition, but I do not know how it came bout. Why when we wish to avoid ain horah do we extend the pointer finger and the tall finger when we spit three times and then say poo,poo,poo?
My guess (and it really is a guess) is that the fingers were there to keep anybody else from being able to catch the saliva and put a spell on the spitter.
I noticed in the excerpt (of Born to Kvetch on Amazon) you relate the origins of Yiddish to Biblical times. Why if Yiddish came out of a North German dialect perhaps a thousand years ago why does it use Hebrew characters rather than the letters used in English or German?
Jews didn't go to the church-run schools attended by any non-Jews who went to school. They went only to Jewish schools, where Hebrew was the only language studied.
I am trying to translate the term 'Welcome' into Yiddish for a conference banner City and Hackney Mind are producing in London very soon! Can you help? If 'Welcome' is inappropriate please feel free to advice another similar term. We want people to feel welcome when they arrive.
The correct phrase (I'm giving it in the plural, as I'm sure that you're expecting more than one person at the conference) is : Brukhim Ha-Bo'im.
What does this mean: zoi geht es
Azoy geyt es means "so it goes."
I have heard of a Yiddish expression that in English means "It saves two others." However, I have never been able to find it or hear it in Yiddish. Can you provide the expression in Yiddish?
Sorry, but it doesn't ring any bells with me. Do you have any idea of how the expression is used or which meaning of "save" is meant?
The expression "It saves two others" refers (rather unkindly) to two people who are getting married. The meaning of the expression is that because these two people are getting married, it saves two other people from marrying them. Please let me know if you can figure out the Yiddish.
Ah ha! "Se ratevet nokh a por" would be it.
There is a saying my family and I can't find and hope you can give us the meaning. I'll try to get it out....sounds like goota or guta nishuma. Can you help?
