dailywritingtips.com — The Yiddish language is a wonderful source of rich expressions, especially terms of endearment (and of course, complaints and insults). Jewish scriptwriters introduced many Yiddish words into popular culture, which often changed the original meanings drastically. You might be surprised to learn how much Yiddish you already speak.
Jan 15, 2008 View in Crawl 4
ubuwalker31Jan 16, 2008
When someone who is Jewish calls something "goyish" pejoratively, it is usually in reference to something regarding a cultural taboo or nuance - such as eating pork, or white bread with pastrami. When someone says "jewish" pejoratively, it is being used as a racist slur, usually. At least in my experience, although, I've heard the term "goy" used very nastily before as well.
allisonrose870Jan 16, 2008
Ironic how I got this forwarded email just recently. Just in time to rebutt your comment. Enjoy and be schooled ... My father's surname is Gross. It's on the list close to the top.Subject: Fw: what’s in a name if you are Jewish IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS. I THOUGHT IT WAS WORTH ANOTHER ROUND OF EMAILS. RUBY WHAT'S IN A NAME (IF YOU'RE JEWISH) (Be sure to read the poem at the end.) This is very interesting. I knew some of it, but not all, and I knew most of the Jewish celebrities but was so surprised to see the others. Other than aristocrats and wealthy people, Jews did not get surnames in Eastern Europe until the Napoleon years of the early 19th century. Most of the Jews from countries captured by Napoleon, Russia, Poland , and Germany were ordered to get surnames for tax purposes. After Napoleon's defeat, many Jews dropped these names and returned to "son of" names such as: Mendelsohn, Jacobson, Levinson, etc. During the so called Emancipation, Jews were once more ordered to take surnames. In Austria, the Emperor Joseph made Jews take last names in the late 1700s, Poland in 1821 and Russia in 1844. It's probable that some of our families have had last names for 175 years or less. In France and the Anglo Saxon countries, surnames went back to the 16th century. Sephardic Jews had surnames stretching back centuries. Spain, prior to Ferdinand and Isabella, was a golden spot for Jews. They were expelled by Isabella in the same year that Columbus left for America . Most of the earliest American Jews were Sephardic, of Spanish derivation. In general, there were five types of names. People had to pay for their choice of names; the poor had assigned names: 1-- Names that were descriptive of the head of household: Examples:HOCH (tall) ,KLEIN (small),COHEN (rabbi ), BURGER (village dweller), SHEIN (good looking), < /STRONG>LEVI (temple singer),GROSS (large), SCHWARTZ (dark or black), WEISS (white), KURTZ (short) 2 -- Names describing occupations: Examples:HOLTZ (wood)HOLTZKNOCKER (wood chopper), GELTSCHMIDT (goldsmith ),SCHNEIDER (tailor),KREIGSMAN (warrior), EISEN (iron), FISCHER (fish) STARK (strong) 3-- Names from city of residence: Examples:BERLIN, FRANKFURTER, DANZIGER,OPPENHEIMER, DEUTSCH (German)POLLACK (Polish), BRESLAU ,MANNHEIM ,CRACOW, WARSHAW VAN PRAAG ( Prague) NEDERLANDER ( Holland) 4 -- Miscellaneous names: Examples:GLUCK (luck),ROSEN (roses),ROSENBLATT (rose paper or leaf), ROSENBERG (rosehill),ROTH (red),DIAMOND, KOENIG (king),KOENIGSBERG (king's mountain),SPIELMAN (player), LIEBER (dear),BERG (hill or mountain),WASSER ( water),KIRSCH (church), SHULL (synagogue)STEIN (stone). 5-- Descriptive names: Examples:PLOTZ (burst),KLUTZ (clumsy),BILLIG (cheap) GRUB (fat)DREYFUS (crippled)< SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">STARK (strong) Jewish Birth Names of some famous Performers: Woody Allen --- Alan Stewart KoenigsbergJune Allyson --- Ella Geisman Lauren Bacall --- Betty Joan Perske Jack Benny --- Benjamin KubelskyIrving Berlin --- Israel Baline Milton Berle --- Milton BerlingerJoey Bishop ---Joseph Gottlieb Karen Black --- Karen Blanche Ziegler Victor Borge --- Borge RosenbaumFanny Brice --- Fanny BorachMel Brooks --- Melvin Kaminsky George Burns --- Nathan BirnbaumEddie Cantor --- Edward Israel IskowitzJeff Chandler --- Ira GrosselLee J. Cobb --- Amos JacobTony Curtis --- Bernard SchwartzRodney Dangerfield --- Jacob CohenKirk Douglas --- Issur Danielovich Demsky Melvyn Douglas --- Melvyn HesselbergBob Dylan --- Bobby ZimmermanPaulette Goddard --- Pauline LevyLee Grant --- Lyova Geisman Elliot Gould --- Elliot GoldsteinJudy Holliday --- Judith TuvimAl Jolson --- Asa Yoelson Danny Kaye --- David Daniel KaminskyMichael Landon --- Michael OrowitzSteve Lawrence --- Sidney Leibowitz Jerry Lewis --- Joseph LevitchPeter Lorre --- Lazlo LowensteinElaine May --- Elaine Berlin Yves Montand --- Ivo LevyMike Nichols --- Michael PeschkowskyJoan Rivers --- Joan Molinsky Edward G. Robinson --- Emanuel Goldenberg Jane Seymour --- Joyce Penelope FrankenburgSimone Signoret --- Simone-Henriette KaminkerBeverly Sills --- Belle SilvermanSophie Tucker --- Sophia Kalish Jean Pierre Aumont --- J. P. Goldberg Gene Wilder --- Gerald SilbermanSam Waterston --- Sam Wasserstein Douglas Fairbanks --- Douglas UlmanLainie Kazan --- Elaine LevineLenny Bruce --- Leonard Schneider ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yiddish was the secret code, therefore I don't farshstaist, A bisseleh maybe here and there, the rest has gone to waste. Sadly when I hear it now, I only get the gist.My Bubbeh spoke it beautifully; but me, I am tsimisht. So och un vai as I should say, or even oy vai iz mir, Though my pisk is lacking Yiddish, it's familiar to my ear. And I'm no Chaim Yonkel , in fact I was shtick naches,But, when it comes to Yiddish though, I'm talking with my tuchas. Es iz a shandeh far di kinder that I don't know it better (Though it's really nishtkefelecht when one needs to write a letter) But, when it comes to characters, there's really no contention,No other linguist can compete with honorable mentshen: They have nebbishes and nebechels and others without mazel, Then, too, schmendriks and schlemiels, and let's not forget schlemazel. These words are so precise and descriptive to the listener,So much better than "a pill" is to call someone 'farbissener'. Or - that a brazen woman would be better called chaleria, And you'll agree farklempt says more than does hysteria. I'm not haken dir a tsheinik and I hope I'm not a kvetch,But isn't mieskeit kinder, than to call someone a wretch? Mitten derinnen, I hear Bubbeh say, "It's nechtiker tog, don't fear, To me you're still a maven, zol zein shah, don't fill my ear. A leben ahf dein keppele, I don't mean to interrupt,But you are speaking narishkeit.....And a gezunt auf dein kup!"
wetmetalthongJan 18, 2008
"yiddisher kop - Smart person. Literally means 'Jewish head.' I don’t want to know what goyisher kop means."I'm sure it means exactly what you would guess: animal head. But it's not racist. They aren't trying to say you're a lesser creature when they refer to you with the same term they use for livestock. They are just saying that *you* are the "they", and not one of the chosen "us". And to imply anything else is racist anti-semitism.
kusirJan 19, 2008
the translation of guy is nation. the meaning of yiddisher kop is only regarding to those who study the talmud which sharpins the mind
godofblogJun 24, 2008
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