Leo Rosten's 'The Joys of Yiddish": Notable
Encyclopedic Yinglish-Ameridish Lexicon
An essay on the extent of Yid- it is a definitive work on Yiddish He commences with Adonai, with
dish words that have been absorb- words and contains scores upon explanations of the various uses
ed into the Yiddish language by scores of humorous stories related of the YHVH; and concludes with
Leo Rosten that appeared in Har- to the many words; and its inter- zetz, zhlub--zhlob, Zion-Tzion and
per's in this country and Encoun- esting and impressive approach is Zohar.
ter in England attracted wide described on the title page as:
Interspersed are the hundreds
attention and created a great deal
"A relaxed lexicon of Yiddish,
of wise sayings and the scores of
of renewed interest in Yiddish.
Hebrew and Yinglish words often
humorous stories, and if a re-
That fascinating essay was an in-
encountered in English, plus
viewer were to permit himself
troduction to the book on Yiddish
dozens that ought to be, with
—to quote some of the tales—
by Rosten.
serendipitous excursions into
comment on this book would be
Jewish humor, habits, holidays,
absolutely endless.
His immense work of 525 pages,
history, religion, ceremonies,
"The Joys of Yiddish" has just
He does much more: there are
folklore and cuisine; the whole
been issued by McGraw Hill Book
generously gar nished with appendices to the book about great
Co. and it is safe to say that it
stories, anecdotes, epigrams, Tal- Jewish heroes and important his-
may have a very long run as a
mudic quotations, folk sayings toric events in Jewish history, (Bar
best seller. It is not a dictionary:
and jokes—from the days of the Kokhba, Akiba, the Cabbala); he
explains the Jewish calendar, can-
Bible to those of the beatnik."
MINI1111111.1[11•0111$
tors, circumcision, the holidays,
While this lengthy sub-title serves dialects, False Messiahs. He ex-
very well as a veritable review of plains naming and names among
the book itself, the volume, un- Jews.
doubtedly the result of many years
Rosten's "The Joys of Yiddish"
of accumulative efforts, deserves
high commendation and therefore is more than the lexicon it purports
added scrutiny into its contents to be: it is an encyclopedic work,
and objectives
and as such this reviewer com-
Rosten, who first gained fame mends it among the notable liter-
with' "The Education of
H*Y*MW=N KtA*P*L'A*N" and ary creations. —P. S.
VERY TRULY
A most remarkable
selection of
SPORT COATS
SUITS
TOPCOATS
$69.50
$89.50
$110
All Models—Ivy
Continental—Two Buttons
By CESSIN I
Tino Morelli and Gardella
We are one of the very few
stores that sell the finest in
men's wear, at less than the
nationally advertised prices.
And we are not part of a
chain—
HARRY
THOMAS
Fine Clothes For Over 30 Years
15200 W. Seven Mile Rd.
Doily to 6:00 P.M., Monday and
Thursday Noon to 9:00 P.M.
OPEN SUNDAY
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
muciiiimmoi *aim
subsequent books of great merit,
dedicates this book" For my mother
who taught me the mama-losben
and for my children and their chil-
dren and theirs." He does this
while recognizing that there is a
decline in use of the language, a
loss of strength of its once power-
ful press and a reduction in the
number of people using the lan-
guage. But he emphasizes the Yin-
glish element, declaring:
"This is a book about language
—more particularly, the English
language. It shows how our mar-
velously resilient tongue has
been influenced by another par-
lance: Yiddish. It illustrates how
beautifully a language reflects
the variety and vitality of life
itself; and how the special cul-
ture of the Jews, their distinc-
tive style of thought, their subtle.
ties of feeling, are reflected in
Yiddish; and how this in turn
has enhanced and enriched the
English we use today. So, this
book explores a fascinating
aspect of English: those words
and phrases from Yiddish (some
I call `Yinglish,' some 'Ameri-
dish') that we today encounter
in English books, magazines,
newspapers; or hear on televi-
sion or radio, in movies or night-
clubs; or may overhear on the
street or in a bus in many a
large city in the United States."
He lists the many words that
have become Yinglish — bagel,
kibitzer, mash-mash, shmegege,
shlemiel, kvetch, shlim a z e 1,
shmaltz, gonif, hutzpa, yenta . . .
and many more.
Not only the influence of Yiddish
and the scope of his own wordbook,
but the many phrases from Yid-
dish usage that has become Yin-
glish-Ameridish are incorporated
into this study which emerges as a
veritable treasure house of jokes,
of dialogues and puns.
Rosten provides a well-gathered
history of Yiddish and its devel-
opment, its emergence not as a
jargon, as some have branded the
language, but as a living and pow-
erful tongue for a people whose
creative lexicon is so evident in
English today.
It is so well compiled and im-
plemented with scholarly re-
search that "The Joys of Yid-
dish," while it is in English, al-
most serves ince a textbook for
Yiddish students—except that it
is done entirely in English, with
explanatory transliterations —
without using the Yiddish letters
or script, without the Hebrew
letters of the language.
Thus, Rosten guides the reader
on how to pronounce Yiddish, dif-
ferentiating between the KH and
the Germanic and Scotch CH.
He does not exclude some terms
not to be used in public, and he
makes certain that elements em-
phasizing the sanctity of Jewish
life are not ignored.
12—Friday, November 8, 1968
Author's 'Chagrin' Over Review
of His Yiddish Slang Dictionary
Comments by The Detroit Jewish
News reviewer on his "Dictionary
of Yiddish Slang" (issue of Aug.
30) brought a message from its
author, Frederick Kogos, express-
ing "chagrin."
Stating his "unhappirless" over
the condemnation by our reviewer
of resort to numerous expressions
of filth, Kogos wrote:
"How can anyone — any knowl-
edgeable person — besmirch the
great name of Uriel Weinreich by
comparing my feeble efforts with
his great work? His is a monumen-
tal achievement in recording Yid-
dish in dictionary form, unequaled
since Alexander Harkavy compiled
the first Yiddish Dictionary about
40 years ago?
"How can anyone say that Uriel
Weinreich's work is the most use-
ful, when actually, since it is writ-
ten in Hebrew characters, only
those who read Yiddish can find
this work useful? And how many of
America's Jews can read Yiddish?
These you can count in the thou-
sands. I am not belittling Dr. Wein-
reich's book. It is a magnificent
work, limited in its use to those
who can read Yiddish in Hebrew
characters.
"How can the reviewer of my
"Yiddish Slang & Idioms" omit the
fact that it is written in all English
letters, phonetically transliterated
NEW YORK (JTA) — Twenty- so that everyone can read and
four Czech Jewish refugees who understand?
landed at Kennedy Airport last
"How can it be said that my
week have arrived in new homes
in four states with the assistance work emphasises filth? Out of 2,000
of the United Hias Service which phrases, only 23 are vulgarisms.
provided their flight tickets. The And these were included because
group was part of the first organ- of their prevalence of use. And the
ized flight of Czech immigrants of
all faiths, sponsored by Catholic,
Protestant, Jewish and non-sectar-
ian agencies.
HIAS Aids Czech
Refugees in U.S.
According to Carlos L. Israels,
United Hias president, more than
1,500 Czech refugees have regis-
tered with the immigrant aid
agency in Vienna and hope to im-
migrate to the United States, Aus-
tralia, Latin America and other
Western countries." Gaynor I.
Jacobson, executive director of the
organization, said the first Jewish
arrivals here included six families
with a total of 10 children and an
-engaged couple, all of whom were
joining relatives in California,
Maryland, New York and Ohio.
He said the group included a sym-
phony -orchestra conductor, econ-
omists, electrician, engineer, psy-
chologist, teacher and a clerk.
• Rabbi Jakobovitz, forme r
Chief Rabbi of Ireland, and
at one time, Rabbi of the 5th
Avenue Temple in New York
City.
• Author of "Jewish Medical
Ethics," "Journal of a
Rabbi," "Jewish Law Faces
Modern Problems, and "Israel
Vision and Realization."
• Recipient of first Distin-
guished Service Award and
first Mordecai Feder Memo-
rial Award of the Associa•
tion of Orthodox Jewish
Scientists of America.
others are still in common use by
our fathers. Common usage can not
be disregarded. Interestingly, these
phrases were checked by scholars
engaged by Citadel Press and never
was it suggested to delete them. I
would have been glad to do so.
"As a husband and father of two
grown daughters, all college edu-
cated, sensitive and cultured (my
family read and approved the en-
tire work), it was not my intention
to be either obscene or vulgar, but
solely to record and preserve words
and pharases in current use.
"I wish to preserve Yiddish. I
feel it can be done only in phonetic
transliteration using Roman Eng-
iLsh letters. I am writing and com-
piling other works along the same
line—proverbs, folksayings, stories,
etc.—and record the new and the
old, the commonplace and he cul-
tured, the useful and the remem-
bered, the interesting and the
delightful. This is an obsessive
hobby, with the lofiest of intentions.
I thank you for your understand-
ing"
Whether you be good or bad, you
are the children of God.
(—Kiddushin 36)
IF YOU WARN THU
virS•1
INTIM DOWN YOU WONT
FIND &POND WIND THAN
Milan Wineries,. Detroit, Mich.
HALLMARK STATIONERY
NEW -DARING
AND/OR ELEGANT
"When you care enough to send the very best"
BOOK-O-RAMA
(3645 W. NINE MILE
398-4764
Oak Park
OPEN DAILY 9:30 to 9:00; SUNDAY 10:30 to 8:00
—48.-- ■ • —..
RABBI
CHIEF RABBI
IMMANUEL JAKOBOVITZ
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
IMMANUEL JAKOBOVITZ,
Chief Rabbi
of United
Jewish
Congregations
OF THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH
-
JEWISH BOOK FAIR WEEK
GUEST SPEAKER
Wednesday, Nov. 13, 8:45 P.M.
Shiffman Hall, Jewish Community Center
18100 Meyers Rd.
CO-SPONSORED BY:
JEWISH NATIONAL FUND
ZIONIST ORGANZATON
AND
OF
DETROIT
+.'" PUNK INVITED'
P.. No Admission Charge
Jo" Refreshments