מענדעלע

azoy vi es kumt der kheyliker purim, fargesn di vaybelekh on zeyere yesurim, zey meynen, es iz azoy vi fartsaytn, zey tuen oyf di fartekher arumraytn, zey tuen lekn un nashn un klepn di homentashn, un mit a groyser gedule loyfn zey hern di megile.

der man kumt aheym fun shul, "gut yontev, vayb, gib mir a shtul", entfert zi im: "du bist mir der iker aheymtsukumen purim shiker!" azoy vi er hot dos derhert, hot er gevorfn di kreplekh oyf drerd, fardtert iz gevorn di gedule, in dem iz alts shuldik di megile.

Yiddish folksong (19c.), quoted from p.293 of "Evreiskaia narodnaia pesnia: antologiia" (comp. M.Goldin, eds. I.Zemtsovsky and L.Pecherskaya), Sankt-Peterburg: Kompozitor, 1994. 444 p.

a freylekhn purim alemen

Iosif Vaisman

mayne tayre fraynd,

di folgende zemireys hot men gefunen un a shtetl zibn vokhn unter 'lemberik'. dernokh vos men endigt oys tsu forshn di megiles funm yam hamelakh veln di khokrim zikh nemn tsu unzere gefinenushn.

tsum nigun fun 'The Old Grand Duke of York'

oy der alter rov fun yas hot gehat tsen toysent man er's mit zey aroyf in himl bay shaleshudes un zey aropgebrengt baym zman

ay iz der himl a himl oy iz der erd an erd ay iz a glezel lekhayim fil fil fil mer verd



tsum nigun fun 'Hey Diddle Diddle'

oy yidl yidl der ruv mitn fidl di rebetsen firt a tish der khosid'l lakht tsu zen aza prakht vi mit a gopele teylt men di fish

oy shmidl shmidl a yid zingt a lidl es shprungn arum di toytofes di peysekh kartofl mit di tishebov pantofl tantsn oykh mit di hakofes



tsum nigun fun 'Sing a Song of Sixpence'

zingt a shabes zemer a teler ful mit yoykh fir un tsvantsig rebes fuln on di boykh ven men teylt di shrayem tut zikh oyf tish un benk kodoysh kodoysh shrayt a yeder baym litvak iz a krenk

di rebes zogn toyre farshteyt men den a vort? der litvak art a kashe iz den do dos ort? di rebetsen tseflamt zikh mit gor groys kavone der gabe shteyt un halt ir inter zey zenen mekhadesh der levone

otskoytseyts benkoytseyts

moyray v'raboysay un nit fargesn di rebetsens,

in beney berak hot men letstens oyfgeshtelt a bez din oyf inyoney kompyuters.

fun di ershte psokim iz geven az der internets iz khazer treyf. der psak iz bald ershinen oyfn internets un fil shtrosers (surfers) hobn geshtust dem isur.

hob ikh ober a shayle farn bez din.

AOL hot mikh geshukt an umzister CD. farshteyt zikh az dos iz treyf vi a neveyle vayl oyf dem CD shteyt rakhmone litslon ale sheymes vos kenen an erlikhe yidn farfirn afn eylem hanets. hob ikh mir genumen dem CD un es genutst far a tats far a glezel kave.

atsund falt mir ayn az der kave is dokh heys un az men leygt aroyf a heyse tepel oyf treyfe vert es aleyn treyf. anu meg ikh trunkn dem kave tsu nit? s'hot ayngeshlungn dem isur funem CD.



a tsveyte psak funem bez din iz az fun haynt un vayter vet men mer nit zogn 'yaknehozl' nor s'vet zikh rufn a 'dotkomel'.

nokh a psak: a kompyuter vos iz geven oyfn unternets (yesh omrim 'untervelt') darf men ayntunkn in a mikve. tomer s'iz dort gegangn mer vu a tkhum shabes muz men es farshteynern.

a freylikhn purim aykh ale,

otskoytseyts benkoytseyts

I immediately recognized khaver Feldman's expression.

I remember it as: 'ferd-fooss-potkeveh.'

This is definitely the connection of the horse to its leg and then to its hoof.

The way my grandparents (from Belorussia) used this expression, was to indicate the simplicity of logic, i.e., as obvious as the connection of the horse to its leg and the leg to its hoof.

If I, as a puzzled child represented uncomprehension of an order, they might say, "Vos darf men dir onvyzen -- ferd-fooss-potkeveh?"

Regards Jack Berger

In answer to Ronnie Feldman's inquiry about the expression for a distant relative. My grandmother came from Vetka, which is now in Belarus. She used the expression

Ferd Fus Podkoveh a Tchvekl or Tchvok, meaning very distantly related.

Chassie Margolis

I'm responding to two items in volume 9.069, although I don't have the details of the postings in front of me:

Ronnie Feldman refers to _ferdz fus po'dkeve_ to designate a remote relationship. The expression can be expanded to _ferdz fus po'dkeves a tshvok_(literally, 'a nail of shoe of a horse's foot') to indicate an even more remote relationship.

Itzik Shteyn falls into the usual trap of assuming that "sounds like" provides an answer to an etymological puzzle--like English "see" and "sea" perhaps. The Yiddish spelling of _khoyzik_ is the result of folk etymology -- the assumption that it is related to Hebrew _khazak_. IT IS NOT!

Mikhl Herzog

My relatives (grandparents , aunts & uncles) refrerred to currants as "vaynperlekh" Gooseberries were called "agris". The family came from Russian Poland , Lublin-guberniye, from the town of Turbin. They had planted both currants & gooseberries on their country place in the Catskills & that's where I came across the terms.

Susan Ganc

Ikh vil gebn a kleyn zugabe zu Larisa Pecherskaya's sheyn vort az nor di royte porechke's (currants) ruft men porechke, ober di shvartse heysn smorodine. Bay mayn Mamen in shtel (Oshmene lebn Vilne) hot men gerufn di royte - porechkes ober di shvartse hot men gerufn smorozhine mit a 'zh' nit a 'd'.

Beni Warshawsky

Hi there,

I recently received an e-mail message from a sister living in London, one who enjoys icluding yiddish phrases in her messages. She used the phrase:

vi in amoliker yorn

which I remeber being used to mean: way back when.

Does anyone know the origin of the word amoliker? Is it related to the German einmal and is it in any way related to etmol, the Hebrew for yesterday?

Thanks for your patience...

Henry Mullish