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PM* » THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 14, 1971
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Abe Lincoln spokeYiddish?
by Roy Cordon
Tk Jtwah Veteran
Ehrsleh in milchomeh. ehrsleh
in sholom. und ehrsleh in dem
hauen fun ziner lantzleit.
That it what Thomas Jefferson
would have said about George
Washington if Jefferson spoke
Yiddish and meant to say: “First in
war. first in peace and first in the
hearts of his countrymen.”
Fewer and fearer Jews speak
Yiddish today, whereas even after
World War II there were several
daily Yiddish-Ianguage news
papers, with their peculiar
institutions, such as the schatchcn,
or matchmaker, classified ads.
An attempt is being made to
record all Yiddish phrases and
sayings from the various local
areas in the various parts of the
world where Yiddish had been
spoken. YI VO is the center, in New
York, and if you have any
particularly pithy sayings in
Yiddish that have been in your
family for generations, YIVO
should hear about them. You owe
it to those who have gone on to let
others learn about the way they
made their language live.
If you still know some Yiddish,
or want to learn, you can translate
famous American statements and
slogans into Yiddish, for the
practice—and for fun. It can be a
lot of fun to do—a hobby that
requires some research, and
endless hours of amusement and
convening with the world of our
ancestors, as you find the way
those noble sentiments of our
American past translate
themselves into Yiddish. It is true
that something is lost in
translation. However, statements
also gain in translation. Try it,
you'll like it.
remark, originally, and in English.
It was Admiral Farragut. He is
also the chap responsible for
generations of school kids saying:
"Du megs! shisn ven imgegrayl.
Gridley."- It would only be the
totally untutored who would not
know that as the Yiddish code for:
“You may fire when ready,
Gridley.”
Then, for the soldiers who have
been champing at the bit while all
“Freg nicht vus deiner land Kehn tuhn far dir,
ober vus du kenst tuhn far deiner land.”
—John F. Kennedy
If you do not have a Yiddish
dictionary around the house, your
library may have one, or can
bo now one for you. As a last
resort, you might buy one.
Just imagine the consternation
you’ll spread in your office as you
come charging in one morning,
eyes agleam, shouting. "Verdamt
de bombez—fulgichkayt form r It
may take several seconds for all to
comprehend that all you mean is:
“Damn the torpedoes—full speed
ahead T
If the gang is still with you, you
might then ask who made the
this nautical talk has been going
on, there’s: "Schiss nicht bizt dy
zehsl de vays fun zeherer eygen."
This may have needed some
ranslation at Bunker Hill, where
it would have meant, as it does
everywhere else: “Don’t fire until
you see the whites of their eyes."
This can be followed by a few
easily understood quickies:
"Gedenk der Alamo!" and
’’Gedenk der MAINE!"—
“Remember the Alamo!" and
“Remember the MAINE!”
Then for our sailor friends,
there’s: "Gibt nicht uffet dem
shifr—“Don’t give up the ship!"
to be quickly followed by “Mir
hubn nor ongehaben zum
shluggen"—“We have just begun
to fight."
For the World War I veteran
there** “Lafayette, mir zeinen
duh!"—'“Lafayette, we are here!”
And who can forget Mac-
Arthur’s "Ich vel kummen
tzurikT—“I shall return.” And,
"Ah zelner keyn mol nit
shtarben—zey nor farshvunden
vem avek."—“Old soldiers never
die—they just fade away."
The political arena is also an
excellent ground for rediscovering
those stirring phrases: "Fehr and
fuftzik fehrtzik uder shluggen F—
“Fifty-four forty or fight!" and
also from the early days, the sage
advice of Horace Greeley: "Gey
mayrev. vunger mahn. "—“Go
west, young man." \
“Tippicanoe und Tyler auchelf
brought the folks to their feet when
they understood it to mean
“Tippicanoe (Harrison) and Tyler
too!" It turned out to be for the
most part Tyler, because Harrison
caught cold on his inauguration
and died shortly afterwards.
Now that you are getting the
hang of h, try this from Abe
Lincoln: “Regirung fun dem folk,
durch dem folk, and far dem
folk."—“Government of the
people, by the people, and for the
people.”
"Du kenst narren a bislfun dem
folk a bisl fun dem tzeit, ober du
kenst nicht naren alleh dem folk
alieh fun dem tzeit."—“You can
fool some of the people some of the
time—but you can’t fool all of the
people all of the time.” Almost
sounds as if Lincoln was making a
bar mitzvah speech.
"Feermusern and seben yore
tzurik mir haben gebrengen auf
dieter kontinent..." That’s what
Lincoln started his Gettysburg
address with—“Fourscore and
seven years ago we brought forth
on this continent..."
Who do you think said: “Redn
vaych und trog ein groysser
shtekn." Theodore Roosevelt put
it that way when he meant: “Speak
softly and carry a big stick."
Warren Gamaliel Harding gave
us one of our memorable
campaign slogans: “Tzurik zum
normalkeit."—“Back to Normal
cy," which seemed to include the
Teapot Dome scandal, a
forerunner of Watergate.
Then came Franklin Delano
Roosevelt and Der Nayer
Hadlen—lhe New Deal. "Mir
hubben gornishl tzum geshrechl-
verin arum nohr geshrechtverin
aleyn," he said—“We have nothing
to fear except fear itself."
And John Kennedy in his Der
Neyer Grenetz — The New
Frontier—asked: “Freg nicht vus
deiner land kehn tuhn far dir. ober
vus du kenst tuhn far deiner
land. ”—“Ask not what your
country can do for you, but what
you can do for your country.”
Of course, all of the important
Yiddish sayings were not made by
well-known people. Some of the
sayings were voiced by cogent
folks who knew their stuff and
their people and they worked out a
philosophy. For instance, there is
the statement made by the not-so-
famoj4>, but nonetheless valorous
military figure, that unnamed
Jewish infantry sergeant whose
greatest accolade for all of his
charges in basic training was “Ah
gesunt in deinpupikel." It may lose
something in translation, but
loosely interpreted, it stands for:
“A blessing on your belly button."
A sure-fire ingratiator and ice
breaker during such social
moments of crisis as when you step
on a general’s toes is:
"Einshuldikmir"—“Excuse me.”
In each country where Yiddish
has been spoken for a generation
or more there is always the
blending of the local language and
Yiddish, as in the case of the
wonderful and practical lady of the
house whose instructions to the
grocer, in the days when groceries
had individual service, wert:"Ah
fertelfunl putter (A quarter pound
of butter)."
And what of the future? The day
is not far off when we will have a
goodly number of women
generals. They will bring their own
stamp to affairs. General McAuliff
said "Nissen!*’ (“Nuts!”) when
faced by an enemy demand to
surrender; our woman general
might simply say: "Fehr
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Is Hussein’s wife Jewish?
LONDON—King Hussein’s new queen n’ee Lisa Halaby, is
Jewish, according to an Israeli woman who comes from Lebanon.
The woman, Mrs. Odette Nahun, said on an Israeli radio program
that she had known the mother of King Hussein's fourth wife very
well in Beirut. She was a Jewess with the surname Louva and had
married Najib Halaby, a Lebanese Christian, at a very young age,
bemg careful thereafter to conceal her Jewish origin and
background. Mr. Halaby, who now lives in the United States, was
formerly head of the Federal Aviation Administration and
president of Pan American Airways.