• Re-launched on March 22, Yiddish-sources.com "aims to be a comprehensive source for those interested in using Yiddish materials in their research. The information is arranged in three main sections: reference, research and events.." The page is a portal towards many of the best web resources in Yiddish and comes highly recommended. [I use the page nearly every day - WP]

• The Yiddish Word-of-the-Week, founded by brother-and-sister team Shaul and Shulamit Seidler-Feller, is a listserv that explores a different Yiddish word every week, accompanied by a photograph that portrays its meaning, along with etymological information, phrases, and a sample sentence. Spread the love for Mame-Loshn and subscribe by sending an email to yiddishwordoftheweek@gmail.com.

• The Yiddish Song-of-the-Week, presented by the An-sky Jewish Folklore Research Project (AJFRP), is part of a larger effort by the AJFRP to revitalize traditional Yiddish folksinging performance and research on the subject. Each Yiddish song will be presented with Yiddish words and translation, along with commentary from the contributor.
  
  
• If you're looking for a decent online English-Yiddish dictionary, head over to the easy to use (and aptly named) YiddishDictionaryOnline.com.
  

The Vortsman, meaning "man of his word," brings you the story of a different Yiddish word or phrase each month.

Written by Hershl Hartman, long-time Yiddishkayt Board Member and Education Director at the Sholem Community

The undisputed No. 1 chestnut on the "hit" parade of Yiddish folksongs is "Tumbalalayka." The overworked, over-sung riddle song hardly needs repeating here. However, a member of the San Francisco Yiddish Folk Chorus recently proposed a solution to a  matter that had been bothering some of its members.

The first of the three questions posed by the narisher bokher (silly boy) is "what can grow without rain?" To which the sagacious meydl (young woman) replies: a shteyn ken vaksn, vaksn on regn - a stone can grow, grow without rain.

Some of the S.F. chorus members opined that stones don't grow, so perhaps the original words might have been: farshteyn ken vaksn... -- understanding can grow. Good guess but, unfortunately, no cigar.

Y'see, farshteyn is a verb. Understanding, as a noun, is farshtand. Doesn't work as a precursor to a shteyn.

So where did the folk get the idea that a stone can grow? Der Vortsman can only hazard a guess. Back in the East European shtetl, where the song originated, boys in the kheyder (elementary religious school) did not study geology. Since it was obvious that there were large and small stones lying about, it was perfectly logical that the larger ones had grown over time, nurtured by the rains that turned unpaved shtetl streets into rivers of mud.

And...for a lightning shift to modern-day use and mis-use of Yiddish: The new editor of YidBits drew the Vortsman's attention to a Wikipedia website that lists "Yinglish words" based on the work of an all-time irresponsible but best-selling distorter of Yiddish, az okh un vey -- oh and woe unto us. [See the Wikipedia article to see the pebble in the Vortsman's shoe -Editor]

Among the clevernesses turned up on that site (I kid you not): "Shtuch - to put someone down...'I shtuched him out...'" Where to begin? It's shtokh that means a stitch or needling, often as a satirical put-down. But even the most ignorant user of Yinglish wouldn't say "shtokhed him out!" Or...would he?

Another gem from the same source, mishetyns gezogt -- alack and alas: "Shtotty-fancy or elegant." This one is not Yiddish, English, Yinglish, nor good red herring. It's the product of a fevered mind, possibly based on the far-fetched idea that shtot means city, thereby implying sophistication or grandeur.

There's a good Yiddish phrase for such wisdom:
ameratses - rank, utter, total, unmitigated, noxious stupidity.