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Happy (C/K)ha(n)nu(k)ka(h)...??
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There are as many ways to spell it as there are days to celebrate it. And this year, the debate started early. There's a great line from a song by The LeeVees, of Guster fame, called "How Do You Spell Channukkahh?" <-- link Maybe you heard it on NPR last year...I remember when I was/back in Elementary School, a Spanish kid told me/that it starts with a silent J. But Julio was wrong,/or maybe he was right.
Can someone decide?/Make up your mind.
Well, Yiddishkayt is happy throw in an answer we could all very well agree on. Every schoolyard Yiddishist agrees, if you just follow the Vortsman's Guide to Writing Yiddish in English Letters, you spell it KHANIKE!
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KEHILE - COMMUNITY CALENDAR
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| The CIYCL 2010-2011 Showcase of Contemporary Yiddish Culture (in honor of Lilke Majzner)
The California Institute of Yiddish Culture and Language invites you to join them and their very special guests Boris Sandler and Itzik Gottesman, Editor and Associate Editor of the Yiddish Forverts. CIYCL will screen the film "Glimpses of Yiddish Chernovitz: A Film about the Jews of Chernovitz, Bukovina." The film is in Yiddish with English subtitles.
Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 2:00 PM
Yiddish Culture Club
8339 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90048
$10 CIYCL members; $12 General; Free for full-time students
Please RSVP to Miri Koral
miriam@yiddishinstitute.org or 310.745.1190
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LOU CHARLOFF AT THE VALLEY YIDDISH CULTURE CLUB
Noted Humorist and Story Teller who was recently featured in the web series "Old Jews Telling Jokes" Lou Charloff
In An Evening of Jewish Humor Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. In the David Familian Chapel at Adat Ari El 12020 Burbank Blvd., Valley Village, CA 91607Phone: (818) 766-9426
MEMBERS OR THOSE UNDER 21 YEARS: NO CHARGE GUESTS: $5.00
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL: Izzy Levy (818) 892-6092 or Sally Greenberg (818) 895-0175 |
Remembering Harvey Greenberg (1937-2010)
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 Harvey was a longtime board member of our organization who for many years served on our executive committee and committed generously to support Yiddish. He was very involved with Yiddishkayt and was instrumental in our transition from a volunteer effort to a professional endeavor through his contribution of clear-eyed business acumen amongst a group of luftmentshn. Harvey was a native of Montreal, Canada, and grew up in a Yiddish world and attended the Jewish day schools of Montreal where Yiddish was one of the subjects of instruction. With all, we were taken aback by his sudden death as he was always filled with such energy and enthusiasm. We extend our heartfelt sympathies to his wife Norma and his children Barry, Warren and Heather as well as their respective families. |
 VORTSMAN - SARCASM AND INGENUITY
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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
We're accustomed to complaints about the "Vortsman's Guide to Writing Yiddish in English Letters," so it was no surprise when an old friend, indomitably a "picky engineer," challenged our transliteration of farbisine (dyed-in-the-wool ideological adherents). He insisted the word should be rendered farbisinneh, arguing that "without the double n and the h, some blockhead...will read (it) as far-buy-sign..."
We can't do much for blockheads, nor for anyone else looking for help from English spelling to transliterate another language. Among literally hundreds of examples we could cite, try pronouncing the following:
The bandage is wound around the wound...The dove dove into the bushes...The dump had to refuse more refuse...The farmer planned to produce produce...The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert...
So the Vortsman will stick with the Standard established by YIVO, whose Yiddish acronym stands for Yiddish Scientific Institute, now the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. On the other hand...YIVO itself just sent out a fund appeal for khanike, spelling the name of the holiday as "Hanukkah(!!)" Oy, vey!
(The Guide can be found for downloading at the Yidbits Archive, July 2010 edition. Readers may also request their own personal copy, suitable for framing.)
A reader out Colorado way asked about the meaning of his "grandmother's oft-used expression," which he noted as mitn dren'in or miten drenen. As misty recollections of forebears' expressions go, this one was darn close. His bobe would've said in mitn derinen, or, eliding the phrase, in mitn drinen. The meaning: in the midst of everything...suddenly...inexplicably. As in "During a serious political debate, in mitn drinen the candidate started winking..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Have a question for the Vortsman? Send him an email and ask the meaning of a favorite, or confusing, word or phrase. |
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Telephone: 213.389.8880 | Fax: 213.365.0702 | info@yiddishkayt.org
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