Click on Read More for the full transcript. If you are a Yiddish speaker and see something I may have mistyped or misunderstood, please let me know! - Dan *bunnytrailspod at gmail*
Shauna (00:00):
Welcome to Bunny Trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms
and other turns of phrase I'm Shauna Harrison
Dan (00:06):
And I'm Dan Pugh this week is our second installment of
our "Conversations" series, where we talk to fellow word nerds about
general word nerdery. This week is New York Times bestselling author, Daniel
Klein. His new book Schmegoogle: Yiddish words for modern times, makes him the
perfect person to talk to us today about the evolution of language
Shauna (00:28):
We talk how Yiddish needs to evolve to cover things like
the internet, sexuality, and legal weed. Words, like appschvitz, the result of
being annoyed or made anxious by one's inability to get one smartphone to work
as desired, or Meshuga-nug, which means someone who is just crazy about
marijuana and for whom there is no such thing as being too high. We also cover
Yiddish roots, the comedic styles of different languages, parallels between
Yiddish and the Black community, and the importance of being able to make fun
of yourself.
Daniel Klein (01:04):
But first we need to give a quick word of thanks to our
patrons, including Pat Rowe and Mary Lopez. Without our patrons this show just
wouldn't be possible. Head to www.bunnytrailspod.com to learn more about how
you can keep Bunny Trails going week after week. And without further ado, New
York Times bestselling author Daniel Klein. Danny, welcome to the show.
Daniel Klein (01:26):
Thank you. It's an honor to be here. I really like your
mission. I love this stuff.
Shauna (01:31):
Thank you! Your book, Schmegoogle, looks at Yiddish for
modern language. So you must have given some serious thought to the way
language changes and morphs over time. What are your thoughts on the evolution
of language?
Daniel Klein (01:45):
Yeah, I'll tell you a funny story that has nothing to do
with Yiddish a language that I really like or a slang that I really liked,
and that has endured for centuries is rhyming slang, Cockney English. I'm sure
you've heard of it. And it's a weird, weird language because what they do is
you'll, you'll use a rhyme for the real thing, like, uh, uh, to say the, uh,
stairs, you say apples and pears and the rhyme is pears. So I'm gonna walk up
the apples and pears, but then they drop the rhyme and they say, I'm going to
walk up to the apples. It makes no sense at all, but it's fascinating. And, um,
and, um, and then one guy, a guy I met in England who was Cockney, but also
spoke regular English, explained to me the origin of the expression 'pop goes
the weasel'.
Daniel Klein (02:58):
You know, that song... A nickel for... Pop goes, the
weasel. He says, pop is, um, Cockney slang for uncle and uncle is the pawn shop
is the guy that runs the pawn shop. And Weasel is a degradation of the word
whistle, which is the rhyming slang whistling flute. It's just really weird to
follow, whistling flute, which is the rhyme for suit. So pop goes to the weasel
means I've run out of money. So I have to pawn on my suit.
Shauna (03:41):
Oh my goodness. Wow.
Daniel Klein (03:43):
So then flash forward to, you know, and, uh, I'm taking
our daughter to the, um, to a, one of these living history, museums for
pilgrims, and they're all dressed like pilgrims and we go into one room and
there's a woman dressed as a Pilgrim. Who's spinning cotton or wool, I guess,
But she's spinning cotton. And she says, the things that the raw cotton spins
off of is called the weasel. And when it comes to the end, it pops off. And
that's where you get the expression pop goes the weasel. I don't trust either
of these people. I have no idea where the true etymology is.
Dan (04:45):
Well, we find that quite a bit where we go back and we see
multiple, uh, origin stories. And one of the things we do quite a bit is look
through newspaper archives. And the library of Congress for the United States
has, uh, a vast array of microfilms of newspapers going back to the late 17
hundreds. And it's a searchable database. So we go back and look, and we'll
oftentimes find newspapers that will print something in 18 hundreds. That is an
origin story for a phrase. But then in the 19 hundreds, it'll be a different
origin story for the phrase and in the newspapers. And it's, it's so
fascinating to see how people think it changes. So this book is, uh, all about,
uh, new Yiddish, um, Yiddish words that are, or terms, that are built off of
the existing way Yiddish is used. So what are some of the words you found, uh,
in your research and, and when writing this book, what are some of the words
that you found that, uh, still just kinda make you laugh looking at? And
they're just like, man, I just really love that word.
Daniel Klein (05:53):
Well, I love all the insults, uh, Yiddish has more insults
and more words for losers than any language. I mean, they kind of fine tune
that. It's looking at it to call somebody a loser that covers a lot of
territory. They'd find done. I wrote down, you know, have you heard the
word schlemiel, it's one of the many loser words. It's an insult. And another insult word is schlimazel, he's a real schlimazel. And so when you ask
a real Yiddish speaker, what's the difference. And I'll read this to you
"a Shlemiel is somebody who frequently spills his soup. And a schlimazel,
is it the guy he spills it on"
Daniel Klein (06:54):
So that's the fine tuning. I love these insults. And one
of my theories about why, um, why Yiddish, wherever it goes, it sticks. I'm
going like an Amsterdam slang it's, you know, before the war, uh, Amsterdam was
about 20% Jewish, which now it's 2%, but, uh, the slang has stuck and people
don't even know where it's from. You walk out of your shop and somebody says to
you mazel, he has no idea speaking Yiddish. It's just part of Amsterdam slang.
And one thing about Jewish humor is that you make fun of yourself and you make
fun of your own people. Very rare French, the never do that. The Germans, the
Dutch never do that. Interestingly, the Scottish people do it. They have, they
have loads of jokes and expressions. Apparently the stereotype of the Scots, I
didn't know this is they're skinflints. They're always trying to get something
for the cheapest price. That's also one about Jews, but they have a hundred
jokes about, uh, themselves, uh, jokes about themselves. You don't find that in
many languages, you'll find it in Yiddish all the time. And people will say,
Oh, I'm such a schmuck. You know, say it about yourself. That's something a
French person would never do. You know,
Shauna (08:28):
That's, uh, my, uh, grandma also is a German and, um, I
have heard her, like, she would say stuff under her breath all the time. Like,
and sometimes they were some of these Yiddish, you know, terms that, that I've
read in, in your book here. And, and it was just interesting to kind of piece
that together with what I would hear her say when I was a kid and she's kind of
moving around the house and stuff. So it's very entertaining to make that
connection.
Daniel Klein (08:53):
And I mean, the theory is, and again, well like you I'm
skeptical of these theories is that it started as a secret language and then
some generations, it was the, uh, you know, when, uh, Jews started to
assimilate, it was language. The parents talked together so that the kids
couldn't understand. So, it even retained that idea of being the secret
language. Uh, but, uh, my father only spoke German and my mother knew Yiddish,
but, uh, it was only when my grandmother visited. She was Polish from Poland
and when she visited, they would speak. But, uh, so I didn't really have any exposure
to it until I was, I was a comedy writer for about four or five years in New
York. And that's when I, when I learned it in the comedy room where a lot of
the, a lot of the comedy writers at that time, we're talking a long time ago,
the early sixties, um, uh, these guys, uh, they hadn't gone to college. They'd
been writing funny stuff since they were in high school and they didn't bother
to go to college, you know? And, um, and, uh, they all knew Yiddish and they
all said funny stuff. And yet, uh, it was a lot of fun for me. I had a ball
quite frankly.
Dan (10:19):
So It kind of built a love of the language and the slangs
of the language.
Daniel Klein (10:23):
Yes. Yeah. Another thing I like about a Yiddish have, you
know, a writer, Roy Blount jr.
Dan (10:31):
Yes.
Daniel Klein (10:31):
A Southern writer, and he's a friend of mine. He lives up
here part of the year. And, um, he wrote a book that, um, he thinks that what's
appealing about a lot of words is how they feel in the mouth. But he says, you
know, certain words just feel good that, you know, the pucker and your tongue
and clicks. I don't know. Uh, and I think Yiddish is one of them. I mean, you
know, the word schmuck, it just feels good coming out of it
Dan (11:10):
As they say about wine. It has a good mouth feel.
Daniel Klein (11:12):
Yeah. Oh, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. And one thing on me
now that I mentioned schmuck, for some reason in Yiddish, a lot of insults mean
penis. You know, a schmuck literally means a penis.
Dan (11:28):
Oh, I did not know that. No, no.
Shauna (11:30):
Walk around saying that all the time and don't know what
they are saying.
Daniel Klein (11:33):
No, when you don't know what it is, but you know why a
penis should be, uh, an insult... But there are all these words that are named
penis that are insults such as schmuck
Shauna (11:46):
Giving new insight now. On a similar topic to the mouth
feel or the way the words feel in the mouth. I also, um, am I really love the
way that some words describe themselves almost or, um, so the word crisp to me
is like a crisp word.
Daniel Klein (12:04):
Oh, yes.
Shauna (12:04):
And then, and then another step beyond that is
onomatopoeias and you touch on that a little bit. So, so tell us about that.
Daniel Klein (12:13):
Yes. Um, I, I, uh, the only one that I can think of just
off hand in, uh, and, and Yiddish that is, I guess you'd call it onomatopoetic,
and this is one that everybody in, uh, you know, uh, metropolis like New York
has had a Yiddish influence said, and then something discussed and they go,
"feh". (Sounds like feck, but as if you were spitting.)
Dan (12:42):
Oh, right. Yeah.
Daniel Klein (12:43):
I had one of those hot dogs, feh. And what "feh"
is actually is a articulation of spitting.
Dan (12:52):
Right. That makes sense.
Daniel Klein (12:54):
"Feh". And that's what you, you know, we're just
sort of naturally we do. Until we became civilized and, you know, and if
somebody or something disgusted you, you didn't spit anymore. So you drew it
back a little bit and you said "feh", which essentially it's
spitting.
Dan (13:15):
Nice, interesting. I'd never thought of that.
Daniel Klein (13:18):
It sounded like a spit a little bit. Yeah. So anyhow, what
I wanted to do in my book is, um, is to update, uh, uh, Yiddish for the modern
world. I mean, it's here, but you can't use it for stuff, modern stuff like,
like the kind of thing that you're into social media. And that's like, the
title of the book is Schmegoogle. I made that up. A schmegoogle is somebody who
is so insignificant that if you Google him, nothing comes up.
Shauna (13:57):
I love this word. It's perfect.
Daniel Klein (14:00):
And I'm hoping it becomes, you know, I mean, everybody's
dreamed that a word they invent then becomes part of the language. So I thought
of that one and I thought, Oh, geez. I wonder if I can think of anymore. And I
sat down and I got stoned and I thought of a 200 of them.
Dan (14:16):
Nice!
Shauna (14:16):
Very impressive.
Dan (14:19):
That that definitely adds to the, maybe one or two of them
will stick. If you have a law of large numbers,
Daniel Klein (14:25):
I want 10!
Dan (14:30):
Well, having read the book, I can definitely say there are
numerous ones in here that probably should stick around.
Shauna (14:36):
Yeah. So one of my favorites that, that you've got in
there is, appschvitz.
Daniel Klein (14:41):
Yes,
Shauna (14:43):
And I love that idea. I'm like, yeah, people like I've
seen people throw their phones cause they were so frustrated that it wouldn't
work the way they want
Daniel Klein (14:52):
Exactly
Shauna (14:53):
Nice to have a word for that feeling.
Daniel Klein (14:56):
Um, and, and, and I liked the idea of the one
cybershmooze, you know, you're probably familiar with the expression shmooze
that has entered English.
Dan (15:08):
Yes.
Daniel Klein (15:10):
And you know, and it's not exactly gossip. It's not
exactly, uh, uh, chit chat. It's kind of friend. It has a friendliness to it.
Ah, we schmoozed for a little while. And then we, uh, said goodbye, you know,
it's kind of friendly. It's, it's a nuanced kind of talking together in a
friendly way. Uh, and, um, and so now people do that as in a sense, we are
doing now online. So I said, you needed to go to work for that cyberschmooze.
Dan (15:48):
I love this word because now we're still in the middle of
a, of a pandemic. Uh, and so we can't go out and about in lots of places. And
unfortunately where we live is kind of a hot spot at the moment. So instead
of...
Daniel Klein (16:01):
Sorry to hear that.
Dan (16:01):
Yeah, well, you know, it is what it is I guess. But we,
uh, we, instead of going and hanging out with our friends, we will do like a
call like this, like on zoom or Skype or something. And, and so that's kind of
what it's turned into where we're basically cybershmoozing, you know, with
people now, instead of, instead of seeing them in person. So it's been it's,
this is perfect timing for these words.
Daniel Klein (16:24):
Yes. Yeah, it is. And, um, uh, even my, my granddaughter
who's eight. She, she has, she does cyberschmoozing with her buddies. It's just
not quite the same, but they'll do like little dances for each other. That's
part of the schmoozing.
Shauna (16:45):
I also like this, uh, the faceshtick, uh, that one, that
one appeals to me. My, um, uh, you also talked about, uh, so schtick that, that
idea of a funny story or routine or gimmick, um, and then you have another one
in there that's, uh, that longer version of that. My dad is one of those who
tells stories that are, that are jokes that take an hour, you know,
Daniel Klein (17:09):
Oh, I want to meet him. He's my kind of guy.
Dan (17:14):
He, I think he is, yes. Yeah.
Shauna (17:16):
It's so entertaining. And so then I saw, but I love this
little kind of play on that too. The faceschtick of, of putting that on
Facebook and, I love them.
Daniel Klein (17:26):
Yeah. That's great. The other thing is that you needed
words for, um, uh, uh, marijuana. I'm in a state where it's very, it's legal
and very popular. And, uh, a number of States around here have that. And so you
need Yiddish words for that too. So I made those up and actually it's funny,
some people have started to pick up, you know, the advanced copies (of the
book, Schmegoogle) are going out and the, um, the, uh, I didn't know, they
existed, but the marijuana sites love them.
Shauna (18:07):
I can see that. Is it "mushuga-nug", is that how
that one's pronounced.
Daniel Klein (18:12):
Yes.
Dan (18:14):
I love that with a kind of reefer madness. It's just crazy
about marijuana.
Daniel Klein (18:19):
Yes.
Dan (18:21):
It is still very illegal in Kansas.
Daniel Klein (18:26):
Yeah.
Dan (18:26):
Oklahoma and Missouri, which were both States that border
us it's legal there. So it's only a matter of time.
Daniel Klein (18:33):
Yes, it is. It is. Before I had marijuana, I had, before I
essentially had a drink, I had psilocybin, which is a psychedelic drug. And the
reason for that as, and we'll see if you remember this, do you remember a guy
named Timothy Leary?
Dan (18:55):
Yes.
Daniel Klein (18:56):
He was the guru of psilocybin and then LSD. Well, he was
at Harvard when I was an undergraduate there and he experimented on theology
and, uh, philosophy majors. That would be me.
Daniel Klein (19:15):
So all I did before it was Shabbat wine and all of a
sudden n'yah! Speaking of Harvard. Can I tell you that something about language
that interested me? I took a course from a logician world, famous logician,
very interesting guy to me. He also played jazz piano and I was devoted to him.
Willard Van Orman Quine was his name was, and he would talk about, if you go to
a culture, you know, a primitive culture where it has a natural language and by
natural language, he meant a language that was totally unrelated to any other
language.
Daniel Klein (20:02):
You know, like English comes from Anglosaxon and German
and all kinds of things. No, they have a language that is, that is unique and
uninfluenced by any other language. And so you're trying to learn how to
translate it into your language. Your language is English. And he says, so
you're walking around with a native and a rabbit runs by and he points at it
and he says, gavagi. So you write down in your notebook. Their word for rabbit
is gavagi. And Quine says, "you don't know that".
Daniel Klein (20:49):
Because you don't know the way they construct the world,
you don't know their entire yenevelt nashama. We're all, you know what he is
saying is Look, all the different parts of a rabbit connected together now.
Shauna (21:06):
Oh yeah.
Daniel Klein (21:06):
He said,, because that's the way they may view the world.
Things are in parts. He had other alternatives, things that could have
something to do with the way they see time that, um, a rabbit now is what they
mean. Not that it's a rabbit, there was a rabbit before and there will be a
rabbit later. Um, it just depends on how they construct their universe and they
are in their universe. Um, I found that stuff. Fascinating.
Shauna (21:45):
Yeah. That's an incredible, it's like that, you know,
this, there is this idea, like the way that we communicate is very, it's
contextual. It requires, you know, common understanding of what context it's in
and, um, yeah, that would, that's, that's definitely something that would be
really, really interesting to, to learn about and to kind of, I don't know,
that's, that's just kind of blowing my mind with that one.
Daniel Klein (22:10):
Well, no, you guys are, I'm so happy that young people are
interested in this. So the name of his book, and I imagine it's still a print
is "word and object" And it's old. I bet it's still in print because
it was kind of a classic of, of, of how we go from one culture to another and
see if we possibly can possibly translate or maybe not. Right. That blew my
mind. I must say.
Dan (22:42):
That is that's fascinating because, uh, idiomatic
expressions, uh, match that same kind of a concept where you don't necessarily
know where it's coming from. So it's easy to say like, Oh, you know, he's a
sheet to the wind, meaning he's, he's drunk. Uh, and then we don't really know
that context. And if you're not a nautical person, then you might look at that
and say, Oh, a sheet that's probably the sail, right. Well, no, it's actually
one of the ropes it's attacking the sheet or the, or the two ropes.
Daniel Klein (23:08):
I didn't know that!
Dan (23:08):
Yeah. It's not even, it's not even the sail. It's the,
it's one of the ropes that, that doesn't, that gets tightened or not. I like
that. So it's fascinating because, you know, if you don't, if you don't
understand that or understand, you know, the context of what they're saying,
then a sheet, you know, a sheet to the wind or a sheet in the wind, you have no
idea what that would mean at all. If you're not a native speaker or understand
the context.
Shauna (23:33):
I think those differences like between that, of having
that knowledge of knowledge base of, of the understanding of the concept
itself, but then also just over time generationally, um, you know, those
concepts change. And so that is, is also kind of plays into it. How much of our
language is determined by our culture and our society and our use of it and how
much of our, uh, and then the reverse of that, how much of our language
actually influences our culture and, and, you know, understanding of one
another and, and everything.
Daniel Klein (24:05):
Yes. That, that interests me a lot. And, you know, what's
kind of interesting. Uh, so I I've, you know, I'm an old guy and I've been
married twice as long as, as you are, but we're always speaking, uh, a language
that is, uh, it's actually a her third language. Her first language was Dutch
and then, uh, uh, German and then was English. But I mean, she's lived here a
long time, but we're always talking, you know, our English is like a college
graduate, so American college, but, but they're always sometimes nuances. And
we sometimes say, that's the secret to our marriage. We really don't understand
each other <laughter>
Shauna (24:55):
Still more to learn about each other. That's what that is
Daniel Klein (24:57):
Yeah. Yeah. And also because it is a worldview, even
though it's a close a Dutch it's closely related to English, uh, the German
connection, but, um, but you know, they parceled the world out in different
things and it's much more influenced by, um, um, Calvinism.
Dan (25:15):
Pre-determination?
Daniel Klein (25:20):
Yeah. Then, then certainly then by Judaism and, uh, uh,
and the values you put on thing. And, um, and the, the Dutch, it's very funny
because they're accused of being blunt. That's part of their stereotype, you
know, but, uh, you know, you never go away thinking, what did they really mean
that cause, cause they really said it and yet they're also very discreet, you
know, at the same time, you know, if you tell them a secret, they will not
share it.
Daniel Klein (25:55):
I mean, these are big generalizations, but that in itself
is an ethic, which I must say, I'm very attracted to it. I like it because I,
you know, you can't trust me at all. <laughter> Never could.
Shauna (26:10):
I kind of wanted to ask if you have a favorite of your
new, new words that you've created here, is there one that kind of is just at
the top?
Daniel Klein (26:18):
Have you ever heard the expression farklempt?
Shauna (26:22):
Yes. Yes.
Daniel Klein (26:23):
And that's somebody, you know, I'm so I'm so choked up
that I can't, I'm so farklempt. I can't tell you how much I love you. You know,
so I have something called farklempt disorder, you know, and that's somebody
who can, I, who cannot express their feelings because they have excess emotion.
So I turned farklempt into a, uh, a DSM disease. I don't think it's a disease.
Dan (26:59):
Sure, sure.
Daniel Klein (27:02):
Tsurits syndrome, tsuris means, boy do I have problems?
Uh, uh, you know, my daughter ran off with a milkman, Oh, such tsuris I had.
Uh, and, and I liked that word tsuris. And also that's one that feels good in
the mouth that Ts we don't have that many languages. Greek has it. TS and TZ,
it's a, it's a, it's a letter in the Hebrew alphabet at TZ. And, and, uh, you
don't have that in English. Uh, the Greek has that for some reason and it feels
good "ts". It's a separate sound. And so somebody would with tsurits
disorder is somebody who shouts out, whatever bothered them, or bothers them.
That would be me! <Laughter?
Dan (28:01):
My, uh, my grandmother, God rest her soul, was a bit of a
hypochondriac. And she always, she always joked that, uh, that she was going to
put on her gravestone, "I told you so"
Daniel Klein (28:16):
I like that!
Dan (28:17):
At least she laughed at it. She knew she was,
Daniel Klein (28:20):
And that's it.
Dan (28:22):
Whatever was going wrong with her. She would say, I'm
having chest pains. I bet I'm having a heart attack,
Daniel Klein (28:28):
But that's part of it. She was making fun of herself. I
like cultures that do that. Um, Oh, you know what, I went to a high school that
had a pretty good population, you know, just back, you know, and your parents
time in the fifties and, uh, maybe what 25% African American population, they
tended to hang together and they had, they hung together at the lunch room, but
sometimes I got to sit with them. And they had jokes about themselves and about
being Black. And this was, you know, we're talking 60 years ago, I just was on
the floor.. I was just on the floor. And, um, so I found that there were some
commonalities between Jewish humor and Black humor, and I was able to use it
quite recently. I live in a town now that it used to have a pretty big, um, uh,
African American population, because it was where all over Pullman operate, uh,
what are they called? Pullman stewards or whatever they were, it's where they
live, because it was halfway between New York and Canada. So they settled here
and they started a church here. And, uh, and then, uh, they had, uh, some kind
of a fight. And so some broke off and they started the Macedonian church, the
breakaway group down the thing. So I went to these, I have a friend who belongs
to this church and they were talking about, uh, Dubois, w E B Dubois, who's
from this town.
Daniel Klein (30:22):
Uh, and I had some, some interest in, and I said, you
know, how come, you're not, there's not that many of you left because the
Pullman operator thing stopped after a while. Uh, and, uh, and you still have,
uh, two churches. And they said, Oh, well, you know, this guy and the other
guy's wife. And so it was a whole story. So I told them this old, um, this old
Yiddish joke, and that's about this Jew gets shippedwrecked And he ends up on
an Island and he's on this Island for years and years and years. And finally
somebody in the British Navy who drives by the Island and they see this guy
waving, and he's got a beard down to his knees and he just rags and they come
up to him and, and, and they say, Oh God, how long you've been here? So I don't
know, 40 years, they looked behind him and on the strand are two bamboo
edifices. And he says, well, what are those? He says, those are the synagogues.
I built them myself. He said, you got two synagogues. She says, what do you
need? Two synagogues. You're the only guy on the Island. He says, you see,
that's the one I don't go to. <laughter>
Daniel Klein (31:45):
So I, so I told this at the Zion church, they were on the
floor. It was just a perfect parallel. And they knew that kind of joke. They
knew that. So there are some parallels there looking at American humor, where
does it come from from Blacks and Jews.That's it. And then I started writing
comedy. They had black comedians, but no, uh, black writers, not yet on any, I
mean, people would write their own material. So I got hired because I knew from
a high school, I knew how to, uh, you know, sometimes I just take a Yiddish
joke and turn it into a Black joke. And, um, and they, they were happy. They
know.
Dan (32:34):
It's amazing to similarities between some of the cultures.
Daniel Klein (32:36):
Yes, yes. And some of knew them. I don't know whether you
are old enough to remember a guy named Flip Wilson.
Dan (32:43):
Yeah. Yeah. My grandpa was a big fan of Flip Wilson.
Daniel Klein (32:46):
Oh yeah. Well, he was the best employer I ever had, who
was so generous and so sweet. Uh, and he was so naughty. Um, and, uh, he knew
more Yiddish than I did.
Dan (32:59):
Oh, wow.
New Speaker (33:01):
Yeah, I think he'd grown up in Chicago and, uh, he was
still naturally funny. He woke up in the morning, funny cause we were on the
road and we'd have breakfast and he'd be funny at breakfast, you know,
Dan (33:14):
Where do you see a language like the Yiddish language... I
imagine it will continue to permeate into, uh, other types of speech. I imagine
it will stick around, uh, because of that, it's, it has had long lasting
staying power. Uh, so how do you foresee Yiddish to continue moving forward
with some of these, these new words? And then also, um, you know, some of the
existing words?
Daniel Klein (33:40):
Yes. I think, uh, I think I'm making my contribution. I
think Schmegoogle, I think some of them will, will stick because, you know, old
Yiddish to know about social media, bisexuality, smoking pot, uh, um, Oh, and
then the big category is intermarriage. I mean, you know, at this point, uh, my
wife and I once wrote a book called The Half Jewish book because there are now
under the age of 16 in America, there are more half Jews than full Jews. Uh,
and so you need, you need words for that and you need words for the in-laws.
And, uh, uh, like I made up the word bisselbubbe. A bisselbubbe, it's somebody,
you know, was your grandmother, but just a little bit, because she's really not
Jewish. <laughter>
Daniel Klein (34:37):
And so you need words like that, but some of them, a lot
of the words about mixed, came spontaneous. I didn't make them up. And my
favorite because it is so clever is there is a, I guess it's big enough to be
called a city on Long Island, New York. And it's called Massapequa, which I
assume is an indigenous name, but for a long time, it had to kind of co-equal
populations. And that is Italians and Jews, immigrants. And inevitably they
fall in love with each other and made babies together.
Dan (35:16):
As people do.
Daniel Klein (35:16):
I guess that happens. I don't know how it's still a
mystery to me. It's something to do with atoms, I think probably. Um, so then
they'd have these half Italian, half Jewish kids, which are a good part of the
school system and you know what they called them. Then they invented this
themselves. I mean, there's some brilliant person, Matzah-pizzas. Oh, are you a
matzah-pizza also? Me too! And it has the added super delight of sounding like
Massapequa. The name of the town itself. And so when I heard that, I added to
that. They were there already from some very clever people, you know, and
that's of course what you guys love, the most words that organically, you just
need a word for somebody who's half Catholic and half jewish. It happens all
the time in the 1920s in New York. Uh, there was even a show in your
grandfather's day called Abie's Irish Rose about a Jew brings home an Irish
girl and all the tumult. Which is a Yiddish word that has slipped into English.
Uh let's um, that, uh, resulted. Yeah. There are all kinds of Yiddish words to
slip in and to, into English. And people don't even know that, like, glitch.
Shauna (37:00):
I love that tumult is a good word, too.
Daniel Klein (37:00):
You know, the technology you say, Oh, we got a glitch
here. Nobody knows it's Yiddish. It's just become part of the English slang and
schlep. But I looked up, it's sort of fun to look up the New York times or all
the major newspapers have what they called, style books, books that tell you
what words you're allowed to use in an article in which not just naughty words,
but you know, they aren't English or something. Schlep is now in it. So I had
to schlep my suitcase all over the city, you know, and that's English,
according to the New York times, you can put it into an article and not have to
translate it.
Dan (37:50):
It's a, it's amazing to me that like the future, I think
of language is in the melding of, uh, some of the strongest or the most used,
uh, languages and the, the parts of each of these languages. Of course, I don't
want to lose any, uh, specific language. I think that preserving, uh, the
spoken word and, uh, languages that are not as commonly spoken now is very
important. Uh, but I do think that, you know, the longer we go, the more we're
going to see the intermixing of languages into, uh, something that's almost
like what English is now a commonly spoken business language or a commonly
spoken "common" language.
Daniel Klein (38:31):
Yes. I think you're right. And I'd find that because, or
maybe it's my age a little bit, but like, uh, the, son of a friend of mine has,
uh, gone into business. Business, feh. <Laughter> And, uh, occasionally
he's on YouTube giving a talk. I don't understand a word of it. I don't, I
don't know the vocabulary of business.
Dan (39:00):
Right. It has its own jargon.
Daniel Klein (39:04):
It has his own jargon. And I think it means something. I
don't think they're just buzzwords. I think they actually mean something, but
business never interested me.
Dan (39:14):
Well, comedy seems to have served you just fine.
Daniel Klein (39:17):
Yes, it is. It is.
Dan (39:20):
Danny. Thank you for joining us today and talking about
your book and the, and the future of, of languages. Um, we greatly appreciate
your time.
Daniel Klein (39:28):
Yes. There's a lot of fun. I love what you're doing very
much. I'm glad that that interest is going on.
Shauna (39:35):
Schmegoogle, Yiddish words for modern times comes out
September 1st and is available for preorder now. We recommend your local,
independent bookstore, but you can also find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or
pretty much anywhere you get your books.
Dan (39:51):
Thanks again for joining us. We'll talk to you again next
week. And until then, remember
Together (39:55):
Words belong to their users.
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