Newspapers / The Charlotte Jewish News … / Oct. 1, 1984, edition 1 / Page 3
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Ah'Hah! Page 3-THE NEWS-October, 1984 By Morris Speizman There is probably nothing more euphonious than the Jewish language. By Jewish, I mean the vernacular referred to as Yiddish by most of us. The term '‘schlemeel” sounds like what it is supposed to refer to. “Schnook” is a similar descriptive term which leaves little to the imagination. These are but two of the words used by our inmiediate forebearers to describe what they saw or felt about the people and the events which occurred in their daily lives. After three or four genera tions, we have become so assimilated that even some of these words, which once were strictly our own, have become part of the broad lexicon of American terms. For example, “kosher” is now often regard ed as the equivalent of the real thing, rather than a ritually observant item. Our children and grand- childen haven’t the slightest idea of the enjoyment which came with the euphonistic description of the world around them. Today the closest we come is to describe a young “preppy” as a jap. This is a blwd, colorless varia tion of some of the descrip tions of the fair sex which were employed by our grandfathers and grandmothers. I am indebted to Sam Cit ron, the dean of our local musicians, as well as a raconteur and wholesale jewelry executive, for a representative collection of words which describe the feminine gender. It might be interesting to find out how many understand the meaning of these terms, which were us ed by some of our grand fathers and grandmothers, in describing the fair sex. (By the way, if you want translations, don’t call me, call Sam.) Parshain Mareg Eedeneh Menoovel Eepesh Kochlefel Oys Vorf Meeskeit Scbtick Flaish Mit Tzvaia Aigen Echtsufeh Far Peesteh Tzureh Poscootstveh Oisgetsegen fun Soirmilch Nofkeh Yenteh Mocheshaife Pisherkeh In order to score yourselves properly, you must double the score for each generation you are removed from a practicing Yiddish speaking parent or grandparent. For example, if your father and mother spoke Yiddish, it would require a 90% correct identification to pass the test. If it were your grandfather or grandmother, 46%. If it were your great grandfather and great grandmother, then you would be considered well informed if you could recognize 25% of the terms and their English equivalents. Our guess is that ev^ybody is going to flunk the t^t. (I did.) 'Hie moral is that we need to recapture our roots because they taste and smell with a lot more geschmack then the pallid appdations with which we cc^OT our daily lives. All of which has very little to do with the following story: A gambler bought a $60 hat on his way to the racetrack from New York City. When he got to the track he found that he had left his hat on the train. After recovering from his feel ing of shock, he looked over the card and noticed that the first race had a horse named Top Hat. He bet $50 on the horse and it came in first and paid off eight to one. In the second race he notic ed a horse entered with the name of Panama. Again he had the hat S30idrome in his mind and bet aU of his win nings and, sure enough, Panama came in first. He was now a relatively rich man. In the next race he searched eagerly for a name that would refer to a head covering and picked on Chateau. The result was inevitable; he lost every thing he had on that race and went home. Recounting the events to his wife, he told her that he had bet all of his winnings on Chateau. She reminded him shrewishly that he should have known that Chateau was a French word for castle and Chapeau was the word for hat in France. He said, “Well, that’s too bad, but anyhow I wouldn’t have won anyway because a Japanese horse by the name of Yarmulka won the race.” During the first three weeks of August, the teachers at the Academy were busy preparing their curriculum for what pro mises to be a great school year. After these daily ses sions, they made a physical ef fort to literally make an old school look brand new. PTA Activities On August 26, parents en joyed a bagel and lox brunch held on the Academy grounds. This successful event was organized by PTA president, Roslyn Segal. The raffle drawing, chaired by Mary Gordan, took place on Sept. 4. Danny Gromat, a kindergartener; Marc Gordan, a third grader; and Geoffry Gartner, a fourth grader, pick ed the winning tickets. First prize, a video cassette recorder, went to Carol and Gary Waldman. Bert Gellman won the second prize, a Car- rand’ Ache pen and pencil set; third prize, a dinner for two at JCC/Federatlon Closings Oct. H-12 Oct. 18 Oct. 19 ^eenspon Associate/Inc. f125 Cottage Place 376-7434 Providing a complate line of life insurance products, medical plans, disability plans, group-employee benefit plans. STAN GREENSPON SCOTT SWIMMER HARRY SWIMMER DAVID SWIMMER CrVILIZAnON and the jews Discover the ancient origins of the Jewish people in this stunning 9-part series. Learn why civilization is what it is, why Jews are what they are and how each has affected the other. Hosted by Abba Eban. Thursdays 10:00 PM (repeats Saturdays 4:30 PM) the Lamplighter, went to Phil Levine. New Teacher Hired Fern Sanderson, a graduate of the University of N.C. at Greensboro, has joined the staff as a “floating” teacher. She will serve K-1 with the primary responsibility of teaching Judaica to the kindergarten students. She will also work with the third and fourth graders in math and language arts. Fern has taught second and third grades at Rama Road Elemen tary School in Charlotte. She also has taught at Temple Israel’s religious school for the past four years. “As a teacher,” Fern recent ly said, “it is gratifying to see the learning that occurs when working with individuals and in small group situations. In dividualized caring and learn ing are very much a reality here at the Academy.” First Grade Trips During the second week of school, Lynn Tarleton and Fern Sanderson, kindergarten- first grade teachers, took their class to the Independence Veterinary Clinic. “Since the K-1 children have three classroom pets...Marble and Butterscotch, our guinea pigs, and Cocoa, our Netherlands dwarf rabbit...we visited Dr. Beck’s office to have them ex amined and to tour the clinic,” reported Ms. Tarleton. The children had a chance to listen to Marble’s heartbeat through a stethoscope and were able to see such things as the x-ray machine and equip ment used to anesthesize animals for surgery. Eleanor Weinglass, Academy Director, will be tak ing the first grade Judaica class to Temple Israel. They will meet with Rabbi Rocklin and learn about the synagogue. Special Gift Received A beautiful pair of pewter Shabbat candlesticks were generously donated to the Academy in memory of Rosa Asrael, Dr. Gerson Asrael’s mother. A special thank you is extended to Mr, and Mrs. Harry Lemer and Mr. and Mrs. Sam Lemer for this love ly gift. They are being used on Fridays during lunch time each week. You can earn college credit by enrolling in the Heritage television course. For information call 373-6943. TMs ad made possible by a grant from the Cotporatian for Pubbc Brosdcasdnf. THE RIGHT 1NGREDIENT5 We handle your special occasions wi^ Radisson's special care. 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The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Oct. 1, 1984, edition 1
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