AWADmail Issue 300
Mar 30, 2008
A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
and Other Interesting Tidbits about Words and Languages
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From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Coming events
Wordsmith Chat:
Online chat with Nicholas Ostler, chairman of the Foundation for
Endangered Languages; Tue, Apr 8, 2008, noon Pacific (GMT -7)
at http://wordsmith.org/chat
Anu Garg's schedule:
Tacoma, WA: Wed, Apr 30, 2008, 7pm, King's Books
Spokane, WA: Fri, May 30, 2008, 7:30pm, Auntie's Bookstore
Port Angeles, WA: Fri, Jun 27, 2008, 7pm, Port Book & News
Details at http://wordsmith.org/awad/speaking.html
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From: Jim Coats (wjcoats ucdavis.edu)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--schnorrer
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/schnorrer.html
Seeing today's word schnorrer, I remembered the lines from the Captain
Spaulding song (Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby) in the Marx Brothers'
"Animal Crackers":
Spaulding: This fact I emphasize with stress,
I never take a drink unless - Somebody's buying.
All: The Captain is a very moral man.
Hooray for Captain Spaulding, the African Explorer!
Spaulding: Did someone call me schnorrer?
All: Hooray, hooray, hooray!
Today is the first time I've read an actual definition for the word,
but because I heard that song and saw the movie early in life I knew
what it meant long before I knew what it meant. If you know what I
mean. I actually saw Groucho at a UCLA rally in the mid 1970s when he
and some fans were working to get around a copyright dispute so that
Animal Crackers, long unavailable, could be released again for public
viewing. The effort eventually succeeded. And even though Groucho ate
and drank what the rally organizers provided, he really didn't seem to
be such a schnorrer after all.
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From: Andrew Pressburger (andrew.pressburger primus.ca)
Subject: Schnorrer
In Mordecai Richler's celebrated novel The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,
small-time crook Jerry Dingleman (known to his admirers as the Boy Wonder),
presumably to ease his troubled conscience, holds open house every Wednesday
between ten and four, at which time "supplicants" can "touch" him for a
handout under one dubious pretext or another. The weekly reception is known
as Schnorrers' Day, since he regards clients of his questionable fiefdom as
so many crooks in his own image, after the adage, "It takes one to know one."
Needless to say, the schnorrers are vetted in advance by the Boy Wonder's
minions before they are allowed in the hallowed presence of the Great One.
At the end of the novel, Duddy, having surpassed his "master", invites the
crippled Dingleman to visit him during his own version of Schnorrers' Day.
The book itself is a veritable goldmine of Yiddishisms, Montreal variety,
circa 1950.
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From: Israel Pickholtz (israelp pikholz.org)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--megillah
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/megillah.html
The reading of Esther on Purim (which was last week) is anything but tedious.
"Raucous" would be a better description, as everyone makes noise to drown out
the name of the villlain (Haman) each of the fifty-four times his name is
mentioned.
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From: Marvin Polonsky (marvopolo msn.com)
Subject: feedback: megillah
The word does not apply exclusively to the Scroll of Esther. Megillah is a
generic term that refers to several stories that were included in the Jewish
biblical canon, most notably, the Book (Megillah) of Ruth. Ecclesiastes is
another. The plural of megillah is megillot.
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From: Carsten Kruse (c-kruse t-online.de)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--schnook
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/schnook.html
I had to look up the word in my WAHRIG (one of the best dictionaries of
German) and the dictionary stated that "Schnucke" is the short form of
"Heidschnucke" (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidschnucke) an
undemanding breed of sheep mainly bred in the region of Lüneburg Heath.
(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lüneburger_Heide)
As I wrote before, I had to look up the word because most Germans will
think of the word "Schnuckelchen" which stands for "darling", "my dear"
(mainly used for girls/women). Its original meaning was "small sheep"
(Schäfchen).
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From: Amir Mane (amirmane gmail.com)
Subject: A brief tutorial on personality types in Yiddish
There are so many jokes in Yiddish, and most of them don't translate too
well. But here, for your enjoyment, is one that makes a loving use of the
Yiddish vocabulary and illustrates the proper use of three great Yiddish
words.
What's the difference between a schlemiel, a shlimazl, and a nudnik?
The schlemiel spills the coffee on the shlimazl; and the nudnik comes over
to ask: "Was that hot?"
For the uninitiated:
schlemiel - a habitual bungler
schlimazl - someone who is unlucky
nudnik - a bothersome person
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From: Beth Vige (cevigegrand gmail.com)
Subject: Beads for the smart lady
I just wanted to thank you -- Wordsmith won me a string of deluxe St. Patrick's
day beads this past week.
My boyfriend and I were at an Irish pub in St. Thomas, and the entertainer
of the evening asked a trivia question: can anyone name an English word that
has all five vowels in it, in order. I turned to my boyfriend and said,
"I know that one! It's 'facetious'!" He urged me to shout it out, which I
did, and I won a string of beads, as well as the admiration of the crowd.
So, thank you, Anu, for your "vowels in order" theme some time back.
Incidentally, I also remembered after the fact that "abstemious" also has
all five vowels in order...but I didn't want to show off too much! ;) )
............................................................................
Stability in language is synonymous with rigor mortis. -Ernest Weekley,
lexicographer (1865-1954)
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