And, the NYT quiz puts me in Yonkers, NY, which is about halfway between the Bronx where I lived until I was ten, and the town in Westchester where we then moved.
On Dec 22, 2013, at 6:58 PM, Paul Brandon wrote: > Kiryas Joel would have been better in terms of Yiddish speakers, but it's > upstate (see Bruce, Lenny on who is Jewish). > > On Dec 22, 2013, at 11:21 AM, Mike Palij wrote: > >> On Sun, 22 Dec 2013 07:39:42 -0800, Paul Brandon wrote: >> >Because hardly anyone outside of Williamsburg says that any more? >> >> Really? Who knew that Virginia had such a large Yiddish speaking >> population!?! >> I believe that when most people hear of "Williamsburg" they think of >> a place in Virginia, as represented in this website that promotes tourism >> there: >> http://www.visitwilliamsburg.com/?gclid=CJeo1biqxLsCFSLxOgodwzQAbg >> >> But perhaps Paul is referring to the place in Virginia. A quick internet >> search >> shows that indeed there long has been a Jewish presence in the Old Dominion, >> with about 6,000 serving for the Confederacy during the Civil War; see: >> http://books.google.com/books?id=5P-Oyqu8MuoC&pg=PA305&lpg=PA305&dq=%22jews+the+confederacy%22&source=bl&ots=fMGCz2Y2PF&sig=gUIDviAuGceYYcVYO2tE7ROk5s8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UBO3UsTpOpDpkQfav4GIAQ&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22jews%20the%20confederacy%22&f=false >> >> and >> http://books.google.com/books?id=UtiEY4s9n9IC&pg=PA203&dq=%22jews+the+confederacy%22++williamsburg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5BS3UpLfDcyskAeokIGABQ&ved=0CEUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22jews%20the%20confederacy%22%20%20williamsburg&f=false >> >> >> But -- and I'm just guessing here -- perhaps Paul was referring to >> another Williamsburg? Another quick internet search identifies a >> Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY but this seems to be a "hipster" >> haven the likes of which Stephen Colbert makes fun of. For >> contemporary Williamsburg, consider the following websites: >> http://www.asanet.org/footnotes/mayjun13/brooklyn_0513.html >> and >> http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130521/williamsburg/bridge-and-tunnel-poser-hipsters-clog-williamsburg-bars-locals-complain >> >> and >> http://brooklyn.about.com/od/eventsthingstodo/tp/10-Best-Things-To-Do-In-Williamsburg-Brooklyn.htm >> >> and >> http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131011/east-williamsburg/fdny-shuts-down-hipster-party-boat-newtown-creek >> >> and >> http://observer.com/term/williamsburg/ >> and... >> well you should get the idea. >> >> Yiddish speakers still live in Williamsburg but their number is diminished. >> Here is the Wikipedia entry on Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY and it >> provides some history as well as it's current state as a hipster haven: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamsburg,_Brooklyn >> >> Wikipedia provides some information on the extent of Yiddish usage and >> here is a quote from the entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish_language >> : >> >> |Present U.S. speaker population >> | >> |In the 2000 census, 178,945 people in the United States reported >> |speaking Yiddish at home. Of these speakers, 113,515 lived in New York >> |(63.43% of American Yiddish speakers); 18,220 in Florida (10.18%); >> |9,145 in New Jersey (5.11%); and 8,950 in California (5.00%). The >> |remaining states with speaker populations larger than 1,000 are >> |Pennsylvania (5,445), Ohio (1,925), Michigan (1,945), Massachusetts >> |(2,380), Maryland (2,125), Illinois (3,510), Connecticut (1,710), and >> |Arizona (1,055). The population is largely elderly: 72,885 of the speakers >> |were older than 65, 66,815 were between 18 and 64, and only 39,245 >> |were age 17 or lower.[43] In the six years since the 2000 census, the >> |2006 American Community Survey reflected an estimated 15 percent >> |decline of people speaking Yiddish at home in the U.S. to 152,515.[44] >> | >> |There are a few predominantly Hasidic communities in the United States >> |in which Yiddish remains the majority language. Kiryas Joel, New York >> |is one such; in the 2000 census, nearly 90% of residents of Kiryas Joel >> |reported speaking Yiddish at home.[45] >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish_language#Present_U.S._speaker_population >> >> Perhaps Paul meant the town of Kiryas Joel, mentioned above and >> which has more information provided for it here: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel,_New_York >> >> But if he had, I would not have had the opportunity to play up >> the Williamsburg, VA vs Williamsburg, NY distinction. ;-) >> Few people understand the weirdness associated with hearing >> "Old Williamsburg" and realizing they're referring to some place >> in Virginia. ;-) >> >> -Mike Palij >> New York University >> [email protected] >> >> On Dec 22, 2013, at 7:42 AM, Mike Palij wrote: >> > The NY Times has an interactive quiz that uses different language/dialect >> > examples to locate where you, dear reader, are geographically more >> > similar or most dissimilate to -- based on the database of response that >> > they have collected. See: >> > >> > http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131222 >> > >> > I wonder why they didn't use "Oy, gevalt!". ;-) >> > >> > -Mike Palij >> > New York University >> > [email protected] >> > >> > P.S. My map: http://nyti.ms/1cnLBGi > > Paul Brandon > Emeritus Professor of Psychology > Minnesota State University, Mankato > [email protected] > > > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a64900b&n=T&l=tips&o=31758 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-31758-13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a649...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > > > > Paul Brandon 10 Crown Hill Lane Mankato, MN 56001 [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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