(no subject)

[donutsweeper]

As a kid I heard Yiddish phrases and words now and again. My grandparents had grown up in New York City speaking it fluently (to the extent that for one the first time they'd ever heard English was their first day of school) and my parents understood it quite well, although spoke it only occasionally.

One phrase I'd heard often was hak maer nish keyn tshaynik (האַק מיר ניט קיין טשײַניק) which I'd learned meant what would be politely translated as 'stop talking nonsense' but really was more along the lines of 'you’re driving me crazy, leave me alone.'

Today I learned it literally translates as 'stop banging my teapot.'

I love language.

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

You can say the F-word freely on family television there, but you can't shout 'tabernacle!'

That is hysterical!!! Tabernacle. Why tabernacle?

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

French-Canadians have a very Catholic background for the most part, so almost all swearing is related to the church in some way. There's a good list here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_profanity) if you're curious. There's also a great 'lesson' in how to swear in French in the movie Bon Cop Bad Cop, which is one of my favourite movies ever. The clip is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U72QVCgh_Q), subtitled for your convenience. The dialogue isn't discernible swearing, but the subtitles are pretty filthy, so watch out if you're in mixed company.

My mum's personal go-to phrase is 'Ayoye mozusse! Jesu Marie tabernak! C'est chaud a maudit!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting! I'll will have to watch the clip later though when the kids aren't in the room.