LINGUIST List 4.584
Wed 28 Jul 1993
FYI: Just for fun: Research, Yiddish
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AHARRIS - Alan Harris, FOR YOUR FUNNY BONE
, RE: 4.558 Just for Fun: Ferenghi, Hungarian
"Ellen F. Prince", EDT
benji wald, Re: 4.558 Just for Fun: Ferenghi, Hungarian
Message 1: FOR YOUR FUNNY BONE
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1993 11:22:02 FOR YOUR FUNNY BONE
From: AHARRIS - Alan Harris <VCSPC005VAX.CSUN.EDU>
Subject: FOR YOUR FUNNY BONE
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TEXT OR AMENDED TEXT FOLLOWS:
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FOR YOUR FUNNY BONE (JO LISKA SENT THIS ALONG TO ME, ACH)
===================================================================
GLOSSARY FOR RESEARCH PAPERS: Strictly Speaking
THEY WRITE THEY MEAN
It has long been known that... I haven't bothered to look up
the original reference
...of great theoretical and practical ...interesting to me
importance
While it has not been possible to The experiments didn't work
provide definite answers to these out, but I figured I could at
questions. least get a publication out
of it.
The W-Pb system was chosen as The fellow in the next lab had
especially suitable to show the some already made up
predicted behavior...
High purity... Composition unknown except
Very high purity... for the exaggerated claims of
Extremely high purity... the supplier
Super-purity...
Spectroscopically pure...
A fiducial reference line... A scratch
Three of the samples were The results of the others
chosen for detailed study... didn't make sense and were
ignored..
...handled with extreme care during ...not dropped on the floor
the experiments
Typical results are shown... The best results are shown...
Although some detail has been lost It is impossible to tell from
in reproduction, it is clear from the the micrograph
original micrograph that...
Presumably at longer times... I didn't take the time to find
out
The agreement with the predicted fair
curve is excellent
good poor
satisfactory doubtful
fair imaginary
...as good as could be expected non-existent
These results will be reported at I might get around to this
a later date sometime
The most reliable values are those He was a student of mine
of Jones
It is suggested that...
It is believed that... I think...
It may be that...
It is generally believed that.... I have such a good objection
to this answer that I shall
now raise it.
It is clear that much additional I don't understand it
work will be required before a
complete understanding...
Unfortunately, a quantitative theory Neither does anybody else
to account for these effects has not
been formulated
Correct within an order of magnitude Wrong
It is to be hoped that this work This paper isn't very good but
will stimulate further work in the field neither are any of the others
on this miserable subject
Thanks are due to Joe Glotz for Glotz did the work and Doe
assistance with the experiments and explained what it meant.
to John Doe for valuable discussions.
======================================================================
Alan C. Harris, Ph. D. telno: off:
Professor, Communication/Linguistics 818-885-2853/2874
Speech Communication Department hm:
California State University, Northridge 818-780-8872
SPCH CSUN fax: 818-885-2663
Northridge, CA 91330
Internet: AHARRISVAX.CSUN.EDU
======================================================================
Message 2: RE: 4.558 Just for Fun: Ferenghi, Hungarian
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1993 16:12:02 RE: 4.558 Just for Fun: Ferenghi, Hungarian
From: <vagoqcvaxa.acc.qc.edu>
Subject: RE: 4.558 Just for Fun: Ferenghi, Hungarian
If you are looking for a Hungarian phrase whose phonology comes close
to Sp. "una mesa est aqui," I've got one for you: "unom ezt aki..."
/unom est ki/, meaning 'I am tired/bored of this (one) who..." You
take it from here...
Robert Vago
Dep't of Linguistics
Queens College/CUNY
Message 3: EDT
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1993 17:59:04 EDT
From: "Ellen F. Prince" <ellencentral.cis.upenn.edu>
Subject: EDT
>From: karnihoudini.eece.unm.edu (Shlomo Karni)
>Subject: Hungarian ?
>I suppose most everyone can parse "una mesa est' aqui/" but for
>German speakers with little experience reading Yiddish I'll render
>into German: "Ohn' 'n Messer isst 'ne Kuh", which lacks the right
>phonology. /u na me sa e sta: ki/
> /u:n a me s ist a ki/
don't know about israeli children and hungarian, but over 40 years ago my
father told me how to 'speak spanish': /akiestunamesa/--here is a table
(spanish), a cow eats without a knife (yiddish, central yiddish regional
variants of vowels and postvocalic r). it was a joke, of course. btw, 'eats' in
yiddish is in fact /est/, not /ist/. there was also a 'french' line in yiddish
that i can neither remember nor reconstruct but it started out with something
like _avu tut dir vey..._ 'where does it hurt you?...' does this ring a bell
for anyone?
Message 4: Re: 4.558 Just for Fun: Ferenghi, Hungarian
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 93 17:53 PDT
From: benji wald <IBENAWJMVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 4.558 Just for Fun: Ferenghi, Hungarian
For some reason some Israelis seem to associate Yiddish with Hungarian.
I heard this "joke" in the late 1940s in New York in the order "a ki
est una mesa" (a cow eats without a knife), which sounds like Spanish
"aqui esta una mesa" (here is a table) This indicates an early date to
the Spanish/Yiddish joke it seems to indicate. I always thought it was
the result of Yiddish/Puerto Rican contact in New York. If so, it may
be older than Sephadi/Ashkenazi contact in Israel -- but not necessary
elsewhere. ... So how old is this "joke"?
Incidentally, Germans may understand Yiddish better
than they can "read" it -- since it is written in Hebrew letters.
I've actually been able to test Germans for recognition of Yiddish --
without them knowing what language it is. It sounds like Swiss
German to them (probably because of the /x/ following front vowels.)