The New Joys of Yiddish : Completely Updated

Rating:
Summary: America ganef! It's even better.
Review: "America ganef!" my Grandma would exclaim upon encountering a pleasant surprise. (See JOY page 115.) That's my reaction seeing this old friend renewed, broader, more current and more liberal in its Jewish scope, and more lively and attractive because of the illustrations and layout. Yet it is still the warm, friendly, funny book I remember from nearly 30 years ago.

Somehow the New Joys of Yiddish has more meaning for me now that nearly all those family members I remember using Yiddish often - some relying on it almost entirely, others just when they used a forceful, colorful, close-to-the heart expression (which was very often) - are gone. The book evokes memories of those good people to whom we owe so much - if only for having had the wisdom to select this country for us and our children.

The book is like a warm and witty friend whose conversation brightens your home and is rarely pedantic. (At a couple of places, such as his seven page exposition on the messiah, he does go on too long.)

Two types of people will find this book enjoyable: those who read the original edition and those who didn't.

So to the Rosten family and Larry Bush - mazal tov!

Rating:
Summary: Fiddleresque
Review: Found this is a New Bedford goodwill store for 10 cents. It has a lot of interesting info in it, but drenched in Fiddleresque sentimentality about Jewish expressiveness. One interesting theme is his ongoing campaign to claim disputed slangwords for Yiddish as opposed to German, Gaelic etc: fin, shamus.

He barely touches one important subject -- the adoption of Yiddish syntax into slangy English, "enough already," "you should only live so long," etc.

Rating:
Summary: Fiddleresque
Review: Found this is a New Bedford goodwill store for 10 cents. It has a lot of interesting info in it, but drenched in Fiddleresque sentimentality about Jewish expressiveness. One interesting theme is his ongoing campaign to claim disputed slangwords for Yiddish as opposed to German, Gaelic etc: fin, shamus.

He barely touches one important subject -- the adoption of Yiddish syntax into slangy English, "enough already," "you should only live so long," etc.

Rating:
Summary: The Understated Joys of Yiddish
Review: Simplistic and without real scholarship, one wonders why this is the book that people chose for any kind of language enhancment of the joys of that most subtle and lovely of langauges.