Re: [Cz-L] Czernowitz Yiddish expressions

Miriam (Mimi) Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>

You are quite right, we Czernowitzers were incredibly arrogant,
conceited and snobbish. Bessarabia, Poland and Romania proper,
were all looked down on. Excuse the expression, but we Czernowitzers
thought we "pisht mit boimel" (urinated oil). And a properly conceited
Czernowitzer, would hardly admit that he knew Yiddish.

At the 2007 Czernowitz reunion, one of the things I enjoyed most, were our
conversations on the bus, going from Lviv to Chernivtsi and back. We spoke
a mixture of Czernowitz German, Czernowitz Yiddish with it's special
pronunciation and an occasional word in Ukrainian or Ruthenian.
It was a "mechaye" (Yiddish, meaning pleasure, from the Hebrew word,
meaning giving life).

> Dear Mimi,
>
> I had never heard of the two expressions you mention. However, I
> presume that the reason Yedinitz was used, was because Yedinitz
> was in Bessarabia (now Moldova), and the Czernowitzer looked
> down upon Bessarabians. Therefore, I think, what was meant that
> Yedinitz was culturally far removed, and that, eventually,
> worked itself into the language as being far in distance.
>
>
Received on 2007-01-19 12:27:04