August 27, 2005--The Yiddish Side of Maureen Dowd
There is the following in her August 27th column--"You'd think by now, watching the meshugas in Iraq [italics added], the Bush crowd would have learned some lessons about twisting facts to suit ideology. . . ." The fact that she felt no need to add italics of her own or did not include a parenthetical definition of meshugas, suggests it has become a casual part of standard English. I wonder. Quick, before reading further or Googling, how many of you know what it means?
If all of you, then no need for italics or definitions; if some of you need help, let me try: "Craziness" sort of captures it. But meshugas is a very particular kind of craziness: an effectionate kind that one might encounter in Fidder On the Roof, for example. It also means self-created craziness--something that makes you crazy but in many ways shouldn't because there is no external objective-correlative reason why you should be crazy. This also makes it very Jewish.
Here's a classic example of meshugas: You get a voice mail message from your sister that your 90 year old mother is in the hospital. The tone of her voice suggests something serious. Before calling back you begin to make airline reservations to Florida. You then leave repeated messages for your sister. Not hearing back, in gathering angst, you figure why not try your mother. What do you have to lose. At least you'll have the comfort of hearing your mother's voice on her answering machine.
On the second ring your mother picks up the phone, sounding quite normal. You say, "I heard you were in the hospital. What's going on?" "Oh yes," she replies, "I was a little dizzy and, you know your sister, she was very upset and insisted I have some test. I had an MRI butI'm fine. It was nothing. Maybe a little anxiety. So I increased my Paxil."
That should be the end of it right? No objective correlative. So why do you find yourself heading for the airport? Simple--meshugas.
Back to Maureen Dowd. It's good to see that this nice Catholic girl feels comfortable enough to use the Yiddish meshugas in her column without any italics; but is she using it properly? That's another story. How appropriate to apply it to the situation in Iraq? Craziness to be sure; but to call it "just" meshugas makes it feel more like Fiddler than what it is--a tragedy.
If all of you, then no need for italics or definitions; if some of you need help, let me try: "Craziness" sort of captures it. But meshugas is a very particular kind of craziness: an effectionate kind that one might encounter in Fidder On the Roof, for example. It also means self-created craziness--something that makes you crazy but in many ways shouldn't because there is no external objective-correlative reason why you should be crazy. This also makes it very Jewish.
Here's a classic example of meshugas: You get a voice mail message from your sister that your 90 year old mother is in the hospital. The tone of her voice suggests something serious. Before calling back you begin to make airline reservations to Florida. You then leave repeated messages for your sister. Not hearing back, in gathering angst, you figure why not try your mother. What do you have to lose. At least you'll have the comfort of hearing your mother's voice on her answering machine.
On the second ring your mother picks up the phone, sounding quite normal. You say, "I heard you were in the hospital. What's going on?" "Oh yes," she replies, "I was a little dizzy and, you know your sister, she was very upset and insisted I have some test. I had an MRI butI'm fine. It was nothing. Maybe a little anxiety. So I increased my Paxil."
That should be the end of it right? No objective correlative. So why do you find yourself heading for the airport? Simple--meshugas.
Back to Maureen Dowd. It's good to see that this nice Catholic girl feels comfortable enough to use the Yiddish meshugas in her column without any italics; but is she using it properly? That's another story. How appropriate to apply it to the situation in Iraq? Craziness to be sure; but to call it "just" meshugas makes it feel more like Fiddler than what it is--a tragedy.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
12:52 PM
1 Comments:
A shame Ms. Dowd limits her use of Yiddish to one word, when so many Yiddish terms apply to the Iraq debacle, and so very aptly at that! It almost seems that Yiddish is the IDEAL language to employ when writing about this subject. Consider the following BRIEF list of useful words:
Chamoole - translation: "Mr. President"
Chutzpenik - translation: "blogger who makes fun of Mr. President"
Durhkfall - translation: "Iraq"
Far-tshadikt - translation: "Mr. President"
Schlecht - translation: "overall situation in Iraq"
and last but not least....
Schlemiel - translation: "Mr. President."
For actual definitions of these terms, and for a fine glossary of additional expressions and words, refer to:
http://www.pass.to/glossary/gloz3.htm
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home