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Wed 31 Dec, 2014 09:06 pm
My father was of British origin (no link with Israel). When he wanted to know the price of something, he would say these words: "WE FEEL, IN YIDDISH?" Can anyone please tell me where that saying may have originated.
@maxtomlinson,
Did he say that when he asked for the price or after he learned what the price was?
@maxtomlinson,
Looks like phonetic for how much, in German.
@roger,
What about : vey iz mir, woe is me?
@maxtomlinson,
Quote:When he wanted to know the price of something, he would say these words: "WE FEEL, IN YIDDISH?"
Vifil? in Yiddish means how much? in English according to this reference text.
http://thomer.com/yiddish/
Your father's home town of Segley, outside Birmingham enjoyed an influx of Jewish immigrants around the time of the industrial revolution.
http://www.connectinghistories.org.uk/Learning%20Packages/Migration/migration_settlement_jh_lp_03.asp
The phrase, we feel in yiddish, looks as if it was an amusing way of politely asking for mates rates ie. a cut price for someone who is a bit on the parsimonious side.
Was you father especially concerned about the tunes that a Jewish piano might play?
I have been unable to find a reference to the term other than yours.
@roger,
If your father had been e.g. to a German speaking country, or knew a bit of German, it really could be what roger said:
wie viel (how much). (The Yiddish
vie fiel means exactly the same)
@maxtomlinson,
He didn't say We feel, he probably asked: Vifil? Which means: how much?
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