Hebonics

Yeah.
Especially in a culture of Ess, ess, mein kind!

(Of course, that only last until you start essing, or should I say fressing?)

JoanDark, As I live and breathe. What a delight and pleasure to see you here.

I'm essing; I'm essing.

Waddya mean you don't want any? All night I spent cooking this for you.

From now on I will speak only in Hebonics - it is good to leanr a new language !!

My Jewish family never spoke like that, but then again, they all had WASP pretentions. Actually, my aunt Rose, aluva sholum (sic) did talk like that, complete with Russian accent. Once, when I was a kid, there was a family gathering, and 80 year old Rose asks me "Paul, how old I am you think? I'm tventy-nine." I couldn't resist....I said "If you're twenty-nine, you must use Oil of Oy Vey." I never saw the woman laugh so hard in her life.

Oy! A fancy shmancy family.

this discussion reminds me of th elanguage we speak in India, which is a mixture of english and hindi....

We call it hinglish !

Phoenix, all the pseudo-pretenders did get the chance to have a larf when my aunt (not Rose, a currently living one) held a 'non-Jewish only' Seder....somewhere, she felt she was doing a mitzvah exposing her WASP friends to a Jewish tradition And I thought Jews weren't prosletizers...

Cav- Now THAT was funny!

JOAN DARK!!!!!!


For THIS how many years have I waited?

Heh heh, well you can't blame me for the first joke, only 8 I was...

Joanie- Mammeleh- So how's by you? Have a nice piece of cake!

My late grandmother, who hailed from Russia, also noted my sister's failure to chow down when we'd visit her apartment in the Bronx. She was wont to say about her granddaughter:

"She eats like a bird, that one."

(Funny how these food issues were so significant back then...)

Food issues significant? You shouldn't know from it. The worst thing you could say was, "I'm not eating." Worse still was "I'm not hungry." My grandparents accused my mother of not feeding me. I was all skin and bone.

Yup, JoanDark in the flesh. It was she who sent me the original article. Once I stopped laughing from "What am I? A clock?" I decided to post it here.

Cav, Your family with WASP aspirations reminds me of an old joke. Two little old Jewish men who have been friends for many years are sitting on a park bench. Herschel says to Morris, "Morris, we've been friends for many years. You have many fine qualities. But the fact is, Morris, that you're pretentious. Couldn't avoid telling you any longer." To this Morris responds, "Pretentious? Moi?"

Gautam, This is not exactly a language or even a language offshoot. It's a mindset and an approach to language.

Roberta- In addition to what you have mentioned to Gautam, it is also a means of expression bundled with folkways, tradition and psychological predispositions.

Yes Gautam, the Jewish mother is NOT an urban legend. She DOES exist, and I talk to her every morning. If I forget to call her at the usual time, I will get a hysterical call, with the first words out of her mouth, "Is anything wrong?".

Oh man...Roberta, one thing, our people the good jokes have always had. And talk about Jewish mothers...oy! With mine it's always "so how's work" when a simple "how is you?" would do Oh, did I mention she is the one who calls with questions like this? It's enough to make a person meshugah....

Mine recently asked me, while we were all together for a family reunion in Oklahoma, when I would see her next. I'm here now, I explained. Might as well have been speaking another language...

Come to think of it, we were: Hebonics.

JoanDark ---how are you?


(Sing to "as Time Goes By")


You must remember this,
A bris is still a bris,
a chai is still a chai.
Pastrami still belongs on rye,
As time goes by.

With holidays in view,
A Jew is still a Jew,
On that you can rely.
No matter if we eat tofu,
As time slips by.

Old shtel customs, never out of date,
All those potatoes, mother had to grate.
Honey, tsimus, latkes, chopped liver on our plate,
The best that gelt can buy.

Some would send us to perdition,
But we're strengthened by tradition,
That no one can deny.
We roam, but we recall our birthright,
As time goes by.

Dreidels and chocolate, never out of date.
Ancient Jewish stories that we all relate.
Blue and white giftwrap, everything that's great?
And festive chazerai!

It's still the same old Torah,
It's still the same menorah,
We've latkes still to fry.
It's at Yom Tov when we feel most blessed,
As time goes by.

Food issues are of course significant.

"Did I say you had to eat the potatoes? Just hold them in your mouth. They're good for you."

You had potaotoes? Potatoes we could only wish for...