Just Say Na
Just Say Nu (St. Martin’s), the follow-up to Michael Wex’s cultural history of Yiddish Born to Kvetch (Harper Perennial), lands in bookstores this week. Despite being praised by The Times for its “verve,” “elan” and “chutzpah,” the Yiddish for dummies manual pales in comparison to Jackie Mason’s How to Talk Jewish, which the comedian co-authored with Ira Berkow in 1991, years before the former all but ceased to tell actual jokes. How to Talk Jewish, however, is Jackie Mason at his best. For instance, here’s what he says about the Yiddish word feh:
And on bashert:
Trust me, instead of shelling out $23.95 at B&N for Just Say Nu, find an old copy of How to Talk Jewish.
Or else, you’ll learn the meaning of another Yiddish word: schlock.
“It’s late and you drop by a girl’s apartment for a visit. As things heat up a little you tell her, ‘I can’t get over you. You’re the most magnificent thing that ever happened.’ In your own mind, you’re saying, ‘Better than nothing. This is the best I could get. It’s 4:00 in the morning. What do you expect?’ But by 4:15, when you take a look at the girl, and your honest opinion becomes clear, it is summed up in one word that your’re thinking. That word is “Feh.” Feh goes together with, How can I get a cab as fast as possible?”
And on bashert:
“It’s bashert when a guy crosses the street without looking both ways and gets hit by a truck. He can’t admit it’s his fault when he has an accident. So he always says ‘It was from heaven.’ It was always God who did it to him. God had nothing to do with it because if you were looking, this accident never would have happened. But he says, God wants it and you can’t fight God. God is supposed to watch the traffic for you. But what right did you have to give God the assignment of watching out for the next car? So it’s bashert because it was God’s business but he wasn’t paying attention.”
Trust me, instead of shelling out $23.95 at B&N for Just Say Nu, find an old copy of How to Talk Jewish.
Or else, you’ll learn the meaning of another Yiddish word: schlock.
comments
submit a comment10.21.07 at 11:10 am
What a cheap shtick! “How to talk Jewish” may probably be a fun book (I don’t know it) but from the examples presented in this review it has nothing to do with “Just Say Nu” by Michael Wex. More, the reviewer seems to have missed the point of Wex’s book completely; he should probably read it. The review teached me the meaning of yet another Yiddish word: schmock.
10.22.07 at 10:10 am
yidvicious, thank you for a review which offered real perspective.
I shall look for the older ( Mason ) book
and I shall pass on the nu one…...