Philologos
By Philologos
-
News Christmas Punning
We’re already into the new year, but in this column it’s still Christmas. Our discussion of nitl two weeks ago needs to be continued. In the first place, two readers, Mark Friedman and Harvey Gertel, have written in to help explain the traditional Eastern European Jewish custom, referred to by me, of playing cards on…
-
News It’s a Crime
Bill Gladstone writes from Toronto: At last summer’s Jewish genealogy conference in Toronto, I was intrigued when one speaker, Yale Reisner, mentioned that certain Hebrew words had crept into the Polish language in pre-war Poland. For example, machloket, which as you know means a theological dispute (applied talmudically and rabbinically), was apparently used by Poles…
-
Culture From Yiddish to British
Writes David Chanoff of Marlboro, Mass.: “You probably know of James Kelman, the Booker Prize winner who writes in Glaswegian dialect. In his book of stories, ‘The Good Times,’ there occurs the line of dialogue, ‘Heh, I was hearing about Smiddy’s funeral, some kind of schemozzle.’” And Mr. Chanoff adds: “Meaning, apparently, something like ‘a…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV Bonhoeffer biopic tells of a pastor turned would-be Hitler assassin — but is the story true?
- 2
Culture At 95, Shaindel Schreiber is still dispensing babka and advice on the Lower East Side
- 3
Fast Forward Trump attorney general pick Pam Bondi: 5 things Jews should know
- 4
Opinion As a Jewish biblical scholar in Houston, I’m enraged that Texas is adopting this biblically illiterate new curriculum
In Case You Missed It
-
News Israel reached a ceasefire in Lebanon. Why does Gaza seem so hard?
-
Culture Barbra Streisand recorded here — and so did Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, John Lennon and, uh, The Village People
-
Fast Forward Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to helm EPA, says he received bomb threat with ‘pro-Palestinian themed message’
-
Opinion We can be thankful this year — and Jewish wisdom can help
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
