Search This Blog

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Joys of Yiddish

 Kibitzers Around the Table at a Chess Match


So my wife says to my daughter, 'Why do you have a copy of the Joys of Yiddish?"
The book was authored by Leo Rosten, and my daughter had a nice, hard cover copy on her shelf.
 "And why wouldn't I?" my daughter answered. "I found that copy in a used book store, I opened it, and it had a five dollar bill in it."
My wife continued, "Take the five dollars, leave the old book that other people have... done things with."
My daughter sighs, pointing down towards the downstairs apartment, "You are just like that downstairsika...

{ 'downstairs' + German or Yiddish ending -ike (feminine) or -iker (masculine) = downstairsike or downstairsika = woman who lives downstairs.}

... always with the kibitzing."
We laughed.
I said, "You know, when she was younger, she wanted to join a kibitz."

--

2 comments:

Ruth said...

And what is a woman who lives downstairs?

And how does your daughter know it?

Montag said...

Oh, sorry. We are at my daughter's and she lives in an apartment building...