Meshuggenary: Celebrating the World of Yiddish

by Payson R. Stevens and Sol Steinmetz

Book Overview

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743227425
• ISBN13: 9780743227421
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A pleasant mishmash

Aside from the Yiddish - English dictionary the book has many features explaining various aspects of Yiddish culture. It provides real insight into the cultural world and life of Yiddish speakers. An excellent browsing book.

Meshuggenary

It is always a pleasure to get a little extra. It's even better to get a lot extra! When I read Meshuggenry, not only did it explain many Yiddish expressions that are as American as bagels, I also got a seasoning of the life and spirit that fermented in the world of Yiddish. Take Klezmer music. In a few pages you get a history of its origins and its continual and present reincarnations. Take Yiddish Food and Cooking. A little history, a nosh of Yiddish food terms and some mouth-watering recipes. There are chapters on Yiddish humor and theater, but it's the insight to the Yiddish language and soul that makes this very readable concise book very special. That's the little extra! Meshuggenary is not only enjoyable to read, you are let into Yiddish insights that are still evolving. After wandering for many years from Brooklyn, to New Jersey, to California, it was good to read about my roots. Get off your tokhes and order a copy of Meshuggenary.

A Meshuggenary World

An absolute delight--the authors have produced a very lively academic book (which may well be an oxymoron). I wonder what early Yiddishists would say if they could now see what impact Yiddish (and Yinglish, etc.) have had on American speech, language and culture. I suspect that they would have been amazed at what they, their successors and G_d had wrought. Only in America. And you don't have to be Jewish to kvell at Meshuggenary which is a landmark success. It will not be easy in the years to come to challenge the depth, insight and completeness of the book.

A Celebration of Yiddish.

Great book! A clear, interesting , erudite description of Yiddish history, culture , and language. Good job.

A South Asian Indian's Perspective

I am an, not a Jew, and I love this book. I love it because I love words. They expand our ability to express amorphous thoughts, feelings, concepts. Even though our present state of the evolution of language serves us adequately, there remain vast areas of unexpressed human experience. I am convinced that the further evolution of English lies in the direction of absorbing words from other languages, other cultures, in order to fill its gaps. The Yiddish language, in particular, with its gutsy, expressive words, some of which have already found their way into the English lexicon and usage, is an important resource in the imperative for this expansion. MESHUGGENARY supplies a marvelous and meaty ingredient to the "masala" of human expression. I also love this book because of its brief but informative overview of Yiddish culture, and the depth of its humor. In the Jewish consciousness humor has evolved not only as an art of entertainment but a tool for survival. Like Klezmer music it is at once sad and joyous. We all have much to learn from Yiddish and this wonderful book is one good place to start.