I.B. Singer on Yiddish, via A.Word.A.Day - The Diigo Meta page

• 26 Mar 08
  

  Jimbox

  definitions words

  •  Here's what Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer had to say about the language in his 1978 Nobel Prize acceptance speech: 

      "Yiddish language - a language of exile, without a land, without  frontiers, not supported by any government, a language which possesses  no words for weapons, ammunition, military exercises, war tactics ...
      There is a quiet humor in Yiddish and a gratitude for every day of life,  every crumb of success, each encounter of love. The Yiddish mentality is  not haughty. It does not take victory for granted. It does not demand  and command but it muddles through, sneaks by, smuggles itself amidst  the powers of destruction, knowing somewhere that God's plan for  Creation is still at the very beginning ...
      In a figurative way, Yiddish is the wise and humble language of us all,  the idiom of frightened and hopeful Humanity."

  •  schnorrer (SHNOR-uhr) noun 

      One who habitually takes advantage of others' generosity,  often through an air of entitlement. 

     [From Yiddish, from German schnurren (to purr, hum, or whir), from the sound of a beggar's musical instrument.]
• 24 Mar 08
  

  Nathan Rein

  I.B. Singer is a great writer; here's an excerpt from his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, plus, as a bonus, the definition of the word "schnorrer."

  del.icio.us_import judaism language

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