Comments on: IDF deploys G-Dzilla against H-zbollah. Holla!

By: jason

jason — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 02:54:29 +0000

i had known ‘nisht geshtoygen…’ from a previous book to mean ‘it doesn’t stand and it doesn’t fly’, with the meaning being ‘it doesn’t make sense’, but when i learned the actual translation, background and context from Wex, i nearly wet my pants.

By: jewishfringe

jewishfringe — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:44:03 +0000

Yemach Shmoy indeed. I did the dash because I though Godzilla deployed by a bunch of Yids as a secret weapon was hilarious and because chas v shalom they would even take HaShem’s name in vain even when it isn’t applicable… And to make it funnier I put the dash in Hizballah too.

But I”ve read the Wex book and it truly is great, especially if you’ve got a tam of the mameloshen. My fave expressions from the book are “Nisht geshtoygen und nisht gefloygen” and “a mamishe fun der goyisher gott.” They make me giggle.

But since we’re talkiin’ yemach shmoy and enemies whose names should be blotted out, why is it that so many Amaleks start with “H?”

Haman. Hitler. Hamas. Hizballah.

Maybe we should blot out their names and just say “H*z*****h” so that they aren’t all that findable on the perma-web. Don’t matter much cuz we all know that when you googlefight them Isreal STILL kicks their ass…

By: jason

jason — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:07:06 +0000

here’s one to think about:

The use of the dash when writing out the word G-d, that I understand. Leaving out the E in Hezbollah, I’m not so sure. I’m guessing that using the whole word gets you even more pissed off about them. I’ve got another possibility, and it’s quite Jewish.

I think it’s perfectly acceptible to use the word Hezbollah when it is followed by the Yiddish phrase “Yemach Shmoy”. Allow me to quote from the brilliant and hilarious book by Michael Wex, “Born To Kvetch: Yiddish Langauge and Culture in all its Moods”. in the chapter on Yiddish cursing, he says,

“When Hitler comes up in conversation, he gets a simple Yemach Shmoy, ‘may his name be blotted out’, thather than any filigreed malediction. Yemach shmoy is as deadly serious as Yiddish gets, and is not a phrase to be thrown around lightly…..to forget a name is one thing; to efface it completely is to efface its bearer from the Book of Life and well as The Book of Those Who Have Lived. Yemach shmoy ve zichroy, a fuller version of the same thing, ‘may his name and his memory be blotted out’, makes this abundantly clear, there should be no memory of this person’s existence-no children, no grandchildren….the person who’s name has been blotted out is a person whose existence cannot be forgotten because it never took place; he and his life has been negated”.

After learning this, I began to use it regularly following any references to enemies of the Jews.

If you love Yiddish, Jewish Culture, mocking goyem, want to learn something about your people (if you’re Ashkenaz), or just want to laugh your socks off, GET THIS BOOK!