Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for January 10, 2013
January 09, 2013
January 11, 2013
Transcript:
Arlo: Kvetch kvetch kvetch!
Janis: What?
Arlo: Gripe gripe gripe!
Janis: Oh.
Arlo: You can tell a person who grew up in the early days of television!
Arlo: We know a lot more Yiddish!
Let’s see. Eddie Cantor. Milton Berle. SId Caesar. Jack Benny. Carl Reiner. Mel Brooks. Alan King. Danny Kay. The Three Stooges. The Marx Brothers. And on and on. (Wikipedia lists over 200, though not all of that era.)
Thanks to MAD magazine, I learned how to spell all those Yiddish words I heard from Mel Brooks. Farshteyn? (And Ashburn, “seit nicht meshugga” is one of my favorite phrases!)
Or someone who grew up on Mad (esp. the Kurtzman issues). An orthodox friend of mine one told me that use more Yiddish than any 3 friends of hers on Long Island. So, nu?
Arlo may know some Yiddish, but he’s still the ultimate goy. That’s not all bad, I’d say the same of the honorable Colin Powell. But only a goy would let himself be used as the chump mouthpiece of Busch, Rumsfeld, et cetera.
When my eldest was little, she used to watch McHale’s Navy on TV. (Remember when you could let kids watch unsupervised?) One day she said “Oy, vey!” and I jusst turned and looked at her. “That’s an old Japanese expression”, she explained.
@fairportpan2 I agree about living in a large northern city. I’m in Philadelphia and learned a few useful words when I first moved here from New Jersey.
Years and years and years ago, there was a documentary on PBS about regionalisms and other words that aren’t well known everywhere. One of my favorite scenes was Southerners trying to pronounce and define “schlep”. I was hysterical.
Oh, I still miss Georgie Jessel (sp?) and all the old comedians who used to show up often on Steve Allen’s and , Mike Douglas’ show. I still call DH “Bubala.”
I just watched a lot of old SNL, so despite only being 30-something I can understand Arlo and most of you just fine. Though I did think a Putz was just some one when went slow on the road until corrected a few years ago (…)
Catfeet Premium Member over 11 years ago
That meshuggenah Arlo, always kvetching.
Brisbanekid over 11 years ago
Hey Homer, . . . You forgot the ‘Vay’, . . . (May the vay be with you!).
KasperV over 11 years ago
Gen Colin Powell speaks Yiddish … not many people know that.
celeconecca over 11 years ago
I can see I’ve entered the Borscht Belt. For anyone interested in learning Yiddish, check out How to Speak Yiddish by Leo Rosten. It’s fun!
pschearer Premium Member over 11 years ago
Let’s see. Eddie Cantor. Milton Berle. SId Caesar. Jack Benny. Carl Reiner. Mel Brooks. Alan King. Danny Kay. The Three Stooges. The Marx Brothers. And on and on. (Wikipedia lists over 200, though not all of that era.)
emjaycee over 11 years ago
And for those of us who grew up on picture books: http://www.amazon.com/Yiddish-Dick-Jane-Ellis-Weiner/dp/0316159727
Vince M over 11 years ago
I now know that a schlemiel is someone who always spills soup, and a schlimazel is someone it always lands on.
lisfnord over 11 years ago
it’s so cute when the goyim use yiddish…
listmom over 11 years ago
Thanks to MAD magazine, I learned how to spell all those Yiddish words I heard from Mel Brooks. Farshteyn? (And Ashburn, “seit nicht meshugga” is one of my favorite phrases!)
ScullyUFO over 11 years ago
מייַן הונט האט קיין נאָז
womzilla over 11 years ago
Or someone who grew up on Mad (esp. the Kurtzman issues). An orthodox friend of mine one told me that use more Yiddish than any 3 friends of hers on Long Island. So, nu?
George Alexander over 11 years ago
Arlo may know some Yiddish, but he’s still the ultimate goy. That’s not all bad, I’d say the same of the honorable Colin Powell. But only a goy would let himself be used as the chump mouthpiece of Busch, Rumsfeld, et cetera.
rockngolfer over 11 years ago
For some reason I thought of Lloyd Thaxton.
Gokie5 over 11 years ago
Re: Knowing some Yiddish: It helps to have a Jewish son-in-law.
Dani Rice over 11 years ago
When my eldest was little, she used to watch McHale’s Navy on TV. (Remember when you could let kids watch unsupervised?) One day she said “Oy, vey!” and I jusst turned and looked at her. “That’s an old Japanese expression”, she explained.
bevgrey over 11 years ago
If you ever saw “Norma Rae”, you learned kvetch, kvetch, kvetch. She said it with the greatest inflections.
bevgrey over 11 years ago
@fairportpan2 I agree about living in a large northern city. I’m in Philadelphia and learned a few useful words when I first moved here from New Jersey.
bevgrey over 11 years ago
Years and years and years ago, there was a documentary on PBS about regionalisms and other words that aren’t well known everywhere. One of my favorite scenes was Southerners trying to pronounce and define “schlep”. I was hysterical.
LuvThemPluggers over 11 years ago
Oh, I still miss Georgie Jessel (sp?) and all the old comedians who used to show up often on Steve Allen’s and , Mike Douglas’ show. I still call DH “Bubala.”
doublepaw over 11 years ago
“The Goldbergs” show used to offer a lot of Yiddish words and phrases. I recently noticed it is still on TV as is the “Jack Benny Show”.
unca jim over 11 years ago
@doublepaw;….as I was about to mention !
Varnes over 11 years ago
Sorry, the funniest movie of all time is The Life of Brian…IMHO….
Varnes over 11 years ago
Blessed are the meek… ….What Jesus fails to understand is that it is the meek that are the problem….Big nose……
water_moon over 11 years ago
I just watched a lot of old SNL, so despite only being 30-something I can understand Arlo and most of you just fine. Though I did think a Putz was just some one when went slow on the road until corrected a few years ago (…)
Mary Stephenson over 11 years ago
The Goldbergs
hippogriff over 11 years ago
Nos Nevets: Economics shouldn’t count. Alfred Nobel never established it. Besides, they never picked E. F. Shumaker.
samfran6-0 over 11 years ago
You are right, cause I think every thing Mel Brooks does is hilarious!!
jackiehmoon over 11 years ago
Being that JJ is from Lanett, AL, I don’t think there was a lot of exposure to the world a lot of you are referring to.
tomfromthe50s 7 months ago
True!