Just Say Nu: Yiddish for Every Occasion
(When English Just Won't Do)
By Michael Wex
Harper Perennial: 2008
ISBN: 0061657328
Product Description:
In his New York Times bestseller, Born to Kvetch, author Michael Wex led readers on a hilariously edifying excursion through Yiddish culture and history. With Just Say Nu,
he shows us how to use this remarkable language to spice up
conversations, stories, presentations, arguments, and more, when plain
English will not suffice (including, of course, lots of delightful
historical and cultural side trips along the way).
There is, quite simply, nothing in the world that can't be improved by being translated into Yiddish. With Just Say Nu,
readers will learn how to shmooze their way through meeting and
greeting, eating and drinking, praising and finding fault, maintaining
personal hygiene, parenting, going to the doctor, committing crimes,
going to singles bars, having sex, talking politics, talking trash, and
a host of other mundane activities. Here also is a healthy schmear of
optional grammar and the five most useful Yiddish words—what they mean,
and how and when to use them in an entire conversation without anybody
suspecting you don't have the vaguest idea about what you're actually
saying.
Book Description
A cross between
Henry Beard's LATIN FOR ALL OCCASIONS and Ben Schott's SCHOTT'S
ORIGINAL MISCELLANY, JUST SAY NU is a practical guide to
using Yiddish words and expressions in day-to-day situations. Along
with enough grammar to enable readers to put together a comprehensible
sentence and avoid embarrassing mistakes, Wex also explains the five
most useful Yiddish words–shoyn, nu, epes, takeh,and nebakh–what
they mean, how and when to use them, and how they can be used to
conduct an entire conversation without anybody ever suspecting that the
reader doesn’t have the vaguest idea of what anyone is actually saying.
Readers will learn how to shmooze their way through such
activities as meeting and greeting; eating and drinking; praising and
finding fault; maintaining personal hygiene; going to the doctor;
driving; parenting; getting horoscopes; committing crimes; going to
singles bars; having sex; talking politics and talking trash.Now that
Stephen Colbert, a Catholic from South Carolina and host of the
"Colbert Report," is using Yiddish to wish viewers a bright and happy
Chanukah, people have finally started to realize that there’s nothing
in the world that can’t be improved by translating it into Yiddish.
Wex’s JUST SAY NU is the book that’s going to show them how.
About the Author
Michael Wex is a
novelist, university teacher, translator, and performer. He is one of
the leading lights in the current revival of Yiddish, leacturing widely
on Yiddish and Jewish culture. He lives and kvetches in Toronto.
