Fun language survey

[alexxkay]

You are invited to participate in an interesting and entertaining survey about language. Essentially, we're asking about the spread of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) among English speakers in North America. We're turning to both Jews and non-Jews to answer questions like these: Who uses Yiddish words like "shmooze" and "daven" and phrases like "Money, shmoney"? Why do some people say "temple" while others say "shul"? Who prefers biblical names for their babies? Your responses will help us answer these and other questions, and you might learn something about yourself in the process. Please set aside 15-20 minutes, and click on this link to participate:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9eQwWyblG_2b8ixLqbt6QFhg_3d_3d

Please forward this request to your friends and family. We are hoping to get thousands of responses from people of all religions, ages, and regions of the United States and Canada. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail Prof. Sarah Bunin Benor <sbenor@huc.edu> or Prof. Steven M. Cohen <steve34nyc@aol.com>.

(Link courtesy of nancylebov.)

Comments

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Certainly, etymologically Yiddish and Hebrew words can be acquired second-hand, from completely non-Jewish sources: Cockney, for example, is known for having incorporated a good deal of Yiddish. (I recall being startled when hearing Dave Swarbrick, the Fairport Convention fiddler, use the phrase "tsuris and angst".)

I have a quibble with bits of this: I had to answer the question about my pronunciation of "orange" as "Don't Know", when in fact my answer was "Neither". My first syllable doesn't rhyme with "ore" or "are".

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

So how *do* you say orange?

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

Well, it's hard to define in print without getting all phonetics-geeky and IPA-ish %^), but, okay, the two choices, as I recall, were "like ore" and "like are". Well,
Idunno about the researchers, but I don't say "ore-'nj" and I don't say "ahr-'nj" either. My first syllable has the vowel in "awe", "caw", "saw". (But if you're from a region that rhymes "ore" and "saw", that will make no sense to you).

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

My first syllable has the vowel in "awe", "caw", "saw"

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!