Just Say Nu: Yiddish for Every Occasion (When English Just Won't Do)

Unless you're a linguist (I think the author is), the book is too technical for casual Yiddishkeit.

Great little book that fills in some of the gaps left by "Born To Kvetch". Both good books, Read "Kvetch" first, then "Nu".

Wex points out that in Yiddish one tends to go for the negative more than the positive. And in fact this work which aims to help us learn how to speak Yiddish also provides insight into the 'Yiddish mentality and culture'. It has a small dictionary at the end, and also a small grammar section. It has sections on 'Greeting and Meeting' ' Stages of Life'
'Food and Drink' 'Family Life' 'Protective Phrases' 'Madness, Fury and Driving' 'Health and Illness' ' Love and Sex' ' Happiness and Pleasure'.
It has much humor and taken small bits at a time, as nosherei it is a truly enjoyable and instructive work.
However in the spirit of the book I will register a few complaints. How after all could one learn to speak Yiddish without learning how to complain? The spelling is not the spelling, and the pronunciation not the pronounciation of the world of my childhood. That does not make it wrong, it makes it irritating for me. I too found myself again and again less interested in new words and concepts then in my memory of old ones. And also, perhaps above all learning the 'meaning' of 'words and phrases' I heard in childhood but did not know the meaning of.
I was surprised at how many Yiddish words I know because of my knowing Hebrew. And it seems to me Wex does not emphasize enough the Hebrew origin of much in Yiddish.
On the whole however I will do what should be done here, and 'fargennen' ' praise and compliment this wonderful 'sefer'.
And this of course said with the memory and knowledge in mind of what happened to the great share of those for whom Yiddish was truly their mameloshen. May God preserve their memory and their souls.

But seriously, folks....

Now I finally know something about the history behind some of the yiddish words I heard from relatives and at the synagogue.

The appendices were the part I read first. For movie trivia buffs, there is an appendix that includes an explanation of the Yiddish spoken by Ed Begley Jr. in the movie "A Mighty Wind", among others. Even one early Daffy Duck cartoon (my personal role model) contains a Yiddish sign.

The language explained ranges from common usage to graphic descriptions, especially in the chapter on love and sex, so parts of this book may be unsuitable for children. A few superstitions are well-explained, as are perspectives on other religions, especially Christianity.

The author's Liberal political bent is also reflected in some of the comments he makes in his book. While I disagree with Mr. Wex's politics, his comments are examples of free speech. Ironically, Mr. Wex is from Canada, yet most of his political comments are regarding the US. He's the Neil Young of Yiddish!

His book "Born to Kvetch" is now in my wish list.

This is a great book with all of the idioms of "real" Yiddish, that you will never learn at a YIVO class. The author describes the "zaftike" expressions of "poylishe yidn" with great talent. Frankly there were one or two places where his etymology is suspect (at least to me) and his transliteration system takes some getting used to (even for those of us who speak Yiddish fluently.) Notwithstanding these minor shortcomings it is an excellent work that deserves to be in the bookshelf of every serious Yiddish student, teacher, and speaker. Alot of these expressions are dying out even among the Yiddish-speaking Orthodox communities, where subtle language shift is taking place, and some of the racier expressions are never used by them in any case. Familiarizing yourself with these idioms will make it a helluva lot easier to read Isaac Bashevis Singer (and others) in the original.

It is less "cutesy" than "Born to Kvetch", which I also recommend highly.