Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods - Tapa dura

"Wise, witty and altogether wonderful...." -- New York Times "Required reading." -- New York Post Wise, witty and altogether wonderful.... --New York Times Required reading. --New York Post "Wise, witty and altogether wonderful...."--New York Times "Required reading."--New York Post ..."an earthy romp through the lingua franca of Jews, which has roots reaching back to the Hebrew Bible and which continues to thrive in 21st-century America. Canadian professor, translator and performer Wex has an academic's breadth of knowledge, and while he doesn't ignore your "bubbe's tsimmes, he gives equal time to the semantic nuances of "putz, "schmuck, "shlong and "shvants. Wex organizes his material around broad, idiosyncratic categories, but like the authors of the Talmud (the source for a large number of Yiddish idioms), he strays irrepressibly beyond the confines of any given topic. His lively wit roams freely, and Rabbi Akiva and Sholem Aleichem collide happily with Chaucer, Elvis and Robert Petrie. . . . this treasure trove of linguistics, sociology, history and folklore offers a fascinating look at how, through the centuries, a unique and enduring language has reflected an equally unique and enduring culture."---"Publishers Weekly "Wise, witty and altogether wonderful.... Mr. Wex has perfect pitch. He always finds the precise word, the most vivid metaphor, for his juicy Yiddishisms, and he enjoys teasing out complexities. " ---William Grimes, "The New York Times

Kvetching is to the Jewish soul what breathing is to the Jewish body. For Jews, kvetching is a way of understanding the world. It is rooted in the Bible where the Israelites grumbles endlessly. This book looks at the origins of this surplus of disenchantment, and examines how it helped to create the idioms and curses in Yiddish.