[etni] Jewish English- Hebronic responses

From: phyllis oded <phylliso@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 12:43:22 +0200
Subject: Jewish English- Hebronic responses









    The New York City Public Schools have officially declared Jewish English, 
now dubbed Hebronics, as a second language. Backers of the move say the  city 
schools are the first in the  nation to  recognize Hebronics as a valid 
language and a significant attribute of American culture. 


    According to Howard Ashland, linguistics professor at Brooklyn College and 
renowned Hebronics scholar, the sentence structure of Hebronics derives from 
middle and eastern  European language patterns, as well as Yiddish. 

    Professor Shulman explains, 'In Hebronics, the response to any question is 
usually another question with a complaint that is either implied or stated. 
Thus  'How are you?' may  be answered, 'How should I be, with my bad feet?' ' 

    Shulman says that Hebronics is a superb linguistic vehicle for expressing 
sarcasm  or  scepticism. An example is the repetition of a word with 'sh' or  
'shm' at the  beginning: 'Mountains, shmountains. Stay away. You  should want a 
 nosebleed?' 

    Another Hebronics pattern  is moving the subject of a  sentence to the end, 
with its pronoun at  the beginning: 'It's beautiful, that  dress.'  

    Shulman says one also sees the Hebronics verb moved  to the end  of the  
sentence. Thus  the response to a remark such as 'He's slow as a  turtle,' 
could be: 'Turtle,  shmurtle! Like a fly in Vaseline he  walks.' 

    Shulman provided the  following examples from  his best-selling textbook,

      Switched-On  Hebronics:

         
      Question: 'What time  is it?' 
      English  answer: 'Sorry, I don't  know.' 
      Hebronic response: 'What am I, a  clock?'  

      Remark: 'I hope things  turn out  okay.' 
      English answer: 'Thanks.' 
      Hebronic response: 'I should be so lucky!'  

      Remark: 'Hurry  up.  Dinner's ready.' 
      English answer: 'Be  right  there.' 
      Hebronic response: 'Alright already, I'm  coming. What's with the 'hurry' 
business? Is there a  fire?'  

      Remark: 'I like the  tie you gave me; I  wear it all the time.'
      English answer: 'Glad you like it.' 
      Hebronic response: 'So what's the matter; you don't  like the  other ties 
I gave you?' 

      Remark: 'Sarah and  I  are engaged.' 
      English answer:  'Congratulations!'  
      Hebronic response: 'She could stand to lose  a few   pounds.' 

      Question: 'Would you  like to go riding with  us?' 

      English answer: 'Just say when.' 
      Hebronic response: 'Riding, shmiding! Do I look like  a  cowboy?' 

      To the guest of honor  at a birthday  party:  
      English answer: 'Happy  birthday'   
      Hebronic response: 'A year smarter you should become.'  

      Remark: 'It's a  beau tiful  day.' 
      English answer: 'Sure is.'  
      Hebronic  response: 'So the sun is out; what else is new?' 


      Answering a phone call  from a  son:   

      English answer: 'It's been a while since you called.'  
      Hebronic  response: 'You didn't wonder if I'm dead already?'  








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[etni] Jewish English- Hebronic responses

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