A fabulous NYC photo archive is now online - whoops! - it is offline now. A photo that captured my attention immediately is offered here. I find Hebrew of the kind found in the photo incredibly weird. The photo is dated July 29, 1908. It pictures a storefront on Delancy Street on New York's Lower East Side.
So it's transliterated English in Hebrew. Which seems weird at first. However, for it reads very similarly to the Yiddish books I encounter in the Judaica section of used book stores--the letters are familiar, but the combinations aren't.
I'm guessing that this is a fascinating artifact from the Yiddish-literate generation which emigrated to the U.S. and learned to speak English but never to read or write it...
Posted by: Yahnatan Lasko | April 25, 2012 at 10:48 PM
I would categorize it as Yiddish with English loan words, not transliterated English -- "muss oysferkoyft veren" certainly isn't English, even if "bankrat sale" and "bargins" are.
Posted by: Simon Montagu | April 26, 2012 at 01:42 AM
This is americanized yiddish quite familiar to contemporary yddish speakers in New York. Yiddish has similar variations amongst the different backrounds of the speakers - hungarian, polish, lithuanians etc...
Posted by: david g. | April 26, 2012 at 02:30 AM
I would point to the Responsa of early-mid 20th c. American rabbis for the frequent usage of such English loans. See, for example, Iggerot Moshe (M. Feinstein)Orah Hayyim vol. 3 §42, "בדבר מקרר האויר אייר קאנדישאנער שבביהכ"נ שמעמידין בע"ש" (Regarding a an air conditioner [lit. cooler of the air, followed by transliteration of "air conditioner"] in a Synagogue that they set before the Sabbath...).
Posted by: Binyamin Goldstein | April 26, 2012 at 04:09 AM
I enjoy reading Yiddish of the kind I've read so far. It combines two languages I love, Hebrew and German, in remarkable ways. It does not come across to me as Hebrew chock full of German loan words, or German chock full of Hebrew loan words.
On the other hand, I have always found it grating to pronounce English loan words in any language. Is this a mother tongue effect? I don't know.
For example, every time I hear the word "computer" in Italian, I rebel. Instinctively, I change it to "elaboratore," which however sounds quaint and pedantic. I believe this is a place in which psychological rubber is hitting the linguistic road.
Posted by: John Hobbins | April 26, 2012 at 06:04 AM
There are some great early short films shot on the Lower East Side during that time period that show this kind of thing. It is representative of the Eastern European immigrants who dominated that part of the city at the time. It is definitely Yiddish. The films I have in mind are things like "Child of the Ghetto" and "Hungry Hearts." Of course these are silent films. But they portray the culture of the Lower East Side very well.
Posted by: Jamie | April 26, 2012 at 06:37 AM
This is great, John.
Posted by: Jason A. Staples | April 26, 2012 at 07:06 AM
Así que ha transcrito Inglés en hebreo. Lo que parece extraño al principio. Sin embargo, para que lea de manera muy similar a los libros en yiddish que me encuentro en la sección de Judaica de librerías de segunda mano - las letras son familiares, pero las combinaciones no son. Me encanta leer tu blog y esperamos que todos tus mensajes! Sigan con el excelente trabajo!
Posted by: abercrombie ropa | April 28, 2012 at 03:29 AM
On the other hand, I have always found it grating to pronounce English loan words in any language. Is this a mother tongue effect? I don't know.
Posted by: Ed bikini hardy | May 30, 2012 at 03:33 AM
I agree, Ed.
Posted by: John Hobbins | May 30, 2012 at 05:32 AM