a teacher in one of the bais yaakov schools told her class how she was very inspired by something she heard while passing the Bais Rochel elementary school (Bais Rochel is super right wing/yeshivish/no denim out of school/a step away from chassidish).
The girls were playing machanayim and shouting, "The ball is not alive! It's a not alive ball!"
The BY teacher told her class, "I thought it was so refined and inspiring, a much nicer word than dead!"
huh??
I think it just proves they have a limited English vocabulary and make poor word choices.
Ma, there is a not alive bug on my pillow. The interior light was left on and now my car battery is not alive. Gentlemen, that idea is not alive in the water.
I get it. We are different. Saying to a person, "you touch that, buddy, and you are dead meat" is not the most polite or mentchlach way to talk. Speech is very important to us, choice of words are a reflection of how we live and what is meaningful to us. No arguement there. But what is wrong with saying dead?
This is Monsey. We revel in not using the correct words. for example:
A member of the armed forces? an army man
paper towels are called towel paper (like toilet paper) amongst the Rockland Kosher crowd.
I don't want to go with you but.
My mother she doesn't let me go.
and there is a difference between limited vocabulary and yinglish.
sheesh.
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You forgot:
"I'm eating by her house."
"Me and her are hungry."
etymology of people's english speech patterns is actually kind of fascinating. saying stuff like, "it's not very far, the school," (noun last) is a yekke thing. I only know how to pick up stuff from the German, 'cause I don't know Polish or Russian, but it's fun.
a yekkie thing? I think it comes from the way yiddish is spoken, and also the way we translate a posuk in chumash: Vayomer Moshe El Hashem, and he said moshe to hashem. anyway there is a connection (gasp!) between yiddish and german. but here in brooklyn north, there are more jewish/yiddish speakers than yekkies.
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