"klezmer" (was Re: ...while driving... )

[Sean Philip Engelson <engelson-sean...>]

   From: trb (at) jambi(dot)boston(dot)ma(dot)us (Andrew Tannenbaum)

   > Hmm...a great klezmer?  I've never heard that term applied to a
person, and
   ..
   > You've just called your friend a musical instrument!

   What would your reaction have been if he called his friend a cowboy?
        [...elision...]
   Calling someone a klezmer is correct and unambiguous usage.

Quite true.  This discussion is most interesting, in that it started by
someone being called a "great klezmer", which usage is somewhat ironic.
Originally (in Europe, and in the 20s and 30s here) a "klezmer" was a musical
"hack", i.e, not a "real" musician.  For example, Dave Tarras, the great
clarinetist, railed out, to his dying day, against calling "his" genre of
music "klezmer" (that being an insult to him).  This provides an interesting
lesson in the evolution of language (as does the original evolution from
Hebrew).

        -Shlomo-

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