RE: [Fwd: Re: thanks.....]

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

Knowing a lot about Yiddish and general linguistics, I can tell you that this 
has nothing to do with dialects , sociolects or idiolects of Yiddish.   Wolf 
was 100% correct in his explanation and did a wonderful exposition as well.   
In English we say a person has either good or bad luck.   In Yiddish, you 
either have it or you don't.
But you can also have "a Yiddishn mazl" (= bad) or "a Goyishn mazl" (= good), 
etc.   Michael was just translating from English and it didn't work.   One 
usually gets 50 lashes with a wet noodle for that these days.

Reyzl 


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From:  Helena Hansson[SMTP:helena (at) semikolon(dot)o(dot)se]
Sent:  Thursday, October 22, 1998 3:14 AM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant.
Subject:  SV: [Fwd: Re: thanks.....]

Without knowing anything about Yiddish (but quite a lot about general
linguistics) I just wonder if this couldn't just be different dialects,
sociolects, or idiolects of Yiddish?
/Helena
------------
Wolf wrote:

>With all due respect, Michael, "they" (if you mean native speakers) do
>not say "mit gut mazl".
>
>In Yiddish, you either have "mazl" or you do not.
>If someone is unlucky, it is not said of him that he has "shlakht mazl"
>(sic/lit: bad luck).  It is said that "er hot nit keyn mazl" (he has no
>luck).
> Someone could be said to have a "shvartzn mazl", that is, to be  so
>freakin' lucky, he must have a pact with the devil"-- lit: "black luck).
>
>"Mazl", while meaning "luck" is a secondary meaning.
>It's primary  meaning is "stars" or "constellation",  in the
>astrological sense.
>
>What you want to say, Michael, is:
>"zol zayn mit mazl" (Lit: "Let it be with luck" or "good luck"!)
>or:
>"zol zayn in a mazldikn sho"  (May it come to pass at a favorable/lucky
>hour).
>
>Wolf Krakowski
>
>